V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T S 9 1 a , 9 6 a 1 7
Vol. 8, 91a. From Hans Albert Einstein
[Zurich, 28 June 1915]
Dear Papa,
You should contact
Mama[1]
about such things, because I’m not the only one to
decide
here.[2]
But if you’re so unfriendly to her, I don’t want to go with you
either.[3]
We have plans for a nice stay that I’d only give up very reluctantly. We are
going at the beginning of July and are staying the whole vacation. It’s very high
up.[4]
Yours,
A. Einstein.
Vol. 8, 96a. To Heinrich Zangger
[Sellin,] 16 July 1915
My dear friend Zangger,
Your friendly lines greatly impressed me, not by their content but because I see
what an active interest you are taking in my
fate.[1]
In the matter itself you are mis-
taken. My fine boy had been alienated from me for a few years already by my wife,
who has a vengeful, ordinary disposition, but also is so sly that outsiders and
particularly men are always deceived by her. If you only knew what I had to live
through with her, you would hold it against me that I did not find the energy for so
long to separate myself from her. The postcard I received from little Albert had
been inspired, if not downright dictated, by her. It said: “As long as you aren’t
friendlier with Mama, I don’t want to go with you. Anyway, we’re going into the
countryside in July and I don’t want to give up that
stay.”[2]
Where they wanted to
go was not conveyed to me, not even the new address, which I only learned about
from you. When I write to Albert, I get no response at all.
Under these circumstances it appeared as if I couldn’t see the children at all if I
came now to Zurich in July, as I was firmly resolved to do. So at the last minute I
decided, while I was at Göttingen giving talks about the general theory of
relativity,[3]
to relax here in Sellin, where my cousin had rented lodgings with her
children.[4]
I’m going to stay here until August 1st, because I need that much rest.
From the 1st of August I am ready to come to Zurich, even if my children are so
incited against me that they don’t want to have anything to do with me; then I’ll
come to see you again. Give me a time period between 1 August and 1 October; I
will certainly come. I would surely have been there on the 15th of July if I hadn’t
been deterred by the ugly
postcard.[5]
I left the children to my wife; she shouldn’t