DOC.
8
MANIFESTO TO THE EUROPEANS
71
defended German
military
actions
in
Belgium
and elsewhere
in
the earliest
phases
of the First
World
War (see,
e.g.,
Nicolai
1917,
pp.
4-6, for the
text
of the manifesto and the
names
of the
signers).
Nicolai "drew
up"
("verfaßte")
the manifesto
to
the
Europeans
"in collaboration with
Einstein and Wilhelm Foerster"
("[g]emeinsam
mit Prof. Albert Einstein und Geheimrat Wil-
helm
Förster.
"
Nicolai
1917,
p.
9).
Foerster
(1832-1921),
former director
of the Berlin
Observatory
and
a
signer
of the Mani-
festo of the
93,
was a
moving
spirit
of the German Ethical
Society
and
political colleague
of
Gustav
Maier,
who had founded the sister
society
in
Switzerland
and
had
supported
Einstein's
attempt to enter
the ETH
in 1895 (see
Maier's
unpublished autobiography: "Siebzig
Jahre
poli-
tischer
Erinnerungen
und
Gedanken,"
p.
34;
Albin
Herzog to
Gustav
Maier, 25
September
1895
[Vol.
1,
Doc.
7];
and
Vol.
1,
Biography,
p.
384).
Although
the manifesto
to
the
Europeans
was
circulated
among
a
large
number of
profes-
sors, only
a
graduate
in
philosophy
from the
University
of
Marburg,
Otto Buek
(1873-1966),
was
prepared to sign
it besides
Nicolai, Einstein,
and
Foerster
(see
Nathan
and Norden
1960,
pp.
6-7). As
a
result,
the manifesto
was never
released
for
independent
publication
(see
Nico-
lai
1917,
p.
11), though
its
text appeared
in
print two years
later
in
the Introduction
to
Nicolai
1917.
The
following year
Nicolai
speculated
that the manifesto "never would have
seen
the
light
of
day
had
you [Einstein]
not
been involved"
("wäre
wahrscheinlich niemals
ans
Licht
gekommen,
wenn
Sie sich nicht daran
beteiligt
hätten."
Georg
Nicolai
to
Einstein,
18 May
1918).
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