x x x I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 2
invitation should be seen as sufficient reason. Nevertheless, three days after his
meeting with Blumenfeld, Einstein was “willing to
travel.”[13]
Weizmann invited Einstein personally a few days later, the first direct contact
between the two men (Doc. 63), and Einstein hastily did his best to reconstruct the
canceled scientific lecture tour. He wrote to the president of Princeton that he was
“compelled” to travel to America in mid-March on behalf of the Hebrew Universi-
ty. But he also wished to use this opportunity to act on behalf of international rec-
onciliation, a matter “close to his heart” (Doc. 53). He also immediately wrote to
Hendrik A. Lorentz (Doc. 57), who had orchestrated Einstein’s invitation to the
Solvay
Congress,[14]
and expressed regret for having to withdraw. The refusal was
a delicate matter in light of Einstein’s long-standing, admiring relationship with his
distinguished elder
colleague.[15]
Scientists from former enemy nations were aware
that “[t]he only German invited is Einstein, who is considered for this purpose to
be
international.”[16]
To Lorentz, Einstein wrote that decisive meetings concerning
the Hebrew University would take place during this American tour. He evinced a
continued passion for the Hebrew University project and the envisaged refuge it
might offer Eastern European students and academics, with whom he had increas-
ingly come to identify.
Hearing of Einstein’s plan, Ehrenfest quickly wrote expressing his delight in the
“Jerusalem expedition to Dollardia.” While only a few days earlier he had thought
that a voyage “just for your pleasure” would tax Einstein’s energies (Doc. 68), he
now agreed that a successful Jewish university project was a worthwhile endeavor
(Doc. 55). Einstein was greatly relieved that Ehrenfest had responded so warmly,
but anticipated criticism from others (Doc. 83). He might already have received
Fritz Haber’s letter (Doc. 87), who upbraided Einstein for traveling with “English
supporters” of Zionism, and for visiting the former enemy country “at the invitation
of its government,” even though Einstein had been invited by universities. Haber
was also disturbed that Einstein had chosen to forgo his participation in the soon-
to-be-held Solvay Congress. He decried Einstein’s decision to travel “at this point
in time,” when U.S. president Harding had just delayed discussions on ratifying the
Versailles Peace Treaty and the British government was tightening its sanctions
against Germany. Haber believed that, by repeatedly presenting himself to the press
as a Swiss citizen who was residing only “by accident” in Germany, Einstein’s ac-
tions could be interpreted as a renunciation of the German nation in its current dire
straits. He accused Einstein of thereby harming Germany’s Jews as well, since the
trip would prove the Jews’ “disloyalty” to their country. He pleaded with Einstein
to delay the trip by a year, and not to place in jeopardy “the narrow ground on which
rests the existence of Jewish academic teachers and students at German institutions
of higher learning.”