6 8 D O C U M E N T S 8 4 , 8 5 M A R C H 1 9 2 1
84. To Rudolf Goldschmidt
[Berlin,] 8 March 1921
Dear Mr. Goldschmidt,
I confirm receipt of the writ[ten] notice regarding our oral
agreement.[1]
I am
happy to stay in regular contact with you in this way, especially since I gladly admit
that your ideas are among the most original I have become acquainted with in a
long time.
In great respect.
85. To Maurice Solovine
[Berlin,] 8 March 1921
Dear Solovine,
Thank you very much for your kind
message.[1]
But are you getting the 10% per
copy that I had also intended for
you?[2]
If you couldn’t carry that through, then
simply keep the third installment of the amount due me (from the 20%). I see from
your question how conscientiously you did the translation. I therefore hereby also
grant you explicitly the translation rights and promise you that I will always make
available to you for translation whatever I would like to publish in French. To what
extent do mathematical things come into consideration? I approve of the
contract.[3]
That d[amned] Lucien Fabre simply forged my foreword in that he—without
asking me, re-doctored letters that had not even originated directly from me, but
had been sprinkled with French civility by an acquaintance of
mine,[4]
as a
foreword.[5]
If you can help me put the culprit in the pillory, you’ll be doing me a
very great service. I haven’t read the book by
Fabre[6]
at all, so I don’t know
whether it’s worth anything. You will soon be receiving my short Academy speech
together with an addendum for
translation.[7]
What must you think of me when you
receive for translation such muck from me—by the way, I do have to ask the Acad-
emy. Maybe those chauvinists do not allow publications in
French.[8]
I am not keen on going to America, but am just doing it on behalf of the Zionists,
who have to beg for dollars for the educational institutions in Jerusalem, for which
I must serve as famed bigwig and
decoy-bird.[9]
If we were the least bit inter-
changeable, I would gladly have you go in my
place.[10]
On the other hand, I am
doing whatever I can for my brethren, who are being treated so vilely
everywhere.[11]
Altogether, I think we would understand each other very well if we
saw each other again. I do not believe the undeserved praise has blackened my soul.