3 2 8 D O C U M E N T S 3 2 2 , 3 2 4 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 4
322. Statement on the United States of Europe
[Berlin, after 20 September
1924][1]
One need not rack one’s brains about whether the United States of Europe is re-
alistically possible: They must be materialized, if Europe wants to uphold its im-
portance somewhat and its abundant human
resources.[2]
323. To Walther Nernst
[Berlin, after 20 September
1924][1]
[Not selected for translation.]
324. To Moritz Katzenstein
Vienna, 22 September 1924
Dear Friend,
It is not my custom to turn to others with personal matters. But a fish cannot see
the water he swims in, and try as I might, I don’t know for sure what is right. For,
I’m very much in doubt about whether I did a good thing by treating little B[etty]
N[eumann][1]
the way I have. Human values are of a strangely subtle kind and can-
not be measured by the pound. The question is, what does someone lose if one re-
ally does marry later or not at all and only has a loose relationship that nevertheless
means very much to one. What I personally have learned from my own as well as
others’ marriages doesn’t allow me to rate its value very highly. Cross my heart!
When one’s a bit on the outside, one does perk up. The degree of intimacy neces-
sarily attached to marriage is an annoyance, doubly so when something isn’t quite
right. That’s why I ask of you just one thing: When you speak to the girl, as you so
kindly suggested, don’t go in with the attitude of a man who has a prescribed sur-
gery to perform, but rather as one who has to make a diagnosis. As concerns my-
self, the dissolution of this relationship is no solution to the problem, not even ¢for
my wife, because I cannot stand to be with her² alone, after all. I have to say this
even at the risk of being thought badly of by you. If, however, this is said by some-
one who is otherwise modest in all his demands of life and who is serious with re-
gard to what he believes he owes others, then one cannot simply dismiss this as an
empty conceit. One usually experiences a sense of liberation when one has done