DOC.
445
JANUARY
1918 453
445.
From Fritz Haber
[Berlin,
before
29 January
1918][1]
Dear
Einstein,
It
appears
to
me
that
you
are
deeply
shocked
by
the
tactic
I
have chosen.
That
is
why
I
am
writing
to
clarify
to
you
that the
matter meant
nothing
more
to
me
than
amusement
at
your
lack
of
familiarity
with
military
formalities.
However,
since I
can
just
assume
that
Mr.
Nordstrom has made
a
petition
as unconven-
tional
as
is
your
letter,
the
only
way
left
open
to
me
in
finding
support
for
you
was
to attempt to
awaken
personal
interest at the
highest level.[2]
For,
with
or
without
my
recommendation,
the
departments
directly
involved could
not
have
responded
otherwise
than
demanding
that
a
petition
with
the
required
support-
ing
documents be
submitted,
&
then
you
would have
gotten
only
as
far
as
before.
There would be
no
alternative
to
going
there,
seeking
out
the
official
in
charge,
inquiring
about the
requirements, passing
them
on
to
Nordstrom,
etc. You
can-
not
do
this
since
you
are
bedridden,[3]
and
I
can
do it
only
with tremendous
difficulty,
as
my
time
is
taxed
to
the
limit, especially during working
hours.[4]
Consequently,
I
tried
to
interest
the
head of the
act[ing]
General
Staff[5]
person-
ally on
the
reasoning
that
he
might
issue
an
order
on
the
basis
of
which his
office
would relieve him
of
these
steps,
would itself
attend
to the formal
procedures
for
you,
or
the
like.
One word from him would
suffice
for
this,
but this
he
offers
only
when
the
case
strikes
as
unusual, very unusual,
and I
turned his
attention
to
the
fact
that this
is
the
case
here
in
the
form
I considered
feasible.
Life,
not
only
in
the
field of
mathematical
physics,
is
based
on knowledge
of
and adherence to
certain
formal
correlations;
and not
only
in
the
field
in which
you
perform
wonders
is
success
often
not
attainable without the
formal
laws. As
for
myself,
I
merely
ask for
your
faith
in
that
I
am
happy
and
pleased
to be
of
use
to
you,
that
I have
too
much
respect
for
your
character
&
achievements
to
ridicule
anything you do, &
that
I
am
fond
of
you
personally.
It
is not
worth
the
effort
to
reply
to
me.
Take
care
of
yourself
and
recover,
this
is
my special wish,
and
give
Mrs.
Einstein
my
regards,
your
friend
Fritz Haber.
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