DOCS.
639,
640
OCTOBER
1918 683
-o-
Unfortunately
the
institutes
at
the local
university
are
closed;
neither
are
any
lectures
being given,
nor are
any positions being
made available.
So
I
am
forced
to
spend my generous
amount
of free
time
uselessly.-
Here in
Liège
there
are
no signs
of
the
war. Everything can
be
bought–
naturally,
at horrendous
prices.
All
the
bars
are
overcrowded. There
is
much
playing, dancing,
and
living.
The
Belgians
are
confronting
us
more
and
more
impudently
and
provocatively by
the
day, so we
have
already
been advised
al-
ways
to
take
our
guns along
when
we go
out in
the
evenings.-Do
you
have
any
requests?
Should I
procure
for
you coffee,
ham,
or
anything
else?
The
pound
of
butter
sent off
from
the outskirts
of Couvin[12]
at
the
beginning
of October has
arrived
safely
at
your home,
I hope.-
I
wish all
goes
well
with
you;
please
give
my respects
to
your
esteemed
family,
and
accept my
best
regards
to
you personally, yours very truly,
H.
Mühsam.
640. From Max Planck
Grünewald,
26
October
1918
Dear
Colleague,
Upon receiving your friendly
letter this
morning,
I,
in
warm
gratitude
for
your having
thought
of
me, pondered long
and
deeply
about
whether
I
should
subscribe
to
the
public
declaration
you
had
enclosed.[1] You
know
that
I
am
in
full
agreement
with its
content,
at
least in substance. But this
is not
what
is at
issue,
of
course,
but
whether
the
publicity
will
have the
effect
that the
signers
wish
and
imagine.
And
this
question
I
cannot
by any
means answer
positively
with the
conviction
necessary
to
move me
to
overturn
my
resolution,
made in
the
fall
of
1914,
of
absolute
restraint
in
future
public
statements
about this
war.[2] I
could
very
well
imagine,
for
ex.,
that
such
a
publication
could
serve as a
stimulus for
our
opponents
to raise
their
demands
against us
even
more
than
they
are
going
to
anyway;
whereas
on
the
contrary,
there
is
the
consideration
that,
by
being
pushed
to the
limit, we
could inflict
quite some damage on
them and
possibly
have
the
effect
of
dampening
somewhat
their
confidence in
a
victory.
I
lack
knowledge
of
the actual
circumstances
to
see
this
clearly enough. Only
one
thing is
entirely
certain:
namely,
that
this
step
will
elicit
an
agitated
reaction
on
the other
side,
which could
spoil
the
plans
of
our
current
government again
which,
in
my
opinion,
is
presently following a promising
course.[3]
Previous Page Next Page