1 1 8 V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 3 7 0 b
solcher Harmonie, Ruhe und Sicherheit kannst Du Dir kaum einen Begriff machen.
Das bischen Opfer an Ordnung und Sauberkeit lohnt sich glänzend. Ich wollte, wir
könnten es uns auch so ähnlich einrichten. Dann könnte auch ich für die Los von
Rom-Bewegung mit voller Überzeugung
eintreten![5]
Ich habe mir eine hinrei-
chende Menge Wäsche zum Durchhalten angeschafft. Ich vermute übrigens, dass
wir im Winter alle recht viel im Bett sein werden
(Heizungsersatz).[6]
Hier wird es
ebenso
sein.[7]
Ich gedenke um den ersten September nach Ensingen zu fahren und
etwa eine Woche dort zu
bleiben.[8]
Wo werden wir uns alsdann treffen? Mein
Geld wird gut für uns beide reichen, wie mir scheint. Erkundige Dich nach einem
passenden Ort; es genügt ja, wenn Du mir ihn nach Ensingen mitteilst. Margot ist
auch herzlich willkommen, falls Du sie gern mitnimmst.
Sei geküsst von Deinem
Albert.
Viele Grüsse an Margot und Onkel, auch an die beiden
ausgeflogenen.[9]
AKS. [143 055]. The postcard is addressed “Frau Elsa Einstein Haberlandstr. 5 Berlin W.,” with
return address “Abs. A. Einstein Brambergstr. 16A. Luzern.,” and postmarked “Luzern 2 Zürichstr.
9.VIII.17.–1.”
[1]Einstein was vacationing in Lucerne at his sister and brother-in-law’s house (see Vol. 8,
Doc. 369a, in the present volume).
[2]Willem de Sitter (1872–1934) was Professor of Astronomy at the University of Leyden and director
of its observatory; Tullio Levi-Civita (1873–1941) was Professor of Rational Mechanics at the Univer-
sity of Padua. For their correspondence, see Einstein to Willem de Sitter, 22 July 1917 and 8 August 1917
(Vol. 8, Docs. 363 and 370), Willem de Sitter to Einstein, 31 July 1917 (Vol. 8, Doc. 366), and Einstein
to Tullio Levi-Civita, 2 August 1917 (Vol. 8, Doc. 368).
[3]Two weeks earlier, Einstein had expressed his displeasure with Alexander Moszkowski’s plan
to publish a biography of him (see Vol. 8, Doc. 364c, in the present volume). Moszkowski possibly
intended to write a review of Einstein 1917a.
[4]Maja Winteler-Einstein and Paul Winteler.
[5]Presumably an allusion to Einstein’s renewed but tentative resolve to divorce Einstein-Maric; ,
whose attention to housekeeping details was similar to Maja Winteler-Einstein’s but quite unlike Elsa
Einstein’s. In April 1916, Einstein had informed Elsa that Einstein-Maric; had denied having agreed
to a divorce after he thought she had consented to one (see Vol. 8, Doc. 210a, in the present volume).
The “Los von Rom” movement, an anti-Catholic and anticlerical German nationalist movement
centered in Austria at the end of the nineteenth century, protested against appointments by the Vatican
of Slavic-speaking clergy in predominantly German-speaking areas, particularly in Bohemia.
[6]Dire predictions of coal shortages in large German cities during winter were already circulating
in newspapers in summer 1917 (see, e.g., Berliner Tageblatt, 13 June 1917).
[7]In the same year, coal exports to Switzerland from Germany, the chief supplier of Swiss raw
materials, had been sharply curtailed, while Swiss prices rose steeply and deliveries became increas-
ingly unreliable (see Fueter 1928, pp. 262–263).
[8]Most likely an erroneous reference to the village of Benzingen. Elsa had apparently informed
Einstein that she could not meet him for a planned rendezvous (see Vol. 8, Doc. 369a, in the present
volume).
[9]Margot and Rudolf Einstein, and Fanny and Ilse Einstein, who were vacationing away from
Berlin (see Vol. 8, Doc. 369a, in the present volume).