4 3 2 D O C U M E N T 1 5 0 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 0
[2]Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872–1931), owner of a company in Kiel that produced instru-
ments for aerial and naval navigation. On how he and Einstein became acquainted, see Einstein to
Arnold Sommerfeld, 5 February 1919 (Vol. 9, Doc. 5), note 5.
[3]According to the original plan, Elsa was to accompany Einstein. They would then travel to her
“home province of Swabia” (“in meine Heimat nach Schwaben”) to Hechingen, where she spent her
youth and often met with Einstein, to visit her old haunts (see Elsa Einstein to Hedwig Born, 25 May
1920 [8 279.8]). However, Elsa presumably traveled alone to Frankfurt to stay with the Borns prior
to joining Einstein in Bad Nauheim (see Doc. 153, in the present volume).
[4]Reta Anschütz-Stöve (1897–1961), who married Anschütz-Kaempfe in March 1919.
[5]Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in D major, opus 123.
[6]On Einstein’s early musical education and preferences, see Vol. 1, “Albert Einstein—Beitrag für
sein Lebensbild,” p. lviii (particularly note 39).
[7]Following Einstein’s visit, Anschütz-Stöve referred to herself as “deputy mother” (“Vizemut-
ter,” see Docs. 172 and 247).
[8]Carl Heinrich Becker. The title of his talk was “Bildungsaufgaben im neuen Deutschland”
(Frankfurter Zeitung, 25 September 1920, 1st Morning Edition).
[9]His lecture, “Raum und Zeit im Lichte der Relativitätstheorie,” was a popular exposition of the
theory of relativity (Kieler Zeitung, 16 September 1920, Special Edition Kieler Herbstwoche für
Kunst und Wissenschaft).
[10]Oswald Spengler (1880–1936), German historian and philosopher, was to have talked on
tragedy and history (Frankfurter Zeitung, 25 September 1920, 1st Morning Edition).
[11]The Kiel Autumn Week for Arts and Sciences (Kieler Herbstwoche für Kunst und Wissen-
schaft) was introduced by the Kiel municipality as a bourgeois, democratic festival of the arts and sci-
ences. Its purpose was to replace the former Kiel Sports Week (Kieler Sportwoche), which had been
established by Wilhelm II and had been a “courtly, militaristic and social display of pomp of the inter-
national upper crust” (“höfischen, militärischen und gesellschaftlichen Prunkentfaltung der interna-
tionalen oberen Zehntausend”; see Frankfurter Zeitung, 25 September 1920, 1st Morning Edition).
Elsa Einstein had described the event as “a culturally pacifist-tinted affair” (“kulturell-pazifischtisch
angehauchte Sache”; Elsa Einstein to Hedwig Born, 25 May 1920 [8 279.8]).
[12]A year previously Einstein, Elsa, and her daughters intended to move to Potsdam the next year
if they could find a suitable apartment (see Einstein to Pauline Einstein, 5 September 1919 [Vol. 9,
Doc. 99).
[13]Ilse and Margot Einstein.
[14]Fanny Einstein-Koch, Rudolf Einstein; probably the housekeeper mentioned earlier as “Frau
Hellberg” (see. e.g., Vol. 9, Doc. 151a, in the present volume); and Alexander and Bertha Mosz-
kowski.
150. To the Association for Combating Anti-Semitism
Berlin, den 14. IX. 20.
Sehr geehrter Herr!
Herr Prof. Einstein beauftragte mich Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass nach seiner Mei-
nung wir Juden durch eine direkte Aktion nicht zur Bekämpfung des Antisemitis-
mus beitragen
können.[1]
Da nun Ihre Ansicht in diesem Punkte von der von Herrn
Prof. Einstein abweicht, ersuche ich Sie höflich in seinem Namen, von Ihrem Vor-
haben—Herrn Einstein in den Ausschuss Ihres Vereins zu wählen—freundlich ab-
sehen zu wollen. Er dankt Ihnen jedoch bestens für das ihm bezeugte Vertrauen.
Mit ausgezeichneter Hochachtung
Die Sekretärin