1 4 6 V O L U M E 9 , D O C U M E N T 2 4 0 a
with K. to have him cede a part of his credit as advance payment for your future
earnings from the SAG.
I have already had to use a very small amount of it anyway, Fr 260 in advance
payment for Mama’s
trip,[3]
because as a consequence of Uncle Jakob’s stupid
behavior, Mama’s trip would have been completely impossible for lack of money
right to the last
moment.[4]
It is anticipated that this amount of Fr 260 would be
accessible again, because part of it had to be advanced merely as a deposit fee (200
francs). So much for these money matters; so I await your instructions. If I hadn’t
advanced in total Fr 1,060 from foreign and private funds, Mama’s trip would have
become completely impossible. I then balanced accounts with Jakob on Dec. 27th
and he then credited back to me Fr 800, so the Fr 260 still originate from the
advances.
My opinion now is that you should be in demand as little as possible during
Mama’s stay. Uncle Jakob should simply keep his promise and Ogden, Alice,
Robert, and Alfred
theirs.[5]
The [stupid thing] is that they have assigned Jakob as
their representative. For Jakob always acts as if everything came out of his own
pocket; also, the accuracy of what he says cannot be relied upon at all; he doesn’t
care if there’s one lie more or less. On the other hand, I did manage to arrange rel-
atively easily that he at least return the Fr 800 to me. Best would be if you didn’t
give Uncle Jakob any slack out of exaggerated generosity; given his entire disposi-
tion, he doesn’t deserve it in the least. It would, however, only be right and good if
the relatives who have some money contribute. Didn’t Jakob likewise depend on
the relatives in the past when the business in Genova went
downhill?[6]
What you observe of Mama is the effect of the drugs and the long illness. I can
imagine that you are suffering severely under the circumstances, and I would have
liked to see you be able to pursue your work undisturbed, and that was why I was
actually against Mama’s trip to Berlin. But now that it has taken place, I hope you
make do with the state of affairs as best you can.
Cordial greetings to all, yours,
Pauli
Vol. 9, 240a. From Hans Albert Einstein
[after 1 January 1920]
Dear Papa,
I’m terribly sorry that I didn’t write earlier but maybe you’ll understand later
why not. How are you, by the way? Are you coming to Basle or
not?[1]
Until about
a week before Christmas I didn’t write you simply due to laziness. I thought during
the 3 weeks vacation it would surely have come about sometime. But this vacation
was much less vacation than I had thought. The packing started right at the begin-