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I also have the Tageblatt article by you “My Response.”
[3]
Likewise the article
in the Welt am Montag by Mr. von
Gerlach.[4]
Even a shake of the head would be
too much, and unworthy of you toward this category of people, whose newest
symbolic badge is the swastika, and that means, according to its wearers, provoca-
tion, hatred, falsehood, and profanity! This degenerate type of human is, in my
view, not
normal![5]
The kaiser once said: Only a good Christian can be a good
soldier;[6]
that was
too much said already, for now he sees how far he has taken it!
Genuinely good Christians do not hate, they have human compassion. One thing
is incomprehensible to me, though, that the swastika, which has the effect of incite-
ment, is not forbidden by the authorities, precisely because it is worn en masse with
the intention of injuring the Jewish population; it does not hurt me, of course, be-
cause I carry with me the firm conviction that the swastika-person, or he without it,
who carries falsehood and hatred within himself is mentally and morally
infirm![7]
Consequently, a despicable person. Yet that does not do away with the matter!
Anti-Semites exist all over the world!
Yet I believe not so many as in Germany, for Germany’s Prussians suffer under
the pressure and burden of this sort of people, who could simply be eradicated
through the full force of the law! However, even this sort is not spared profanity,
and German prestige is only making itself more room in the other world, so the
hatred that is based on it must necessarily rebound on itself! One can only be dis-
gusted with the German Reich! So let us leave these vermin. This weed of nature.
God created it too, and it will perish wretchedly as well. So, esteemed Prof., keep
holding your head high, for one stands above the vile; and trust in God and in good,
honorable people; one thus finds joy in existence and in one’s life’s work for
oneself and for humanity! In thus begging for your esteemed advice, I voice my
utmost respect,
Helmut Bloch
P.S. I beg k[in]d notice, when my visit is convenient for you; it would be a great
pleasure for me.
119. From Fritz Haber[1]
Gastein, Strauburger Hotel, 30 August 1920
Dear Albert Einstein,
The Neue Freie Presse reports in two notices that you intend to leave Berlin and,
therefore,
Germany.[2]
The reasons the newspaper mentions cannot have deter-
mined your decision—if you have really made it. If the anti-Semites assemble at