2 6 4 D O C U M E N T 1 3 9 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 0
have withdrawn from the wild bustle of life into the still temple of science (see your
Planck
speech)[4]
if you could have found in that bustle, in your fellow men, exactly
those illusions, that happiness, and that peace as is in your temple. If the world’s
scummy floods are now lapping at your temple’s steps, then just close the door and
laugh! And say: it was not without reason that I went into the temple. Don’t be an-
gry! Stay the holy man in the temple and—stay in
Germany![5]
Scum exists every-
where, but not such enthusiastic smart[-ass] preachers as your quite pretentious
Hedi Born.
Darn it! Send us a word from you or your wife Elsa (to whom I give my warm
regards) sometime again; otherwise I’ll become a member of the Antirelativity Co.
Ltd.,[6]
or I’ll found a competing outfit.
You absolutely must read The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore, it’s
the finest work (novel) I’ve read for a long
time.[7]
139. To Paul Ehrenfest
[Berlin, before 9 September
1920][1]
Dear Ehrenfest,
I thank you heartily for your many letters. Ilse is returning from vacation only
tonight.[2]
She will find and send you the papers
soon.[3]
The two young Russian
physicists[4]
were here to see me already a day after submission of my petition; so
it must have had an effect into the past (see relativity theory). You have probably
already seen them now, too. The local Anti-Relativity Co. is already virtually
bust,[5]
and there is no reason to resort to extreme measures and “become a desert-
er,” as Sommerfeld calls
it.[6]
But, in any case, it is touching that you should rush
to my aid in my
plight.[7]
Thank you also for the prompt settlement of the consulate
matter.[8]
In case you still have something you want to write me about, I inform you
that I am:
from 18–25 September at Born’s (Cronstetten St.,
Frankfurt)[9]
from 4 October onwards at Father Brandhuber’s,
Benzingen[10]
(Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen).
My two boys are also going there. Now a big
request.[11]
It seems that you cannot
cash the 700 guilders that arrived at your
address.[12]
But maybe you can manage,
on the basis of the certificate that arrived, to send the money in francs to my ex-wife
(Mileva Einstein, 59 Gloria St., Zurich). She is on the rocks with the
children.[13]
Don’t be cross if I write so rarely and so little. I am being so bombarded with
letters that despite the best of intentions I cannot finish. So I’ll save everything to
tell you in person.