DOCUMENT 118 SEPTEMBER 1915 171
Ich
wünsche Ihren menschenfreundlichen
Bemühungen
einen
guten Erfolg
und
grüsse
Sie
von
Herzen
Ihr
aufrichtig ergebener
A. Einstein.
ALS
(SzZZa). [33 006].
Einstein has
written “Vertraulich” at
the head of
the document. Helen Dukas
claimed
that the letter
was
left
with Zangger and
never
sent.
[1]The year
is
provided
by
the
reference
to
the
visit
to
Rolland.
[2]In fact,
Einstein visited
Rolland
together
with Heinrich Zangger in
Vevey
the next
day (see
Rolland
1952,
pp.
510-515, and
a
translation
of
the relevant
Rolland
diary entry
in
Clark
1971,
pp.
184-186). All
of
the
major
themes discussed in this letter find
their
way
into Rolland’s recollections.
[3] An
article entitled “Schüsse in den
Rücken,”
in the
right-wing
Rheinisch-Westfalische Zeitung
of
September
1915,
signaled a new vigilance
in the
government’s campaign
of
intimidation
against
the
peace
movement
(see
Holl
1988,
pp.
122-123).
[4]The
Eastern Front had
begun
to
collapse
in
June,
and
by August
German and
Austro-Hungarian
armies
had driven Russian
troops
out
of
Poland.
The
war
aims
of
the Pan-German Alliance
were
for the
most
part
shared
by
the
right-wing
middle-
class
parties
and to
a
lesser
extent
by
the middle
of
the German
political spectrum (see
Thimme
1955,
p.
121,
fn.
1).
[5]A
view summarized
in
Rathenau
1916 and
probably
anticipated
in discussions within
the Bund
“Neues Vaterland.”
[6]Einstein,
and
especially Zangger,
shared this lack
of
sympathy
for
England (see
Rolland
1952,
p.
513,
cited in translation in
Clark
1971,
p.
186),
though
Einstein
rejected
the
more
virulent
forms
of
Anglophobia
(see
Doc.
44).
[7]Rolland
interpreted
Einstein’s
position as hoping
for
an
allied
victory
that would
destroy
the
power
of
Prussia and
of
the
Hohenzollern
dynasty
(see
Rolland
1952,
p.
512).
[8]For
more on
the Manifesto
of
the
93,
see
Doc.
45, note 3.
[9]Some
examples are given
in
Wehberg
1920,
pp.
8,
9-10, and
12.
[10]It
was
Paul
Appell
(1885-1930),
Professor
of
Mechanics and Dean
of
the
Faculty
of
Sciences
of
the
University
of
Paris,
as
well
as
President
of
l’Institut de
France,
and not Jules
Violle, who,
in
a
speech
at
a public meeting
of
the five
leading
French academies
on
26 October
1914,
had
commented
indirectly on
the Manifesto
of
the 93
by harshly condemning
the German dream
“of
making Germany
the center
of
a world,
which is
organized
like
a battleship” (“de
faire de
l’Allemagne
le centre d’un
monde, organisé
comme un
cuirassé”)
and
expressing solidarity
with Allied
soldiers,
who
fought
for
the ideals
of
liberty
and justice
(see
Déclarations
1915,
pp.
5-7).
Perhaps
Einstein conflated
the
names
because
Violle
too
had
publicly
denounced German
aggression.
Textbooks
by
both
men (Violle
1892-1893, and
Appell
1904,1909)
are
in Einstein’s
library.
On
8
July
1915,
the historian Eduard
Meyer
had
launched
a counterattack, calling
for
the
expul-
sion
of
French
corresponding
members
of
the Prussian
Academy (see
Doc.
98,
note
3).
Two weeks
later,
a
number
of
academicians had drafted written
proposals,
the
harshest of
which demanded that
the
name
of
any
member
of
a
French
academy
be
dropped
from the list
of
corresponding
members
of
the Prussian
Academy,
while
stopping
short
of
actual
expulsion
(see
Anträge
für
die Gesamtsitzung
am
22. Juli
1915,
nos.
4, 5,
and
6,
enclosed in the minutes
of
the
meeting
of
the
plenum,
22
July 1915,
GyBAW,
II-V, Vol. 91).
By underlining
the distinction
between
some
individual
foreign
academics and the much
more
circumspect
foreign
institutions,
Max Planck crafted
a compromise
resolution,
which
postponed any
action
against foreign
institutions
until
after the
war (see Anträge
für
die
Gesamtsitzung am
22. Juli
1915,
no.
3,
enclosed in the minutes
of
the
meeting
of
the
plenum,
22
July
1915,
GyBAW,
II-V, Vol.
91).
This
proposal narrowly
carried the
day, achieving
the absolute
majority
of
thirty-three
with
two
votes
to
spare.
All but
three
scientists voted for
it,
whereas sixteen
of
twenty-eight
humanists
were
against
it. Emil Fischer had
proposed
a
similar
postponement
until the end
of
the
war
in the
case
of
individual
foreign
members. His resolution failed to receive
an
absolute
majority
(see
the minutes
of
the
meeting
of
the
plenum,
22
July 1915,
GyBAW,
II-V, Vol. 91,
item
8).
In Rolland’s recollection
of
his
meeting
with Einstein the next
day,
he describes
Einstein
as
refer-
ring
to scientists
as
tolerant
and historians
as “being
delirious in
their
national
passion”
(“délirent
de
passions
nationales.” See
Rolland
1952,
p. 512).
A similar characterization
by
Einstein
can
be found
in Doc. 103.
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