D O C U M E N T 3 3 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 1 6 1
33. To Nikolai M. Fedorovsky[1]
[Berlin, before 27 January 1921]
TRANSLATION[2]
I have heard from our
friends[3]
that the Russian comrades are engaged in inten-
sified scientific research, even under the present circumstances.
I am quite convinced that to offer assistance to our Russian colleagues is both a
pleasant and a sacred duty of all scientists who find themselves in more favorable
conditions, and that the latter will do everything in their power to restore interna-
tional contacts.
I welcome Russian comrades warmly and promise to do everything that I can to
establish and maintain contacts between scientific workers here and in Russia.
A. Einstein.
PL. Izvestiya, 27 January 1921. Text from its republication in Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk 113 (1974):
14.
[1]Fedorovsky (1886–1956) was Professor of Mineralogy at the Moscow Academy of Mining,
president of the Scientific and Engineering Division of the Supreme Council of the National
Economy, and organizer of the Bureau for Foreign Science and Technology in Berlin. The task of the
Bureau was to supply Russian science and technology with German scientific instruments and litera-
ture. Einstein drafted the statement apparently upon Fedorovsky’s request (FrenkelÊ 1976).
[2]From Soviet Physics Uspekhi 17 (1974–1975): 296, with minor changes.
[3]The “tovarishch” used in the Russian text may stand both for friend and for comrade. It is likely
that Einstein had used the word “Genosse.”
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