D O C U M E N T S 2 3 6 , 2 3 7 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 1 2 8 1
ADft. [45 158].
[1]Sigmund Zeisler and his wife toured Europe, and also visited with the Einsteins (see Doc. 272).
[2]At the end of Einstein’s visit to the United States.
[3]Shares of the Schweizerische Auer-Aktien-Gesellschaft (SAG), a company of which Einstein was
a shareholder. His brother-in-law Paul Winteler (1882–1952) was Einstein’s representative on its
board of directors (see Maja Winteler-Einstein and Paul Winteler to Einstein, 29 August 1919 [Vol. 9,
Doc. 96a, in Vol. 10], note 9).
[4]Dividends from the SAG, a foreign branch of a German company, were confiscated according
to the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1917 (U.S. Federal Law 12 U.S.C. §95a), until the American Sen-
ate would ratify the peace treaty. See also Doc. 272.
236. To the Directors of the Jewish Theater, Berlin[1]
Berlin, den 16. IX. 21.
Es ist mir ein Bedürfnis, Ihnen zu danken für den hohen Genuss, den Sie mir ge-
stern durch Ihre wunderbare Aufführung des Stückes „Die verlassene
Schenke“[2]
bereitet haben. Selten habe ich menschliche Leidenschaft und überhaupt mensch-
liches Schicksal so ergreifend und so von innen heraus ohne fühlbar Konventionel-
les dargestellt gesehen. Besonders habe ich die Vollendung des Zusammenspiels
bewundert und die Hingebung, mit der alle Darsteller sich dem Geist des Stückes
unterordneten.
TLC. [44 081]. The letter is addressed “Direktion des Jüdischen Theaters Berlin.”
[1]In the winter season of 1921–1922, the “Wilnaer Truppe,” a renowned Yiddish theater company
from Vilna (present-day Vilnius), gave a guest performance at the Theater der Kommandantenstraße
(formerly known as the Herrnfeldtheater). David Herman was director of the company, and Heinrich
Galeen (Wiesenberg) and John Gottowt were the managers of the theater. The troupe gave their first
performance in Berlin under the name Jüdisches Künstler Theater on 1 September 1921 (Riss 2000,
pp. 97–98).
According to contemporary press reports, this was the first time that “real Eastern European
Jewish [theater]” was produced in Berlin (see Jüdische Rundschau, 7 October 1921).
[2]“The Haunted Inn” (“Di Puste Kretshme”) was written by the Yiddish dramatist and novelist
Peretz Hirschbein (1880–1948) in 1914. It was one of two plays by Hirschbein staged by the Vilna
troupe during the winter season of 1921–1922 (see Jüdische Rundschau, 7 October 1921). This four-
act play was Hirschbein’s first naturalistic drama about provincial Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
237. To Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe
[Berlin,] 17. IX. 21
Lieber Herr Anschütz!
Ich entdecke soeben, dass in der kleinen Rechnung für das Steilmachen der
Schwebekräfte[1]
ein verhängnisvoller Zeichenfehler ist. Man muss die beiden in-
duzierten Spulen nicht über eine Selbstinduktion sondern über eine Kapazität