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England than in America, and remarked on the significance of the fact that he had
lectured in German in both countries (Appendix F).
Shortly after Einstein’s return from abroad, the president of the German Red
Cross invited him to speak about his impressions of the trip at the Landeshaus in
Berlin (Doc. 156). The meeting was attended by President Ebert and other mem-
bers of the Reich and Prussian cabinets, and by representatives from the Reichstag,
the Berlin administration, universities, and executives from commerce and industry
(Doc. 164). The event, widely reported in the German press, gave Einstein unprec-
edented visibility in the wake of his visits to former enemy countries. Apparently
because of the perceived success of his tour, some members of the Jewish commu-
nity of Berlin became increasingly curious about Einstein. At a “mass rally” on 27
June at the Blüthner-Saal, Einstein was welcomed “with stormy jubilation,” while
the police outside redirected traffic to bypass the large crowd gathered outside the
lecture
hall.[49]
In early July, the Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland also
held an event at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin in honor of Einstein’s return. In his
speech, Einstein reportedly declared that his support for Zionism primarily served
the promotion of peace, given that the rejuvenation of Jewish life under Zionist
leadership would give new confidence to the friends of world
peace.[50]
International reconciliation and pacifism thus seemed to be ever present themes
in Einstein’s public activities during 1921. The accusations of treason and the call
for his assassination (Doc. 32) gave Einstein some pause. He refused to grant an
interview with the Berlin correspondent of the Observer due to the degree of “tes-
tiness” against him in Germany (Doc. 38). Nevertheless, shortly thereafter he par-
ticipated in a BNV delegation to Amsterdam with Harry Kessler and Otto
Lehmann-Russbüldt. They appealed to the International Federation of Trade
Unions to intervene with the Allies on behalf of Germany at the Paris Reparations
Conference. He described this brief trip to his good friend Paul Ehrenfest, whom
he only informed in haste, as devoted to “an adventurous political idea” (Doc. 48).
Surprised and concerned, Ehrenfest begged Einstein to be as “quiet as a newborn”
in the Netherlands lest he place his Dutch colleagues in an uncomfortable position
(Doc. 55). Pacifism and reconciliation were explicit desiderata in all of Einstein’s
encounters with colleagues abroad. In the United States, too, at least one of Ein-
stein’s meetings was on behalf of German pacifists: his meeting with a member of
the executive committee of the Carnegie Foundation to discuss the necessity of
funding German pacifists, in particular the BNV (Doc. 151).
Einstein supported the mass peace demonstration in Berlin on the occasion of
the seventh anniversary of the outbreak of World War I (Doc. 196), at which Elsa