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Einstein supervised the sale of the antiwar pamphlet “Nie wieder Krieg!” (see Cal-
endar entry of 13 July), and followed up on Stefan Zweig’s suggestion that those
who want to be “active in a supranational manner” should meet in person by invit-
ing Anatole France, who had just received the Nobel Prize in literature, to dine in
his poorly heated Berlin apartment (Docs. 322 and 325).
During 1921, numerous organizations and leaders of various causes vied for
Einstein’s attention and support. More generally, the rising influence of Soviet
Russia obliged German and European intellectuals to take a stand on the issues of
the day, and to clarify the extent of their support for the left. In the prevailing dire
social and economic conditions in Germany and much of Europe, many of the ini-
tiatives directed at Einstein were related to appeals for relief or cooperation.
Among these, Einstein agreed to participate as a collaborator in the Austrian soci-
ologist and philosopher Otto Neurath’s project to publish scientific popular books
for the general public, especially for the working classes (Docs. 14 and 76). Fur-
ther, in response to a letter from the distinguished German-American anthropolo-
gist Franz Boas, he expressed “deep appreciation” for the work of the Emergency
Society in Aid of German and Austrian Science and Art (Docs. 114 and 116), and
later collaborated with the German Red Cross to identify needy scholars who
would benefit from a newly established American committee to aid scientists and
teachers (Docs. 169, 176 and 203). By the end of September, Einstein wrote Zang-
ger that he was now more optimistic with regard to the political situation because
economic hardships across the board seemed to have created a form of European
solidarity (Doc. 249).
Einstein also tried to be of assistance to scientists from Soviet Russia, a country
in the grip of civil war and famine. At Ehrenfest’s request, he interceded with the
German consul in Reval (Tallinn) to allow Soviet physicists to travel via Germany
to the Netherlands (Doc. 71). In January, Izvestiya published an open letter by Ein-
stein regarding assistance for the work of his Russian “comrades,” addressed to
Nikolai Fedorovsky, organizer of the Soviet Bureau for Science and Technology in
Berlin (Doc. 33). Yet, in private, Einstein also reacted with sympathy toward the
sailors’ uprising against the Bolshevik government in Kronstadt (Doc. 97), one that
was brutally crushed. He assisted Ehrenfest in arranging for physicist Abram Ioffe
to visit the Netherlands (Doc. 148), and was even rumored to be negotiating a lec-
ture tour in Soviet Russia with Anatoly Lunacharsky, the People’s Commissar of
Popular Enlightenment (Doc. 199). Einstein vehemently denied this gossip
(Doc. 207). Although he received several other requests to assist those suffering in
Soviet Russia, Einstein signed only the one issued by the Auslandskomitee zur
Organisierung der Arbeiterhilfe für die Hungernden in Russland. However, he
eventually asked to be removed from its membership list after having been