2 0 8 D O C U M E N T 3 4 1 D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 1
After my request last summer that he return the manuscript to me, Freundlich
promised to do so, in
writing.[2]
He wanted to return the manuscript as soon as he
returned from his summer travels. Not a word about his regarding himself as the
owner of the manuscript. Not a word about his having initiated negotiations about
the sale of the manuscript. But the manuscript did not come back. Thereupon I
asked my wife to remind him again; this happened about a month ago. Mr. Freun-
dlich did not reply at all to that. So I admonished him about a week ago by tele-
phone to bring the manuscript with him to Potsdam. This he again promised, now
as if it were self-evident. But once there, he claimed to have received it from me as
a gift. I replied: “If I really gave it to you, it would belong to you.”
The prehistory sketched here gives me the secure conviction that this contention
[of his] is not based on truth. But even irrespective of this issue, I find Freundlich’s
conduct such that I want nothing more to do with him. I shall try to relinquish in a
dignified manner all professional and personal ties that had hitherto linked me to
him. It no longer concerns the manuscript but the man, whom I cannot trust any-
more.
I willingly acknowledge Freundlich’s achievements in promoting objective sci-
entific analyses and am not going to place any obstacles in his way. I myself, how-
ever, shall withdraw from all things that we had collaborated on
together.[3]
There
is no need for any discussions between you and me in this matter. [I hereby give up
the manuscript; enjoy
it.][4]
Cordial regards, yours.
340. To Hans Ludendorff
Berlin W. 30, 25 December 1921
[Not selected for translation.]
341. To Gerhart Hauptmann[1]
Berlin, 27 December 1921
Highly esteemed Mr. Gerhart Hauptmann,
A few highly trustworthy men from Aachen, among them the scientist Prof.
Kármán,[2]
whom I know personally very well, have approached me with the fol-
lowing matter. You and I are being asked to sign the enclosed letters and to send
them to the enclosed addresses. The hope is thus to help out the board of higher
education in Aachen, which is being oppressed by the measures of subordinate