l x i v I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 4 well served by Germany joining the League” (Einstein 1923r [Doc. 82]). In an un- published statement for a visiting French delegation, he urged that the interests of nation-states be subordinated to those of “the larger community” (Doc. 85). In a similar spirit, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the armistice, he advocated the forgiving of debt, a drastic reduction in Germany’s reparations, a strengthening of the League, and general disarmament (Doc. 139). He continued to engage on behalf of pacifism by participating with Langevin in the “Never Again War” rallies in Berlin on 30 July 1923 that marked the ninth an- niversary of the outbreak of World War I. In his speech he supported Germany’s entrance into the League of Nations (Doc. 88 and Appendix B). In early January 1925, he signed an appeal for political amnesty for 7,000 Communist prisoners, initiated by the German Communist Party (Doc. 413). On the day of his departure from Berlin for South America in March 1925, he assented to the request of the pacifist and historian Hans Kohn to sign an appeal on behalf of “radical pacifist groups” against conscription (Docs. 442, 453). In the meantime, Einstein’s own place among nations underwent a significant change. In January 1896, at age 16, Einstein had renounced his Württemberg—and therefore German—citizenship, and had become a Swiss citizen in February 1901. Prior to accepting an appointment as member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in December 1913, Einstein had stipulated that the retention of his Swiss citizen- ship was a precondition of his move to Berlin. In the ensuing years, Einstein claimed that he was exclusively a Swiss citizen, and was treated as such by the Swiss and the German authorities. However, after being awarded the Nobel Prize in late 1922, the Prussian Academy and the German government raised the issue of his Prussian and Swiss citizenships in February 1923. The Academy’s legal experts concluded that Einstein had remained a Swiss citizen, yet may have acquired Ger- man citizenship in 1920 when he swore an oath to the new constitution, provided that he had not renounced becoming a Prussian citizen upon accepting his position at the Academy in 1913. In his reply of March 1923 to an inquiry from the Acade- my regarding this issue, Einstein confirmed that he had been assured in 1913 that his acceptance of membership in the Academy did not entail his acquisition of Prussian citizenship.[34] However, in early 1924, the Academy again raised the is- sue. After conferring with Einstein, the Prussian Ministry of Culture concluded that he had indeed become a German citizen upon being elected to the Academy in late 1913. In contrast to his reply to the ministry in March 1923, Einstein now con- firmed that he did not object to this version of the 1913 events (Doc. 209). The left-wing victory in the French parliamentary elections of May 1924 consti- tuted a watershed in Einstein’s views on the future of Europe in general, and of France in particular. He now felt hopeful, writing to Zangger that he believed the