9 4 D O C . 9 1 L A S T W I L L ( I ) J U LY 1 9 2 3
91. Last Will (I)
Berlin, 26 July 1923
Testament.
Reserving my right to later modifications, I declare that after my decease, all that
I possess in cash and financial instruments should go to my wife, Elsa Einstein, or
to her daughters, respectively,
[1]
likewise the entire furnishings of my apartment,
excluding the furnishings of my study. Of the latter, including other scientific
books stored in other parts of the apartment, my
sons[2]
should receive all that they
wish. The remainder goes to the University, respectively the Library in
Jerusalem.[3]
Albert Einstein.
92. To Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe
[Berlin,] 26 July 1923
Dear, good Mr. Anschütz,
Thank you for having taken this ticklish business upon
yourself.[1]
In order for
me to be on good terms with Albert again and be able to be together with him, it is
only necessary that you be convinced that he realizes he has been unfair to me and
that he earnestly regrets it. If this is the case, he does not need to go to Munich at
all,[2]
nor fulfill any other formality. He doesn’t even have to write me. At the mo-
ment he is not looking for the reason in his own conduct, just in the peculiarity of
his “old man,” by his saying that “the reasons guiding Papa were unclear to
him.”[3]
I don’t even see any regret in his letter; nor does the woman write like somebody
knowing that, at the time, virtually the shirt off one’s back had been given to
her.[4]
From that woman’s point of view, this is happening in the belief that you are not
privy to the circumstances. Let us put the boy to the test to find out whether he ac-
tually knows how impudently he wrote or if he acted just like that, absentmindedly,
half-consciously. It would therefore look good if you went about it this way: You
initially don’t say anything about having read his letter to
me,[5]
rather, first, only
talk generally with him about the affair. But afterwards, when that’s done, you say
to him very calmly that I had given you his letter to read. If he doesn’t take much
note of that, then he had written me absentmindedly. Then all is well. If, however,
he starts back and becomes embarrassed, if he feels caught by surprise, then it