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politics should be carried into scientific endeavors and that one should generally
not make individual people responsible for the state to which they happen to be-
long. If I were to participate in the conference, I would make myself complicit in
conduct that I vigorously and acutely feel is unjust. This feeling is the more vivid
because I find that the French and Belgians have now already sinned so much in the
last few years that they no longer represent injured innocence. But this I say merely
in passing.
My request now is this, that you please see to it that the official invitation to the
conference not be sent out to me at all. Thus I would avoid a refusal that could per-
haps harm the good cause, that is, the gradual return of enthusiastic collaboration
among physicists of different countries.
In the keen hope of being allowed to see you in Holland in the fall, I am, in warm
admiration, yours,
A. Einstein.
103. Recommendation for Betty Neumann
Berlin, 22 August 1923
Miss Betty Neumann worked for me as a secretary for 6 weeks during a tempo-
rary sojourn in Berlin.[1] She was capable, punctual, and conscientious in this oc-
cupation and can only be highly recommended for such tasks.
Albert Einstein.
104. To Sylvio de Mayo[1]
Berlin, 22 August 1923
In the following I send you the requested contribution to your compilation, “Alt-
Neuland”:[2]
“The foundation of the Jewish university is a highly significant event in the his-
tory of our people. It is for the first time since the era of our existence as a special
state that Jewry as a whole has united to create an institution serving purely intel-
lectual purposes. This university will not just form the intellectual center of Jewish
Palestine, but will mightily increase the sense of solidarity among the numerous ac-