1 4 6 D O C U M E N T S 1 5 0 , 1 5 1 N O V E M B E R 1 9 2 3
150. To Elsa and Ilse Einstein
[Leyden,] 13 November 1923
Dear Else,
I received a really touching letter from
Planck[1]
and also spoke with Miss
Meitner,[2]
who is just coincidentally here. I now view the matter more calmly. For
the time being I’ll stay here and serenely calculate away on my
problems.[3]
If this
business does last longer, I’ll get my own place. But under no condition shall I look
for another position, but will calmly wait it out. Over here I earn as much as I need,
and all of you are also provided for. So don’t talk much about this business so no
restlessness will develop out of it. Time will tell. One certainly can’t say that the
reactionary threat is banished yet and can’t at all know how it will play out. But
when things have consolidated themselves, I’ll come back and continue to live in
Berlin. In the meantime, I do very much like this quiet existence here. For God’s
sake, don’t say anything about who warned me, and also say nothing that might of-
fer the slightest hint in this
respect.[4]
Dear Ilse. The business with the Nobel Prize can’t cause difficulties because
1) the N.
P.[5]
is exempt, which you can find out about in detail from Haber or
Laue.[6]
A special provision on that exists that the Schöneberg tax office must be
informed about.
2) The money does not belong to me, pursuant to the divorce contract, and didn’t
ever belong to me for a single
instant.[7]
Where’s the divorce certificate? Could it
be found again?
Wishing all of you a good time, yours,
Albert.
P. S. I am enclosing a review for the Deutsche Literaturzeitung (or something sim-
ilar), which is located on the ground floor of the
Academy.[8]
I had recently taken
this task upon myself.
151. To Betty Neumann
[Leyden,] 13 November 1923
Dear Betty,
I’d also be laughing at the crazy Don Quixote, if he didn’t also happen to be me.
You, young one, are the more astute half of us, and you have more respect for the
difficulties of the triangle geometry than I, the old
mathematician.[1]
Nor am I the