3 0 6 D O C U M E N T 3 0 4 A U G U S T 1 9 2 4
304. From Tatiana Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa
Leyden, 18 August 1924
Dear Mr. Einstein,
Wouldn’t you like to tell me more about what is going on with the 100,000 lire?
For which Russians are they destined? For those sitting
abroad?[1]
—Then I would
not like to see the physicist
A.
Janitsky—Frankfurt-on-M[ain][2]
forgotten, assistant to Prof.
Dessauer[3]
at the Inst. for the Physical Foundations of
Medicine.
He is private lecturer, scratches out a very, very meager living—I visited him at
home and saw that. Aged above 50 years. Supposedly accomplishes very much for
the institute, has his own topic—changes in the conductivity of Geissler tubes
through absorption of gases by the electrodes—has little time to pursue the re-
search.
Then
Mr.
Rajewsky[4]
—who was also accepted by Dessauer, Janitsky’s student,
whom he and Dessauer also value very much.
Then I would ask the philosopher S.
Franck[5]
(1 Karl Schrader St., I, Berlin)—
provided non-exact sciences are also being considered. He certainly would be able
to name people who were expelled at the same time as he was.
If the lire are intended for intellectuals residing inside Russia, I would prefer to
ask such people as Joffe, Roschdestwensky, Kagan,
Mandelstamm,—Lazareff[6]
—
Perhaps place specific sums at their disposal so that they can get it to the right peo-
ple.
This matter generally must be thoroughly discussed. Can it wait until my hus-
band has returned from Russia—beginning of
October?[7]
He will have found out
more definite details. I only want to write him about this after I have received your
answer and it turns out that the money really is meant for Russia (as travel stipends,
perhaps?).
So, please answer me as soon as possible. Wouldn’t
Langevin[8]
know some
Russians in Paris who would come under consideration? For how many people
would 100,000 lire be enough, after all?
Thus I await a kind signal on your part, also a little something about yourself.
My husband arrived in Petersburg on August 6th after an exceedingly pleasant jour-
ney. He has excellent impressions of the work atmosphere at Joffe’s institute and
regrets very much that little Tanichka cannot be persuaded to go over
there.[9]
We