1 2 D O C U M E N T 9 A P R I L 1 9 2 3
what. But I do think that you will like it all right, and the main thing is, that tran-
quility [eine Ruh’], as they say in Bavaria, is at home there.
My
wife[3]
is especially looking forward to Lautrach; she feels a little superflu-
ous over here, but she is enormously looking forward to being able to mother you
and your
boys[4]
in Lautrach; I think she’s especially looking forward to your boys.
So please write, but this time, if possible, with the exact time that you are arriv-
ing so that I can pick you up in radiant joy.
Cordial greetings from household to household, your at all times loyal
Anschütz.
9. From Pierre Comert[1]
Geneva, 10 April 1923
Dear Professor Einstein,
Upon my return to Geneva after quite a long absence, I found your letter of 21
March, the receipt of which one of my colleagues at the Secretariat had already ac-
knowledged to
you.[2]
Because the Zurich newspapers were informed about your letter of resignation
and published it before it had even reached the Secretariat in Geneva, it only re-
mains for an accomplished fact to be officially
recorded.[3]
Your letter will be offi-
cially communicated to the members of the Committee on Intellectual Coopera-
tion, who will transmit it to the Council of the League of Nations; the latter will
take action on it and will eventually advise about the choice of a successor.
It is, I think, because of our relations in Berlin that you addressed your letter of
resignation to me. It is thus permissible for me perhaps to express, in a private ca-
pacity, certain personal reflections.
Your decision was a blow for me, as painful as it was unexpected; nothing in the
relations that you entertained up to that day with the Secretariat of the League of
Nations could have allowed one to foresee such a step on your part.
It was last year, in the month of May, that the Council of the League of Nations
invited you kindly to take part in the Committee on Intellectual
Cooperation.[4]
In
accepting this nomination in your letter of 30
May,[5]
you declared that you felt
obliged to respond to this appeal, considering that in our epoch, you said, no one
should refuse to collaborate on an endeavor that has as a goal the materialization of
international cooperation.
Nevertheless, some weeks later, at the beginning of July, you let the secretary
general know that, following circumstances that had become clear to you since