D O C U M E N T 6 4 J U N E 1 9 2 3 6 3
how experimental problems result. I very keenly miss your vociferous skepti-
cism—I will certainly come. Since I must go into the occupied territory, however,
and my
wife[9]
has now been warned, I have to wait a few more weeks until there
is a chance that conditions are less restive again (because I did promise as much,
now).
Do let me know your time schedule for September/October sometime, so that I
can arrange the Berlin days to suit you.
You are terribly right: the psychological powers and drives of Europe and the
moral motivations have suffered heavily and lastingly from shallow materialistic
competition and exploitation—which is coming out into the open more and
more,—for young people even more so; how much does convenience get a say here
as the ultimate goal and decide on this motive with a brutality of which we were
ashamed when we had better motives, or would have tentatively restrained our-
selves from having (was this our
mistake?)[10]
64. To Hugo Strelitz[1]
Berlin, 13 June 1923
Esteemed Sir,
If you knew what we have been going through with Mr. Stampe, you would cer-
tainly not have written your letter to
me.[2]
Mr. Stampe has been supported by us
with money, clothing, and in every other way for four years now. Until a few
months ago he was the music teacher of my younger
daughter[3]
and duly received
his payment for those hours. My wife supported his son in Tübingen, who has
meanwhile died, with additional money. Already before that, my family took him
in temporarily, in my own room during my absence, when he was homeless.
A few weeks before my return from Japan, Dr. Richard with additional money-
Stern (president of Artists’ Aid) asked my daughter to let Mr. Stampe have a place
to
stay.[4]
He initially slept in my bedroom. When I returned, he was moved into a
storeroom which lies half a stairway higher than the rest of the apartment. Through-
out those entire three months, he received from us not only accommodation but also
breakfast and supper for free.
The stay in the storeroom, according to Dr.
Strauss’s[5]
information, was sup-
posed to last only a few weeks. That turned into three months. For the past 3 weeks
we have been asking Mr. Stampe in the most polite way to find another place to stay
because we definitely need the storeroom, due to the cessation of the central heat-
ing, to store our coal. (This storeroom isn’t an inhabitable space, from the point of
view of the housing office, and belongs to our apartment.)