3 4 V O L . 1 4 , D O C U M E N T 3 0 6 a A U G U S T 1 9 2 4 Abstand zu nehmen, da jeder solche Schritt als Begünstigung reaktionärer Ma- chenschaften gegen Fortschritt und internationale Verständigung gedeutet ¢wer- den² würde. Mit ausgezeichneter Hochachtung Prof. Dr. A. Einstein. Mitgl. d. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, Mitglied der Völkerbundskommission für internationales geistiges Zusammenwirken. TLS (GyKaLa, 235_1890). [95 838]. Addressed “An den Herrn Minister für Kultus und Unterricht von Baden Karlsruhe.” [1]Willy Hellpach (1877–1955), a neurologist, was the Baden minister of culture and education for the Deutsche Demokratische Partei, director of the Institute for Social Psychology at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. [2]Emil J. Gumbel (1891–1966) was Privatdozent in mathematical statistics at the Institute for Social and Political Sciences at the University of Heidelberg, a leading member of the German League for Human Rights, and chairman of the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft in Heidelberg. [3]The senate in question was at the University of Heidelberg, not Freiburg. On 26 July 1924, the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft and a war veterans’ association had held a “Never Again War” rally to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of World War I in Heidelberg. At the rally, Gumbel asked the audience to stand in silence for two minutes in memory of the war dead “who— I don’t want to say—fell on the field of dishonor, but who lost their lives in a horrible manner” (“die—ich will nicht sagen—auf dem Felde der Unehre gefallen sind, aber doch auf gräßliche Weise ums Leben kamen.” see Heidelberger Neueste Nachrichten, 28 July 1924). Gumbel’s words unleashed a storm of outrage throughout Germany, especially among right-wing and nationalist groups. Willy Hellpach immediately granted the request of the faculty at the University of Heidelberg to suspend Gumbel. The faculty and the executive senate voted to begin disciplinary proceedings to dismiss him. An investigating committee recommended that the philosophical faculty approve a broader inquiry into Gumbel’s “entire personality” (“gesamten Persönlichkeit”). The com- mittee issued two contradictory reports because of disagreements among its members. Two weeks af- ter the rally, Hellpach lifted the suspension. Efforts to revoke Gumbel’s right to teach (venia legendi) by the Baden government continued in the ensuing years but were not successful, and his appointment was renewed periodically (see Jansen 1981, pp. 11–21, and Brenner 2001, pp. 90–114).