3 6 2 D O C U M E N T 2 1 0 M A R C H 1 9 2 6 Published in Mitteilungen des Ausschusses zur Durchführung des Volksentscheids für die entschädi- gungslose Enteignung der Fürsten 7 (5 March 1926): 1, and Vorwärts (6 March 1926): [3]. Also pub- lished in Karl 1957, pp. 84–85 and Schmidt, D. 1965, pp. 367–368, under the title “Aufruf von Intel- lektuellen vom 5. März 1926 für die Enteignung der Fürsten” (“Appeal by Intellectuals in Favor of the Expropriation of the Princes, 5 March 1926”). A TD is also available (GyBZL, Nachlass Robert R. Kuczynski, Kuc8-7-71, [95 408]). [1]Late 1925 saw increased popular displeasure with the demands of the former royal houses for compensation for confiscated properties during the revolutions of 1918–1919. Judicial decisions in favor of the former princes led to an even greater public outcry. At the same time, in the major cities, the severe housing shortage was worsening, and unemployment was increasing exponentially. Between November 1925 and February 1926, the number of those receiving unemployment benefits rose from 360,000 to two million. An estimated eight million Germans were living on the verge of star- vation. On 25 November 1925, the KPD initiated a bill that envisaged an expropriation without com- pensation. Owing to lack of support from the SPD, the bill stood no chance of passage. The following month, the German League for Human Rights initiated the “Aussschuß zur Durchführung des Volks- entscheids für entschädigunslose Enteignung der Fürsten” (“Committee for the Implementation of the Referendum on the Expropriation of the Princes without Compensation”). The Aussschuß was chaired by statistician and left-wing activist Robert René Kuczynski. Whereas a petition for a referendum (Volksbegehren) required the support of a tenth of eligible voters, the referendum (Volksentscheid) itself required the backing of half of the electorate to acquire legal validity. Some forty organizations supported the initiative. As part of its efforts to win support from voters beyond the left-wing base, the Ausschuß decided to publish an intellectuals’ appeal in January 1926. The author of the appeal was most likely the author Wilhelm Herzog, and it was signed by more than forty supporters (see Lorenz 2011, pp. 136–139, 142–144, 149). The petition for the referendum, which ran from 4–18 March 1926, achieved the backing of 12.5 million voters. However, the referendum itself, held on 20 June 1926, failed, as it only obtained 14 million votes, thereby falling short of the required 20 million (see Vosssiche Zeitung, 4 and 19 March 1926, EE, and Lorenz 2011, pp. 149 and 162). [2]The signatories included writers, politicians, artists from stage and screen, visual artists, univer- sity professors, members of the clergy, and retired officers. Many of the signatories were members of the German League for Human Rights many others collaborated on the left-wing weekly Die Welt- bühne. Some of the more prominent signatories were Manfred Georg, George Groß, Kurt Hiller, Sieg- fried Jacobsohn, Alfred Kerr, Kurt Kläber, Käthe Kollwitz, Paul Löbe, Leonhard Nelson, Max Pechstein, Erwin Piscator, Helene Stöcker, Ignaz Wrobel (pseudonym for Kurt Tucholsky), and Hein- rich Zille. 210. To Eduard Einstein [Berlin,] 6. III. 26. Lieber Tete! Deine Gedichteln sind wirklich nett. Wahrscheinlich ist Eure Schule noch nie so inbrünstig verherrlicht worden wie durch Dein Sodom und Gomorr¢h²a.[1] Ich habe alles aufmerksam gelesen und finde die Verschen recht gut Schau aber nur, dass der Rythmus nicht chronisch wird, dass Du die Prosa nicht verlernst, sonst geht Dirs schlecht in dieser prosaischsten aller Welten. Am ¢2²15. Juli habe ich Sitzung in Genf. Dann gehen wir zusammen in Ferien.[2] Am liebsten wär mirs irgendwo hochhinauf, wo man aber in Hemdärmeln gehen