I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 5 l v (Doc. 88). But only a day later he retracted this suggestion after having discovered that the woman in question was a friend of Mileva and merely had “a human interest” in their son. It was both Knecht’s pedigree and her age that worried Einstein, with conse- quences he thought “too terrible” to contemplate in light of “unfavorable hereditary factors” present, especially on the mother’s side (Docs. 95 and 104). The age dif- ference was to him “even worse” than in the case of his own first marriage (Doc. 105).[18] For Einstein, “the drama” of his marriage at a young age was now being repeated, as in the biblical saying to which he alluded: “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” (Doc. 89). The “iniquity” in question was presum- ably Einstein’s conflict with his own parents over their fierce opposition to his plans to marry Mileva[19] and the alleged genetic “inferiority” that Mileva, and to a lesser extent he himself, had brought into their union.[20] Einstein even asked friends to intervene (Docs. 89 and 99). Hermann Anschütz- Kaempfe, who had intermittently employed Hans Albert at his factory in Kiel, played a sizable role in these endeavors: after meeting with Knecht, Anschütz- Kaempfe concluded that she was “a psychopath who has pathologically exaggerat- ed egocentricity,” “decidedly degenerative characteristics, dwarfish stature & na- scent development of a goiter,” and “the skull formation [is] also pathological” (Doc. 110). He counseled removing Hans Albert, whom he deemed socially isolated and financially hampered, from Frieda’s influence (Doc. 111). While con- ceding that his son had suffered a lot because of family circumstances, Einstein be- lieved that it was primarily his son’s personality and external projection of his woes that had brought about this situation (Doc. 105). He also blamed Mileva: had she sent their son to study in Munich instead of enabling him to remain in Zurich, the boy would have gained a better insight into women and human relationships (Doc. 195). Einstein’s worries gradually escalated. He came to believe that it would be “a crime” for Hans Albert to have children with Knecht, and that everything should be done to avert “a catastrophe” (Docs. 135 and 185). He now took the radical step of completely breaking off ties with his son, telling him not to write or visit until he had “resolved this conflict” (Doc. 286). Although Mileva and Anschütz- Kaempfe both thought it unwise to make Hans Albert choose between his love in- terest and contact with his father, Einstein did not relent (Docs. 191, 195, 263). He also set his hopes on a senior psychiatrist in Zurich (Doc. 211) and asked his friend Heinrich Zangger to intervene. He believed Knecht’s mother to be in an in- sane asylum and was “horrified by the thought of offspring” (Doc. 243). Zangger discovered that the mother was suffering from an autoimmune disease and possibly