5 8 2 D O C U M E N T 3 6 8 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 6 Published in Vereinigung 1926, p. 56, under the subtitle “Professor A. Einstein, Berlin” (reprinted in Schütte 1988, p. 258). [1]Dated by the date of the protest meeting. [2]The protest meeting against “the bill for the protection of minors against obscene and pulp literature” (“Gesetzentwurf zur Bewahrung der Jugend vor Schmutz- und Schundschriften”) was held in the assembly room of the former Prussian Herrenhaus in Berlin on 10 September 1926. It was organized by the Vereinigung linksgerichteter Verleger. Among the speakers were Max Winkler, Egon Erwin Kisch, Arthur Holitscher, Julius Bab, Kurt Löwenstein, and Rudolf Rocker. Messages were also received from Gerhart Hauptmann, Magnus Hirschfeld, Siegfried Jacobsohn, Klabund, Thomas Mann, Helene Stöcker, and others (see Vereinigung 1926 and Vossische Zeitung, 9 September 1926, EE). The immediate postwar years saw a significant increase in the activities of local organizations di- rected against “obscene” and “pulp” materials. Public campaigns against such materials led to the proposal of a bill at the meeting of the German cabinet of 19 December 1923. In August 1925, the minister of the interior, Martin Schiele, transmitted to the Reichstag the draft of a law as a supplement to the existing criminal law on pornography, proposing the creation of a review board (Prüfstelle) that would consist of representatives of various interested constituencies, who would examine dubious publications to be submitted by government officials, publishers, and authors. In cases in which the majority of the board deemed a publication a danger to youth, it would be placed on a special Reichsliste. For the text of the bill, see Vereinigung 1926, pp. 68–76. Most opponents of the bill ad- vocated amendments rather than its outright rejection. They feared the bill would curtail artistic free- dom and mainly affect adults. Leftist opponents also believed the law would be used for political censorship (see Stieg 1990, pp. 22 and 34–41). 368. To Elsa Einstein [Düsseldorf, 23 September 1926] Donnerstag Liebe Else! Lange geschwiegen, aber es war sonst zu viel los.[1] Morgen kommt Tagore,[2] ich will ihn zu erwischen suchen. Die Sitzungen sind nahezu beendet es war recht hübsch, sodass ich froh bin, gekommen zu sein, zumal der Bonzen-Besuch sonst schwach war. Meine Wirte sind so gut und lieb zu mir, dass ich wohl noch ein bis- chen kleben bleibe.[3] Maschke[4] hat noch nichts hören lassen, sodass ich nichts weiss ob er kommt. Hoffentlich gehts Euch gut bezw. erträglich.[5] Herzliche Grüsse Euer Albert. AKS. [143 207]. The postcard is addressed “Elsa Einstein Haberlandstr. 5 Berlin W.” and postmarked “Düsseldorf 1 24.9.26 1–2 N[achmittags].” [1]Einstein was attending the eighty-ninth annual conference of the GDNÄ in Düsseldorf, which was held 19–25 September. [2]Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, play- wright, essayist, and painter, and winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. [3]Einstein’s hosts were Willibald (Willy) Lebach (1873–1962), coproprietor of the Gebr. Lebach AG in Elberfeld and member of the DDP, and Margarete (Grete) Lebach-Bachwitz (1885–1938) see Doc. 373.