D O C U M E N T 8 2 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 5 9 1 in fact, I did. On this occasion, I asked him again quite urgently not to say or do anything that could cause confusion in the handling of the Kramers matter. He re- sponded a bit evasively to this: You will soon see why.— Late Monday evening, Ornstein and Kruyt were suddenly standing at my door my heart sank, and I was already thinking that I would be hearing terribly rough things from O. and that Kruyt had only come along out of decency to prevent the worst. I must confess to you that I was quite relieved when it turned out that O. had cer- tainly not come to rant and swear.--------- Kruyt had gone to O. on Saturday eve- ning immediately after his return from Amsterdam, and the result was that Ornstein not only raised no objections but instantly, in other words, absolutely without any hesitation, very happily accepted Kruyt’s proposal to appoint me.— You under- stand that I expected anything but this.— When I was reflecting on the matter after the Academy, I imagined something like this: if it should actually become neces- sary that I transfer from Leyden to Utrecht in order to bring Kramers to Holland, the Utrecht faculty would accept me even in spite of O.’s protest and, with a little effort on my part, I would manage to get along with O. It actually upset me more that I would be sitting there right under Burger’s nose, but I simply didn’t WANT to think about that for the time being.------ Now I don’t understand why O., who is fighting so fiercely against Kramers’s appointment, is really and truly welcoming me with open arms (the very detailed discussion among the three of us, sometimes well and truly peppered with candor, convinced me of that!)—at present I don’t un- derstand it, and nothing much could be gotten out of him in that regard. You see that all hell has broken loose—I don’t want to present you with any rig- orously formulated questions but would like to know what you think. Here are just a few facts, not well organized, especially not in regards to their relevance.— The fact that Lorentz[5] appointed me in Leyden is among the happiest experi- ences of my life, and that is also what weighs on me most heavily. And you will understand that this Kramers issue enormously increases this constant pressure. I don’t want to leave this position if I cannot expect in all likelihood that the per- son who follows me will, through his scientific and also his personal attributes, make the theoretical-physics life here thrive. I have confidence in Kramers in this regard. I am counting on the fact that you, at least in the next 5-6 years, will on no ac- count desert Leyden, regardless of whether I am here or in Utrecht. We would cer- tainly be able to arrange things so that, if you wish, we will ¢always² be in Leyden at the same time. The following financial question causes me truly serious concern: leaving our house and building even a small household in Utrecht will, in itself, I fear, plunge