3 1 8 D O C U M E N T 3 0 1 C H I L D R E N I N N E E D 301. “Children in Need!” [Einstein et. al. 1926b] Published 7 June 1926 In: Der Montag Morgen, 7 June 1926, p. 2. We have been asked to publish the following appeal: “The accumulating political condemnations of late have elicited keen anxiety among broad segments of the German public and have once again turned the eyes of many away from the fate of those affected.[1] But it is a completely unknown fact that political prisoners—that is, people who became liable to punishment because of their view of the world and not due to dis- honorable character—certainly do not get their board without having to pay, with the state demanding 1.50 marks daily detention costs in every case.[2] Badly paid prisoner labor leased out to employers cannot cover this sum at all—and so after his release, a prisoner owes the often substantial difference to the state! That the state is authorized to garnish its former prisoners any time changes nothing if a dis- traint also turns out to be fruitless, because these fellow members of our nation be- longing to the poorest social stratum mostly have no wages! It is furthermore unknown that only in very rare cases do the families of political prisoners receive poverty assistance (this decision is left in the community’s hands) nor that restitution of those paid out sums is usually required. Thus, families with many children whose breadwinners have been taken away from them by order of the state live in unspeakable destitution. This situation and its undue hardship seems to us untenable. The state’s under- standable viewpoint of punishing the guilty must no longer cause the impoverish- ment of the innocent, of women and helpless children!— — To counter this devastating social injustice, free welfare support should be broadly implemented. We therefore appeal to the public at large for contributions of money to support the two convalescent homes in which the minor children of political prisoners are accommodated: the Elgersburg Children’s Home in Thuringia and the Worpswede Children’s Home near Bremen.[3] — The only ad- dress for contributions is: Barkenhoff Children’s Home, Postal Check Office Ham- burg, No. 62764.” The appeal is signed:[4]