6 4 D O C U M E N T 5 1 S T A T E M E N T F O R R O L L A N D some nice experiments together.[2] At the end of July I was in Zurich on my way back from the League of Nations Committee[3] (into which I actually do not fit par- ticularly well) and very much regretted that you weren’t there. I visited Grossmann, who has a strange nervous ailment with paralyses,[4] but found him better than I had feared. I was there with my first wife,[5] with whom I get along quite satisfactorily again, to my great satisfaction. She even sent the boys to me at my house in Berlin for the first time, for which I give her a lot of credit.[6] Scientifically, I have discov- ered something quite wonderful, about which I don’t know for sure whether it—is true. It is in the area of relativity-Eddington.[7] It is terribly difficult to look some- what more deeply into nature’s secrets what is discovered is either inaccurate or superficial—for the most part. I heard from Albert that you were quite ill and had again suffered from a nasty poisoning.[8] I finally met old man Lewin and have vis- ited him several times.[9] An interesting, upstanding fellow smells strongly of the Old Testament. I am enclosing a small article for the liber amicorum[10] for Romain Rolland,[11] as I don’t exactly know where else I should send it. You will then for- ward it along with yours. Warm regards from your A. Einstein 51. Statement for Romain Rolland’s Sixtieth Birthday [Einstein 1926a] Dated [after 18 August 1925][1] Published [1926] In: Maxim Gorki, Georges Duhamel, and Stefan Zweig, eds. Liber amicorum Romain Rolland. Paris: Michel, 1926, pp. 143–144. Dear Master, Only once did I see you first-hand: you were still shaken by the initial impact of the European crisis, you appeared a lonely visionary amid the tortured masses, frustrated by your inability to bring them light and deliverance.[2] You were never satisfied to use your rare creative talent to communicate only with the finer spirits you have longed to help all human beings who are victims of self-inflicted misery. The rude masses are driven by dark passions that dominate them as well as the governments which represent them. They rant and rave against each other and [p. 143]
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