D O C . 1 4 5 A P P E A L F O R H AT VA N Y 1 5 3 145. Appeal for Ludwig (Lajos) Hatvany[1] [Einstein 1928i] Published 4 February 1928 In: Arbeiterzeitung, 4 Febraury 1928, p. 4. An Appeal to Bethlen’s Wisdom From Budapest it is reported that on the day before the trial of Baron Lajos Hatvany, Prime Minister Count Bethlen received a telegram[2] signed by Professor Einstein, Theodor Wolff, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, Ludwig Fulda, Hugo Hofmannsthal, Stephan Zweig, Felix Salten, Artur Schnitzler, Fritz v. Unruh, Franz Werfel, Sinclair Lewis, and Max Reinhardt, in which we read: We appeal to the highly respected Hungarian government in behalf of Baron Hat- vany, whom we personally admire and like. We hope your wisdom will not allow you to condemn a man like Lajos Hatvany merely because in another, confused time he thought and acted differently and more confusedly than we think and act today. May your Excellency consider that he was the one who, through his book The Wounded Land,[3] helped awaken sympathy, esteem, and concern for Hungary all over Europe. We hope that in his case the Hungarian government will [not] re- duce the sympathy, esteem and concern that Hungary now enjoys, by agreeing to punish such a valuable and basically innocent person as Lajos Hatvany.— The ap- peal to Bethlen’s “wisdom” was of little help Hatvany was sentenced to seven years in prison. The Hungarian government laughs at “the sympathy, esteem, and concern” that European intellectuals accord it would it not be more honest and ef- fective if these intellectuals found other words to use about the “highly respected government” of murderers and counterfeiters?[4]