D O C U M E N T S 3 5 , 3 6 A U G U S T 1 9 2 7 4 9 35. “On the Draft for a School Law for the German Reich” [Einstein 1927q] Dated [after 16 August 1927][1] Published 7 September 1927 In: Sächsische Schulzeitung 94, no. 29 (7 September 1927): 589.[2] I am convinced that the draft school law for the German people represents a serious danger. Its approval would mean a deepening[3] of the religious chasm between parts of the population as well as an endangerment of its educational level and Germany’s reputation as a nation of culture. 36. To Boris Brutzkus[1] Berlin, 20 August 1927 Dear Sir, I am quite familiar with what is happening in Russia. How can you believe that I, as a convinced democrat, approve of the slavery that prevails in Russia?[2] Never in my life have I supported such a thing, any more than the fascism related to the Russian system. However, I believe that the men who staged the Russian experi- ment were acting out of sincere conviction. But I have never thought that these methods were likely to produce a pertinent flourishing of the economy and the people.[3] The mad fanaticism of the leading figures in Russia should probably be inter- preted only as a reaction against an equally intolerable situation. In my opinion, Russia finds itself in a kind of intellectual epidemic that has more or less extin- guished the competence or at least the sound judgment of individuals. But I do not think that here anything can be improved by resorting to violence. The fewer dis- turbances Russia experiences from the outside, the sooner it will become healthy again of that I am firmly convinced. But don’t imagine that what I say here is, as it were, arrogantly felt. The condi- tion of Europe during the war was no less pathological than the current condition in your fatherland.[4] In any case, in my opinion no people is exempt from the dan- ger of falling into an analogous misfortune. I know that it is easy to sit back and judge when one is an observer and need not suffer anything! Your A. Einstein