DOCS.
65,
66
MARCH
1915 77
65. To
Romain
Rolland
Berlin, 15
Wittelsbacher
St., 22
March
1915
Highly
esteemed
Sir,[1]
From
the
daily paper
and
through
my
connections with
the
highly
creditable
“[New]
Fatherland”
League
I
learned
of how
courageously you
have
placed your
life
and
person
at
risk toward
eliminating
the
so
ominous
misunderstandings
be-
tween
the
French and German
peoples.[2]
I feel
compelled
to
express my complete
admiration and
respect. May your magnificent example
awaken
other
prominent
men
from
the
inexplicable
delusion
that
has
gripped
like
an
insidious
epidemic
even
competent
men
of
otherwise
steady
reason
and
healthy
sentiment! After
three hundred
years
of assiduous
cultural
activity,
must
our
Europe really
be
remembered in
coming
centuries for not
having
advanced
further than from
reli-
gious
mania
to patriotic
mania?
Even
scholars of
the
various
nations
behave
as
if
their
cerebrums had been
amputated
one
8
months
ago.[3]
I
place my
feeble
powers
at
your disposal
in
case
you
think
I
can
be of service
to
you
as
a
tool,
be it
through my
residence
or
through
my
connections
with
German and
foreign
individuals in the exact sciences.
With
genuine
admiration,
yours very devotedly,
A.
Einstein,
Mem. of
the Prus. Acad. of
Sci.
P.S. Should
you
be
in
need of the assistance
of
a
man
completely
versed
in
the
local
circumstances
in
Switzerland,
my
homeland,
or
in need
of
heartwarming
company,
I
refer
you
to
Prof.
Zangger, Berg
St., Zurich,
Prof.
of
For[ensic]
Medicine
at
the
local
university.[4]
66.
To Tullio Levi-Civita
[Berlin,]
13
Wittelsbacher
St.,
26
March
[1915][1]
Dear
Colleague,
I
have
just
received
your
letter
of March 23rd written in the so-familiar
Italian,
of
which
I have
been
deprived
for
so
long.
You
can
hardly imagine
what
a
pleasure
it
gives
me
to
receive such
a
genuine
Italian letter.
While
reading,
the
finest
memories of
my
youth
come
alive.[2] You
also do
a
very charming
thing
in
your
letters:
First
you
flatter
me nicely,
to
prevent
me
from
making
a
dour face
upon
reading your new objections.