254
DOCS.
265,
266
OCTOBER
1916
265. To
Carl Kormann
Berlin, 13
Wittelsbacher
St.
[15
October
1916][1]
Esteemed
Sir,[2]
I
am
contacting
you,
without
knowing
you,
because the
following
matter
im-
pels
me
to do
so.
In
the
household
of
my relatives,
which
I
frequent
daily,[3] a
young
woman,
Miss
Margarethe
Telle,
has been
employed
for sometime.
The
girl
has
won
the
family’s
confidence
through
her
impeccable behavior;
that
is
how she
came
to
reveal
to
them her serious
troubles,
after
we
had
already
noticed
for
a
long
time how
deeply depressed
she
was.
She confessed
to
us
that
she has
an
ille-
gitimate
child
and
identified
you as
the
father. The
girl’s
proven
truthfulness,
the
inquiries
we
made
about
her
life
at that
time,
her
precise
and
graphic description
of her
experience
in
your villa,
as
well
as
the
time
of
birth
are
adequate
proof to
me
of
the
accuracy
of her account.
It
is
completely incomprehensible
to
me
and
my family why
the
poor girl
has
not received
what
she
is
entitled
to
up
to
now.
We
are firmly
resolved to
help
her obtain her
rights
from
you.
We
have
already applied
to
the
Charlottenburg
Council for
the
placement
of
your
child and
I
ask
you herewith,
before
I
take
further
steps
in
the
matter,
whether
you
are
inclined to declare
yourself
the
father
of
the
child.
Very respectfully,
Prof.
A.
Einstein
Memb. of the
Roy.
Pruss.
Academy
of Sciences.
266. From Carl Kormann
Lichterfelde, Berlin, 109
I
Carl
St., 16
October
1916
To Professor
Einstein,
Berlin.
I
consider
the letter of
15
October[1]
addressed
to
me as
intimidation.
Be-
fore
placing
your
name
and-what, in
judging
the
situation,
carries
particular
weight-your
capacity
as
member of
the
Academy
of
Sciences
at
the
foot
of
such
a
letter
based
on
utterly
false
facts, you really ought
to
have considered
properly
the
consequences
of
your
line of
action.[2]
It
cannot
be unknown
to
you-unless
out of
gross
negligence-that
final
legal
decisions do exist
by
two
courts.
When
you
nevertheless
write
me
that the
(contradictory) allegations are
ad-
equate
evidence for
you,
that
“you are
firmly
resolved
to
help
obtain
her
rights
with
regard
to these
(contradictory)
allegations”[3]
and
“you
ask
me
herewith,
before
you
take
further
steps
in
the
matter, whether I
am now
inclined to declare