DOCS.
660,
661 NOVEMBER
1918 699
660. To
Carl Heinrich Becker
Berlin W.
30,
5
Haberland
St.,
25 November
1918
To Privy
Councillor
Becker,
Ministry
of Culture
Highly
esteemed
Sir,[1]
A few
days ago
Mr. Born
told
me
that
some
uncertainty
regarding my position
here
stood
in
the
way
of
his
appointment
to
Frankfurt
and Mr. Laue’s
call to
Berlin.[2]
That
is
why
it should be of interest to all concerned if
I
explain
to
you
in
the
following
how I reacted to
a
call to Zurich. Last
summer
Prof.
Edgar
Meyer (Zurich)
informed
me on
behalf
of
the
faculty
that
the
Zurich
University
and
Polytechnic
jointly
wanted
to offer
me a
professorial
chair in
case
I
were
inclined,
in
principle,
to return to Zurich. As
I
am thoroughly
satisfied
with
my
position
here and
I particularly
did not want
to leave
my
excellent
colleagues
here,
after
brief deliberation
I
declined with thanks.
But
in order not to
seem
ungrateful
to
my
kind
countrymen,
I
promised
to
give
two short lecture
cycles
annually
in Zurich
at
the
university,[3]
which should be
possible
without
neglecting
my responsibilities
here.
I
hope
that the
affair
is
adequately
clarified
by
the
above statement
but
am
otherwise
very willing
to
report
at
the
Ministry
of
Culture,
if
that
appears
desir-
able to
you.
In
utmost
respect,
A. Einstein.
661.
To Hermann
Weyl
[Berlin,]
29
November
[1918][1]
Dear
Colleague,
Yesterday
I wanted to submit
your paper
to
the
Academy.[2]
It
could
not
be
done, though, because-something
I
had
forgotten-an earlier decision
had
already
been reached
that
papers by
nonmembers
exceeding a length
of
8 printed
pages may
no
longer
be
accepted
under
any
condition in
the
Sitzungsberichte.
I
therefore believe it would be best
if I put
it
aside
until
you
have
dealt with
it
otherwise.
You
can
inform
me
by
letter
or
telegram
what
I
should do
with
the
manuscript.
The
above
decision arises from
hard
necessity-paper
shortage
and unaffordable
printing
costs; necessity
is
anyway
the
grinning spook
we
face
everywhere.[3]