286 DOCUMENT
219
MAY 1916
Ich habe
immer
Lust,
einmal bei Euch aufzutauchen. Vielleicht
gibt
sichs einmal
unversehens
Mit
herzlichen
Grüssen
an
Dich,
die
Deinen,
Lorentz und de Haas Dein
A. Einstein.
AKS.
[9
376].
The
postcard
is addressed “Herrn Prof.
P.
Ehrenfest Universität Leiden
Holland.,”
and
postmarked
“Berlin-Wilmersdorf
1
29.4.16.
1-2N[achmittags].”
[1]Presumably
Einstein
1912a,
Einstein’s
lecture
at the first
Solvay Congress,
or
its German
version,
Einstein
1914a
(Vol. 3,
Doc.
26).
[2]See
Lorentz
1916a. In
August
1916,
Einstein
published
a glowing
review
of
Lorentz’s book
(Einstein
1916k
[Vol.
6,
Doc.
36]).
[3]Einstein
1916e
(Vol.
6,
Doc.
30).
[4]Gunnar
Nordstrom
was on a fellowship
in
Leyden (see
Doc.
112,
note
3).
[5]Since early 1915,
Planck
had deliberated
on
how
best to
mitigate
the
harm
done
by
the Mani-
festo
of
the 93,
of
which he
had been
one
of
the
signatories (see
Doc.
45,
note
3,
on
the
manifesto,
and
Doc. 98,
note
3,
for
his
mediating
role in the Prussian
Academy).
He
deemed
a
joint
retraction
by
all
ninety-three
signers to
be both
substantively
and
practically
unfeasible,
but
in
an
open
letter
that he enclosed with
a private one
to
Lorentz,
he
took
pains,
in the last
paragraphs, to
stress that the
cultivation
of
international cultural values
was
compatible
with ardent love
of
country. Taking a
dif-
ferent tack in the first
paragraph,
however,
he
characterized
the manifesto
as an
“act of
self-defense
against
the
unprecedented
campaign
of
slander,
which
had overwhelmed the German
people
at the
outbreak
of
the war”
(“Akt
der
Abwehr
gegen
den
beispiellosen Feldzug
der
Verleumdung, von
dem
sich das deutsche Volk beim Ausbruch des
Krieges
überrascht sah.” See Max
Planck
to H.
A.
Lorentz,
27
February
1916,
with
enclosure, NeHR,
Archief
H.
A.
Lorentz).
While
welcoming
the
tone
of
the second
part
of
Planck’s
open
letter,
Lorentz
took issue with his
usage
of
the
term “slander” in the first
part,
and urged
him to
explain
instead
that
German intellectuals
had acted in instinctive
solidarity
with the
German
government
and
people
(see
H. A. Lorentz to
Max
Planck,
20
March
1916, NeHR,
Archief
H.
A.
Lorentz).
A statement, revised in Lorentz’s
spirit,
appeared
in the Dutch
newspaper Algemeen
Handelsblad
of
11 April
1916
(see
Wehberg
1920,
pp.
19-20,
for
the German
version,
without
Lorentz’s introduc-
tory
remarks),
as
well
as
in other
newspapers
and
journals,
such
as
the Vossische
Zeitung,
the Frank-
furter
Zeitung,
and The
Observatory
(39 (1916): 284).
Whatever its
reception,
Planck
emphasized
that the main
purpose
of
the statement had
been
“the
unburdening
of
my
conscience, which
weighed
on me
for months”
(“die
Entlastung
des
eigenen
Gewissens,
das mich Monate
lang
drückte.” See Max
Planck to H. A.
Lorentz,
28
April
1916, NeHR,
Archief
H. A.
Lorentz).
See also Heilbron
1986,
pp.
76-78,
for
the
printed
text in
English
translation with substantive differences from the
original
text noted.
219.
To
Michele
Besso
[Berlin,] 14 V. [1916][1]
Lieber Michele!
Es
ging
weiter alles
gut (auf
der
Reise
und
später).[2]
Meine Schreibfaulheit ist
ja nicht
ärger geworden, nur
Du
hast
Dich
merkwürdiger
und erfreulicher
Weise
gebessert.
Unser
lebendiger
Sterne-Roman ist mindestens
so
schön wie das
Origi-
nal und ruft nach
Fortsetzung.[3]