932 DOCUMENT 641
OCTOBER 1918
Academy,
which
postponed
administrative action
against foreign
institutions until
peacetime
(see
Doc.
118, note
10).
While adamant
during
the
war years
in
refusing
to retract his adherence
to
the
manifesto,
he wrote
an open
letter
to
H. A. Lorentz in
early
1916,
in which he unburdened his
con-
science and stressed the
importance
of
maintaining
international cultural values
(see
Doc.
218,
note
5).
[3]The
government
of
Max
von
Baden had sued for
peace
at
the
beginning
of
the month
(see
the
preceding
document, note
3).
Its reformist
course
was
further underscored
by
the
Reichstag’s
enact-
ment,
on
28
October,
of
a
law
establishing a parliamentary system
of
government.
[4]The
German
emperor
resisted abdication
to
the
very
end
(9 November).
[5]A
reference to
Kjellén
1917. This collection
of
essays, originally published
in Swedish
by
Ru-
dolf
Kjellén
(1864-1922),
Professor
of
Political Science at the
University
of
Uppsala,
is
an
unabashed
work
of
"promotion
of
the
common
Germanic cause"
("Förderung
der
gemeinsamen germanischen
Sache,"
p. viii).
In
addition,
it
proclaims
the
organic unity
of
state and
individual,
especially
in times
of
war (p. 58).
Einstein’s view
of
the
state was
far less
exalted (see
Doc.
305).
On
one occasion,
he
even
com-
pared
his
relationship
to the
state
as a
"business affair
...
akin to one’s
relationship to
life insurance"
(see
Doc.
132, note 4).
641.
To
Felix Klein
[Berlin,
28
October
1918]
Hoch
verehrter
Kollege!
Ich danke Ihnen bestens für Ihre überaus freundlichen Zeilen. Den Vektor-Cha-
rakter
von
e°
sehe ich immer noch
nicht.[1]
Wenn nämlich die Invarianz
von[2]
E1
E'1
dw1
d'w'
,,
I
dw.
E~
für
eine
beliebige
Hyperfläche
bewiesen
wäre,
dann wäre der
Schluss
unmittelbar
zu
ziehen. Aber soweit ich
es
einsehe,
ist der Beweis
nur
für
geschlossene
Hyper-
flächen
geleistet.[3]
Ich kann also wohl
einsehen,
das
1
d(eaJg)
Jg
dxc
eine
Invariante
ist,[4]
aber
nicht,
dass ea selbst ein
Vektor
ist.-
Es
grusst
Sie freundlich Ihr
ganz ergebener
A. Einstein.
AKS
(GyGöU,
Cod. Ms.
F.
Klein 22B
:
Einstein,
20). [14 455].
The
verso
is addressed
"Herrn
Prof.
Dr.
F.
Klein Universität
Göttingen,"
and postmarked "Berlin W 30 28.10.18.
3-4N[achmittags]."
The
recipient’s
identification
of
the author
at
the head
of
the
verso
is omitted.