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ALSX. [39 728]. Cropped.
[1]This letter is dated on the assumption that it was written the first Saturday after 30 December
1919, the date of the letter from Paul Ehrenfest (Doc. 239) mentioned in the postscript.
[2]On Mileva Einstein-Maric;; planned trip to visit her parents, see Doc. 190, note 2.
[3]Eduard entered the Zürcher Heilstätte bei Aegeri für scrophulöse und rachitische Kinder under
the direction of Dr. Konrad(?) Bossard on 5 January. The school was under the patronage of the med-
ical society of Zurich, of which Zangger was most likely a member. Eduard stayed there for eight
weeks (until 29 February); payment for this period was made on 2 March; he remained another 32
days (from 1 March until 2 April), with payment made on 13 April (see SzAegBS, Rechnungsbuch
1920, p. 278). For Hans Albert’s planned stay with the Zanggers, see Doc. 233.
[4]Emil Zürcher, Jr. On Einstein’s expenses in Switzerland, see Doc. 103, note 4.
[5]On Einstein’s indebtedness to Zangger for expenses incurred in taking care of Mileva and their
sons, including Mileva’s and Tete’s stays in sanatoria and Hans Albert’s stays with Zangger, and on
the Besso family’s role in monitoring these expenses, see Michele Besso to Einstein, 27 December
1917 (Vol. 8, Doc. 419); Heinrich Zangger to Einstein, 31 December 1917 (Vol. 8, Doc. 424); and
Heinrich Zangger to Einstein, 4 March 1918 (Vol. 8, Doc. 473).
[6]Einstein had planned to move Mileva and their sons to Durlach near Karlsruhe in southern Ger-
many as the exchange rate made the transfer of funds stipulated by the Divorce Decree (Doc. 6) from
Germany to Switzerland increasingly more costly for him. His distant relative there was August Marx
(see Doc. 207).
[7]Pauline Einstein, who was terminally ill, was accompanied on her trip from Lucerne to Berlin
by her nurse, Frieda Huber; her doctor, Josephine Tobler; and Einstein’s sister, Maja Winteler-
Einstein. The planned date of their leaving for Berlin was 26 December (see Maja Winteler-Einstein
to Jost Winteler, 23 December 1919).
[8]Two weeks earlier, Einstein had already informed Felix Ehrenhaft that he would not attend the
planned Zionist meeting to discuss the establishment of the Hebrew University in Basel due to the
expected arrival of Pauline in Berlin (see Doc. 211). Elsa Einstein cited also Einstein’s poor health as
a reason for his not attending [9 455]. In Doc. 207, Einstein debated the usefulness of his attending
such meetings. On the reasons for the postponement of the planned conference, see Doc. 233, note 8.
[9]Eduard had apparently requested the Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, a collection of
easy keyboard compositions for beginners (see Doc. 191).
[10]Peter Debye announced his visit in Doc. 221, where he informed Einstein of his intended arrival
in Berlin on Saturday evening, the 27th. On David Hilbert’s effort to keep Debye in Göttingen, see
Doc. 225.
[11]Einstein had earlier alluded to Heine’s poem mentioning Buridan’s ass in Einstein to Heinrich
Zangger, 20 September 1911 (Vol. 5, Doc. 286).
[12]For earlier references to the impact of his sudden fame on his private life, see entry of 10 De-
cember 1919 in Calendar and Doc. 233.
[13]Lectures in an adult education series of the Volkshochschule Groß-Berlin were announced on
28 January (see Vossische Zeitung, 28 January 1920, Evening Edition). Einstein offered a series of ten
one-hour lectures “on kinematics and equilibrium of bodies” (“Über die Grundlehren der Bewegung
und das Gleichgewicht der Körper”) starting on 4 February in Auditorium X of the Landwirtschaftli-
che Hochschule at Invalidenstr. 42 from 8 until 9 in the evening (see Vossische Zeitung, 3 February
1920, Evening Edition), where he envisaged also discussing the theory of relativity (Tägliche Rund-
schau, 4 February 1920, Morning Edition; Berliner Tageblatt, 4 February 1920, Morning Edition).
[14]In Doc. 239.
[15]Paul Epstein.
[16]See Epstein 1916a.