D O C . 3 6 2 M A R C H 1 9 2 0 3 0 1 You shouldn’t be angry about the 300 francs. I give my sister money too when she has expenses on my behalf. That’s quite natural, you must agree. Why should good and self-sacrificing people be taxed for their kindness?[6] Over here confusion reigns, corruption and cut-throat dictatorship. The military is murdering with im- punity, that miserable bunch! The barbarity is horrendous. The government is weak with a leaning toward shady compromise.[7] Soon I shall be able to take care of my family again, at least for the next few years. One can’t plan far in advance these days, anyway. In May I’ll be in Holland. I’d like to have the boys here to see me for the summer holidays, at least Albert. As Switzerland is out of the question owing to the valuta,[8] I’d like to have them here with me by a lake for sailing. Haber is going to be Fischer’s successor at the university.[9] I am reading Dos- toyevsky (The Brothers Karamazov). It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever laid my hands on.[10] I would like to see you and Besso soon again. But I won’t be able to manage a trip to Switzerland so soon. Warm regards also to your wife and little ones from your Einstein. 362. From Max von Laue Berlin, 27 March 1920 Dear Einstein, I absconded with your box of matches yesterday, which is nowadays as bad as if, in former days, I had stolen someone’s silver spoon.[1] So I send the box back to you as full as it was. As there are growing signs of an imminent call for me—where to, I have not been able to make out for sure yet—I would like to tell you right away what I am going to ask for here in that case for you will be asked for your opinion in any event and can then be better prepared for the shock you will receive. For I would like to try and get rid of my lecturing duties. Justification: holding lectures in the current scope and conducting scientific research at the same time is too much for my nerves.[2] If our honorable fellow men want me to produce anything in science again—and that would be thoroughly reasonable, especially since nothing worth- while comes out of my lectures anyway—they will have to approve my demand, come what may. If we had the economic conditions of prewar times, the matter would be quite simple. Then I could call myself a private scholar, which was always