August 2017 Auction Ends Thursday, August 24th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/24/2017
Exceptional and lengthy autograph letter signed by Albert Einstein in October 1938, ten days after English Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, effectively ceding Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler. Einstein here shows that his sharp mind extends beyond physics to also include the nuances and repercussions of international diplomacy; while most people praised Chamberlain (including President Roosevelt and the Royal family) for avoiding war by appeasing Hitler, Einstein accurately predicted that it would embolden Hitler and do further damage to European alliances. Datelined Princeton, 10 October 1938, Einstein writes to his close friend Michele Besso in German, beginning with his attempts to help European Jews by issuing affidavits: ''Dear Michele! / I am not able to give any more affidavits, and I would endanger the ones that are still pending if I issued additional new ones. The few persons I know who have some assets are already encumbered to their limit. The pressure on us from these poor people over there is such that, in view of the amount of misery and the scant opportunity of being able to help, one feels absolute despair. It is bloody difficult here for business people to establish themselves. It is significantly better for trades-people - this would apply in the case of your protege's wife. However, it will be very difficult, if these people do not have any relatives over here. You see, affidavits from relatives receive priority consideration, and increasingly this means exclusion of all others. / You have confidence in the British and even Chamberlain? O sancta simpl...! ['Oh holy innocence', i.e., naivete in Latin] Hoping that Hitler might let off steam by attacking Russia, he sacrifices Eastern Europe. But we will come to see once more that shrewdness does not win in the long term. In France, he pushed the Left into a corner and, in France as well, helped give power to those people whose motto is, 'Better Hitler than the Reds.' The extermination policy against Spain already showed this clearly. Now he saved Hitler in the nick of time by crowning himself with the wreath of love of peace and inducing France to betray the Czechs. He did all this in such a clever way that he deceived most people, even you (unfortunately). His only fear, which spurred him on to his humiliating flights, was the worry that Hitler might lose ground. / I do not have any hope left for the future of Europe. America valiantly joined in with the effort to strangle Spain. For here too, to all intents and purposes, money and the fear of Bolshevists prevail - or, just in general, the fear of the owning class for their privileges. I wouldn't want to be alive if I didn't have my work. At any rate, it is good to be old now and, as a person at least, not to have to count on a distant future. / I am sending you our most recent work; I have great hopes for its further elaboration. I am still thoroughly convinced that, looked at from a deeper perspective, explaining the laws of nature in terms of probability constitutes a wrong direction, in spite of all practical successes of the statistical method. / From this work, you will not yet be able to clearly see the physical implications. Nevertheless, I am sure that you will like its purely logical aspect, irrespective, at this point, of whether anything can be done with it from the actual physical point of view. / I am glad for you that you are going to retire. You have pulled this tedious cart, which never arrives anywhere, long enough, and now, during your last years, you will be able to devote yourself purely to thought. Plato, as you know, desired this for all members of his privileged class who had reached the age of 50. / Mileva [Einstein's ex-wife] has great difficulties making her mortgage payments. I suppose I will have to assume ownership of the house, in which she lives, in my own name, even though this constitutes a considerable risk. / Affectionate greetings to you and Anna from your / Albert''. Two page letter with blind-stamped address measures 8.5'' x 11''. With original transmittal envelope postmarked Princeton, 11 October 1938. Near fine condition. Accompanied by a full translation.
Albert Einstein 1938 ALS Regarding Hitler: ''...Hoping that Hitler might let off steam...[Chamberlain] saved Hitler in the nick of time by crowning himself with the wreath of love of peace...''
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