Beschreibung:

EINSTEIN, Albert (18789-1955). Autograph letter signed (‘A. Einstein’) to [Otto Juliusburger], Princeton, 22 January 1947.
EINSTEIN, Albert (18789-1955). Autograph letter signed (‘A. Einstein’) to [Otto Juliusburger], Princeton, 22 January 1947. In German, one page, 279 x 216mm. Envelope. ‘The Germans have not succeeded in concealing their attachment to the Nazi system … One cannot be grateful enough for this victory’. On social remedies, the traditions of intellectual theft in the United States, and strong words on dealing with the ‘German danger’ after the Second World War. The letter opens with a reminiscence of a correspondence with the Austrian Jewish thinker Josef Popper-Lynkeus, in which he challenged Popper-Lynkeus's proposition of universal minimum subsistence (‘Nährpflicht’) as unworkable, a position he now regrets. Einstein imagines Juliusburger’s pleasure at the general acceptance of some of his scientific results (including one on ‘pernicious anaemia’), even if his name was not mentioned: ‘It’s no wonder, for intellectual theft is one of the sacred traditions of this blessed country (Kein Wunder, den der geistige Diebstahl gehört an den geheiligten Traditionen dieses gesegneten Landes)’. Turning to events in Europe, Einstein remarks on the postwar settlement of Germany: ‘The Germans have not succeeded in concealing their attachment to the Nazi system. Hopefully this will cause the others to remedy the German danger more radically than after the last war … The mass of mankind is a fatal beast of whom one never knows when and where it will prepare itself for the annihilating leap. Over here victory has not been well received … And yet one cannot be grateful enough for this victory ‘Den Deutschen ist es nicht gelungen, ihr Hängen am Nazi-tum zu verstecken. Dies wird hoffentlich die andern dazu bringen, die deutsche Gefahr radikaler abzustellen als nach dem letzten Kriege … Der Haufe Mensch ist eine fatale Bestie von der man nie weiss, wann und wo sie zum vernichtenden Sprunge ausholen wird. Den hiesigen ist der Sieg nicht gut bekommen … Und doch kann man nicht dankbar genug sein für diesen Sieg’. A postscript sends news of the narrow escape of their friend Gustav Bucky from a medical emergency.