Details
EINSTEIN, Albert. Three autograph letters signed ("A. Einstein"), Princeton, 2 December 1938, 26 January 1939, and 30 January 1939, to Dr. Samuel A. Cohen, two in German [With:] Five typed letters and telegrams, between Margot Einstein, Hans Schiffer, Lotte Schiffer, Marie Munk and Samuel A. Cohn. Together 11 pages, 4to.
EINSTEIN'S EFFORTS TO RESCUE A GERMAN JEW FROM NAZI BERLIN
Friends and colleagues of Hans Schiffer were deperately seeking to get him out of Berlin to the safety of England or America. But even these ostensibly friendly countries, so sternly opposed to Hitler's regime, were uneasy about taking in Jewish refugees. So the task was not an easy one, as Albert Einstein's 26 January 1939 letter to Dr. Cohen attests: "I beg you to excuse me for disturbing you once more with a matter concerning Mr. Schiffer for whom you so kindly filed an affidavit....Mr. Schiffer will get permission to go to England if he proves that he has the possibility to emigrate to America after a certain time. For that purpose he needs your confirmation, probably for the English authorities." Einstein was so eager to help and even drafted a text for Cohen to sign: "You will note," he adds, "that $2.44 has been paid by the sender. It is the amount of a night-cable letter to Germany. Any additional cost on your part in this matter I shall gladly refund." Whether Shiffer was successful in fleeing Nazi rule is unfortunately not known.
(9)
EINSTEIN'S EFFORTS TO RESCUE A GERMAN JEW FROM NAZI BERLIN
Friends and colleagues of Hans Schiffer were deperately seeking to get him out of Berlin to the safety of England or America. But even these ostensibly friendly countries, so sternly opposed to Hitler's regime, were uneasy about taking in Jewish refugees. So the task was not an easy one, as Albert Einstein's 26 January 1939 letter to Dr. Cohen attests: "I beg you to excuse me for disturbing you once more with a matter concerning Mr. Schiffer for whom you so kindly filed an affidavit....Mr. Schiffer will get permission to go to England if he proves that he has the possibility to emigrate to America after a certain time. For that purpose he needs your confirmation, probably for the English authorities." Einstein was so eager to help and even drafted a text for Cohen to sign: "You will note," he adds, "that $2.44 has been paid by the sender. It is the amount of a night-cable letter to Germany. Any additional cost on your part in this matter I shall gladly refund." Whether Shiffer was successful in fleeing Nazi rule is unfortunately not known.
(9)