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Home , Albert Einstein, Max von Laue, Physicist

Frühjahrstagung and Human Rights: Reflections on the Past and the Joel L. Lebowitz

Max von Laue was exceptional colleagues. To quote Einstein: “We leadership role in creating a better among leading in his must not allow ourselves to be sur- world. To quote from a 1981 state- behavior during the Nazi period prised if are no excep- ment by Andrei Sakharov (he and 1933-1945. “While many tion (in the great majority) and if Einstein are two of my “heroes”): respectable scientists yielded to they are different, it is not attributa- “Because of the international na- political pressure... Laue was ble to intellectual capability but hu- ture of our profession, scientists neither to be threatened nor man stature, as in the case of Laue. form the one real worldwide com- bribed into subservience...Laue It was particularly interesting in his munity which exists today. There is was a great patriot... but [his case to observe how he tore himself no doubt about this with respect to sense of justice] was even loose step by step from the traditi- the substance of : Schrödin- stronger... . To all of us minor ons of the herd under the effect of a figures the very existence of a strong feeling of justice.” MAN of Laue’s statue and bearing This quotation is from a letter of was an enormous comfort” [1]. Einstein to Born in 1944 [2]. In Einstein was already so discouraged hank you President Bradshaw, with the way intellectuals, inclu- Freiesleben, and ding scientists, behaved during the Tmembers of the council of the first world that in 1917, while DPG, for establishing this program living in , he wrote to a friend of von Laue lectures and for invit- in , “How is it at all possible ing me to be the first speaker. I feel that this culture-loving era could be very honored but also very cons- so monstrously amoral? More and cious of the responsibility involved more I come to value charity and in talking not about von Laue’s love of one’s fellow beings above scientific work, which would be everything else.... All our lauded Joel L. Lebowitz easy, but about memorializing his technological progress – our very courageous humanitarian stand civilization – is like the axe in the ger’s equation and the formula E = during the Nazi period. As I wrote hand of the pathological criminal” mc2 are equally valid on all conti- you, Prof. Bradshaw, it is my hope [3]. Later, in 1949, he wrote “My nents. But the integration of the that establishing a memorial to von scientific work is motivated by an scientific community has inevitably Laue by the DPG will not only irresistible longing to understand progressed beyond narrow profes- honor a great , but will the secrets of and by no sional interests and now embraces a serve as an inspiration for scientists other feelings. My love for justice broad range of universal issues, in- now and in the to stand up and the striving to contribute to- cluding ethical questions. And I be- for the humanitarian ideals which wards the improvement of human lieve this trend should and will we all share. I will try, as best as I conditions are quite independent continue” [5]. can, to further that goal. from my scientific interests” [4]. Sakharov wrote this statement Keeping that in mind, my talk What I would like to do in this while he was in exile in Gorky in will focus on the moral and social talk is to argue that even if that was 1981. It was smuggled out and read responsibilities of scientists then the case for scientists in the past, at a meeting in honor of his 60th Prof. Dr. Joel L. Le- and now. While the problems facing the history of the twentieth century birthday in New York to which, of bowitz, Department us today are certainly very different shows us that such a separation course, the Soviet authorities did of and from those facing von Laue and between our science and our mo- not permit him to come. I would Physics, Rutgers University, Piscata- others during the Nazi period, the rals is not only undesirable but also like to extend Sakharov’s statement way, New Jersey, basic moral issues are unchanged; very dangerous. Instead we need to about the special role and responsi- USA. e-mail: lebo- in fact they are eternal. We can find a way to combine our science bility of scientists by again quoting [email protected] therefore still learn much from von with moral principles, both for the Einstein. “Although it is true that it gers.edu – Based loosely on the Max Laue’s principled moral response at sake of our own souls and also for is the goal of science to discover von Laue lecture gi- that , a response which distin- the sake of the future of humanity. rules which permit the association ven at the German guished him from many of his con- By developing a moral vision inspi- and foretelling of , this is not Physical Society’s temporaries. red by science and applying it to its only aim. It also seeks to reduce annual meeting in I wish I could say that von our actions we can hope to avoid the connections discovered to the Dresden, March 2000 Laue’s moral stand came from his repetition in the new century of the smallest possible number of mutual- being a : a win- horrors of the last one. I would like ly independent conceptual ele- ning physicist. Unfortunately, that to argue further that scientists, who ments. ... whoever has undergone is not the case, as is clear from the contributed much to those horrors, the intense experience ... is moved very different, less honorable cour- have both special responsibilities by profound reverence for the ratio- se followed by most of his scientific and special opportunities to take a nality made manifest in existence.

Physikalische Blätter 56 (2000) Nr. 7/8 51 0031-9279/00/0707-51 $17.50+50/0 © WILEY-VCHVerlag GmbH, D-69451 Weinheim, 2000 Frühjahrstagung

... and thereby attains that humble In fact, this race between creation some new ones. While there have attitude of mind towards the gran- and destruction will continue, even been some positive political chan- deur of reason incarnate in existen- intensify, in the future. ges, there has been no change in ce, and which, in its profoundest We here, in Western Europe, the our basic natures and the progress depths, is inaccessible to man” [6]. U. S. and a few other places, live as in prosperity, freedom and toleran- Science, viewed as a search for if on a blessed island where a large ce existing in the “developed” coun- understanding the grand number of people, though certainly tries today, of which we can be just- in which we find ourselves, forms a not all, enjoy economic prosperity, ly proud, does not assure us of con- on which scientists can and political freedom and personal tinuing progress. All one has to do should develop a moral vision. This is to consider events in Chechnya, is a vision inspired by science of an in Kosovo, in Iraq, in most of Afri- unimaginably grand universe of ca, in Afghanistan, and in Tibet, to which living beings and particularly realize that humanity, ourselves in- conscious ones, like us humans, are cluded, is still deep in the woods. a very small but unique component. We are still in many ways just na- By using the we ked apes walking around with cel- have been able to discover, under- lular telephones in one hand and stand and appreciate the great va- atomic ray guns in the other. It is riety of levels, from the submicros- far from clear whether the race bet- copic to the supergalactic, existing ween the of destruction and in nature. This variety, together those of creation, which we barely with the rich complexity of each le- won in the twentieth, is going to be vel, as evidenced by life on this our won at all in the twenty-first. planet, presents us with a universe As put by Einstein, “The existen- far surpassing in grandeur any al- ce and validity of human rights are ternative nonscientific picture pro- not written in the stars. The ideals duced by our , itself one concerning the conduct of men to- of the most complex parts of the ward each other and the desirable same universe. We scientists are , * 9.10 1879, † 24.4.1960, structure of the community have really privileged to be able to cap- (Foto: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives) been conceived and taught by en- ture, however hazily, some glimpse lightened individuals in the course of the laws unifying this variety. opportunities, such as have never of history. Those ideals and convic- This scientific perspective makes existed before. However, we know tions which resulted from historical differences between people based what happened in the last century, experience, from the craving for be- on nationality, race, religious which also started out rather well. auty and harmony, have been readi- or gender entirely trivial, while ma- But then came what can only be de- ly accepted in theory by man – and king very special and significant the scribed, in retrospect, as the totally at all , have been trampled things we humans have in common, senseless catastrophe of upon by the same people under the including the ability to comprehend I, with its until then unparalleled pressure of their animal instincts. many aspects of our own nature destruction made possible by the A large part of history is therefore and place in the universe. So while scientific and technological advan- replete with the struggle for those I agree with Einstein that “scientific ces of the previous centuries. This human rights, an eternal struggle in statements of facts and relations was followed by the rise of a variety which a final victory can never be cannot produce ethical statements” of new kinds of totalitarian regimes won. But to tire of that struggle [7], I do also believe that the scien- of which certainly the Nazi regime would mean the ruin of society” tific perspective strongly resonates here in Germany was an extreme [8]. To improve our chances of win- with humanistic values. case. These regimes committed ning this struggle, it is essential that I believe further that it is the many atrocities and eventually we not be passive bystanders when a) My father Herman, my duty of scientists to develop this brought about World War II, with the human rights (taken broadly) of mother Ida, my only si- perspective, apply it to their own its new heights of uninhibited and our fellow human beings are viola- ster Freidi and most of behavior, and expound it as widely indiscriminate destruction. The ted either in our countries or in my other relatives were killed in Auschwitz. as possible. There is an urgency for scars of that destruction are still others. We are, each of us, indivi- us to take up this challenge. Scien- very visible all around us here in dually responsible for both our ac- tists (defined broadly) are responsi- Dresden, a city in which the inno- tions and our inactions. ble for the unprecedented advance cent were burnt together with the This is the lesson I want to draw during the last few hundred years in guilty in one of the worst tragedies from von Laue’s behavior during humanity’s ability both to create triggered by that war, comparable the “worst of times”. It is a story and to destroy. We are much more in many ways to the atomic bom- which ought to be well known but, in charge of our fate today than at bings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. based on my random samplings of any previous time in our history It is now fifty-five years since colleagues, both German and non- and our future depends greatly on that time and, as I said before, German, is not. In fact, I myself on- the paths we choose today. It is many good things have happened in ly became aware of it in 1992, when clear that the metaphor used by H. these years, at least in our imme- I was invited to give a lecture at an G. Wells in 1900, about the twen- diate vicinity. But I don’t think we international conference on statisti- tieth century “being a race between are anywhere close to being out of cal in Berlin. Given my education and catastrophe”, also danger of repeating the horrors of background as a concentration applies to the twenty-first century . the past century, and committing camp survivora) I felt that I needed

Physikalische Blätter 52 56 (2000) Nr. 7/8 Frühjahrstagung to say something about the Nazi not Nazis, very problematic (to say Germany. There was Carl Ludwig period. Here are some of the re- the least). The behavior of some Siegel, the well-known mathemati- marks I made there [9]: others, such as Nobel prize winning cian, who stayed on for a while and “It is of course significant for me “Aryan ” P. Lenard and J. then had to escape. Being already that we are here in a city whose na- Stark, who rejected relativity and established, he was able to continue me and history evoke very strong other parts of be- his work in the and and very ambivalent feelings. It is a cause of their non-Aryan origin, I returned to Germany after the city where many of the foundations still find almost incomprehensible. war.c) There was also Schrödinger, of our subject were laid. It is a city It was sad to realize that there were who left his position in Berlin after which, in the first three decades of so few exceptions among scientists, Hitler came to power. These people this century, was certainly at the von Laue being the most notable, should be remembered for acting in center of the physics universe. It is but thankfully – contrary to what accord with their . They also, unfortunately, the city where Moore says – not the only one. also show that there were alternati- the racial laws which sent Einstein Before going on to say more ab- ves even at that time and that we and other scientists into exile and out von Laue’s activities during the all must take responsibility for our many others to their deaths were Nazi period, which are described inactions as well as our actions. enacted without much protest from extensively in the book by Beyer- Max von Laue chose to stay in the scientific community. According chen, I would like to memorialize Germany despite his undisguised to Walter Moore [10], ‘There is no here the actions of one young phy- disgust with the Nazis. There were known instance in which a profes- sicist named Martin Stobbe. All the many reasons for his decision. He sor of physics or chemistry without information I have about him is often said that he didn’t want to oc- any Jewish family ever made an contained in this excerpt from that cupy any position outside Germany open protest against Nazi activi- book. This excerpt will also give when these were desperately needed ties.... The only notable German you a flavor of the atmosphere in by scientists who had been forced to scientist who was conspicuous in Göttingen University (perhaps the leave and for whom he was con- his disapproval of the Nazis was stellar university in the world at stantly trying to find places. He was Max von Laue.’ Still, I do not per- that time) at the beginning of the also anxious, he said, to be on hand sonally believe that these and rela- Nazi period: “During the summer when the Nazis fell, because he ha- ted events were something pre- semester of 1933, since Heitler and ted them so much. Most important ordained or that they could have Nordheim, as non-Aryans, were not he wanted to help rebuild German happened only in Germany. I am allowed to lecture, Pohl asked the science – a task to which he devo- therefore gratified by the human young astronomer Otto Heckmann ted his from 1945 until his rights record of the postwar govern- to hold the theoretical classes.... tragic death in a car accident in ments here and hope for a future Upon his return from Bristol, Stob- 1960. However, in 1937, he did send which will be even better, here and be delivered the winter semester his son Theo to study in the United everywhere. This too, however, is lectures. His conscience could not States, where he would be shielded very far from certain and it is our be reconciled with the demands of from the Nazi influence [11]. special duty as scientists, privileged the government, however. He resi- In the fall of 1998 I found out to catch a glimpse of the grandeur gned, destroying his academic ca- that Theo von Laue was still living b) and wonder of this our universe, to reer in Germany, and left for Ameri- in the U.S. He had become a histo- The title of my lecture there was “Victims, Op- be in the vanguard of those spea- ca. , to whom Stobbe rian, and was then a professor eme- pressors, Activists and king out and acting for freedom, came in Princeton, attempted in ritus at Clark University in Massa- Bystanders: Scientists’ Response to Racial and truth, tolerance and equality. If not vain to help the young man find a chusetts. I contacted Theo and even Political Persecution.” we, then who?” position. Weyl wrote: ‘Under trying managed to meet him in May 1999, c) After the meeting in Berlin I circumstances he showed an unu- and learned from him many things There is a very stri- king historical lecture by didn’t think much more about von sual firmness of character and cou- about his father, including the fact him which I highly re- Laue or the Nazi period until the rage without adopting in the least a that he shared his ration cards with commend [13]. fall of 1997, when I was asked by provocative attitude, and won the those more in need.d) d) Theo died in January the German Mathematical Society esteem and admiration of all men in One of the first incidents which 2000; he is survived by a (DMV) to participate in a program Göttingen who had preserved their showed von Laue’s willingness to sister who lives in Mün- chen. Professor Brad- commemorating the fate of mathe- independence of mind.’ There were stand up for principles was the shaw invited her to come maticians persecuted during the very few positions available, and “Einstein affair” at the Prussian here but she could not Nazi period. The program was to be Stobbe had not yet had time to ma- Academy of . In March because of her health. held in Berlin in August 1998 in ke a name for himself. He shifted to 1933 the Academy was asked by the connection with the International England in 1936 for a year and then Nazi authorities to get rid of Ein- Congress of Mathematics, which found a temporary position in Oslo. stein. But Einstein had in fact al- was meeting in Germany for the With all the uncertainty and reloca- ready submitted his resignation. first time since before World War I. tions, he never managed to finish The academy then put out a state- After some hesitation I accepted his book on aspects of me- ment saying that they had no rea- the invitationb) and started reading chanics. He apparently died during son to regret Einstein’s resignation. extensively about that period. The the war” [12]. This is my homage to Max von Laue strongly protested book I found most illuminating was Martin Stobbe. Maybe somebody this action and demanded a mee- by Beyerchen [11]. The more I read here knows or will find out more ting of the full Academy. There he that book and other sources, the about him. was overruled by an overwhelming more I found the behavior of most There were others like him who majority of the members – inclu- scientists, including those like left because they couldn’t stomach ding Planck, who was the president Planck and Heisenberg, who were what was going on at that time in of the Academy [14].

Physikalische Blätter 56 (2000) Nr. 7/8 53 Frühjahrstagung

Then there was the case of Fritz meeting of the DPG on September their helpful comments. Haber, a Nobel laureate chemist of 18, 1933, which “unmistakably im- Jewish descent. Haber resigned from plied a comparison of the Nazi go- References the directorship of the Chemical In- vernment’s attitude toward Einstein [1] P. Ewald, Max von Laue, 1879–1960 stitute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesell- and relativity theory with the attitu- , Acta Crystallographica 13, 515 (1960), and letter of Ewald schaft when the first racial laws de of the Inquisition toward Gali- to Beyerchen; Ref. 11, p. 66. came out in March 1933, and left leo. In closing, he pronounced the [2] Einstein-Born Briefwechsel, pp. Germany. He did this even though legendary words of the Italian, ‘And 202-03, Ref. 11, p. 209. at that time he was not directly af- it still moves!’ and was greeted by [3] , The Human Side, fected, as there were then exemp- the applause of his audience” [11]. selected and edited by Helen Du- tions, later removed, for those who In fact, the DPG remained one of kas and Banesh Hoffman, Prince- ton University Press (1979), p. 88 had served in the German army du- the least ‘aligned’ scientific orga- (German original p. 154). ring the 1914-1918 war. Haber had nizations during the Nazi period. [4] ibid, p. 18. not only served patriotically in the It was fortunate that von Laue [5] Reprinted in On Sakharov, edited army but was the inventor and in- lived to see the end of the Nazi by A. Babyonyshev, Vintage Books itiator of the use of poison gas in nightmare and could devote his last (Random House, New York) 1982, that war.e) Haber died in 1934 and years to rebuilding physics here and pp. 205-211. [6] A. Einstein, Out of My Later Years, was warmly memorialized by von to working actively for peace. His Philosophical Library (1950), Laue much to the displeasure of the persistence and courage give us Chapter 8, p. 29. authorities. Later von Laue, with hope for the future. [7] A. Einstein, ibid, Chapter 16, pp. Planck’s official backing, organized I would like to end on a note of 114. a memorial service for Haber hope for the new millennium with [8] A. Einstein, Address to Chicago against the expressed wishes of the another quote: “The great struggle Decalogue Society, Feb. 20, 1954. Ideas and Opinions Ministry of Education, which forba- for human rights is not, in conven- In , Wings Books (Random House, New York) de all state employees to attend the tional terms, the most important re- 1954, pp. 34–36. memorial. The memorial was held volution of the millennium... Nor [9] J. L. Lebowitz, in Statistical Phy- anyway, with good attendance by has it been the most successful. The sics, S. Hess, editor, North Holland those not affected by the ban. ideals of the 1948 United Nations (1993), pp. xvi. As the policies of the Nazi regi- Universal Declaration of Human [10] Walter Moore, Schrödinger, Life me hardened, that kind of open Rights remain little more than pious and Thought Cambridge University Press, (1989) p. 266. (even if muted) protest was no lon- hopes, if that, in many parts of the [11] Alan D. Beyerchen, Scientists un- ger possible, or at least was much globe. But of the many revolutions der Hitler, Yale University Press more dangerous. Any wishful thin- since the beginning of modern hi- (1977). king about the nature and intenti- story, the human rights revolution [12] ibid, p. 30. ons of the Third Reich was also no seems the most morally appealing [13] C. L. Siegel, Zur Geschichte des longer possible for those who did and the most immediately compel- Frankfurter Mathematischen Semi- nar, in his Collected Works. not deliberately put on blinders. ling to the world of our time. The [14] For a complete story of that affair Older generation scientists like struggle for human rights has a long and related events see the exchange Planck, Sommerfield, Hahn, and history. ... But the has of letters in ref. 8, pp. 205 – 213, others, people of undoubted basic seen a remarkable expansion of and the book by S. Arundmann, good will, went into “inner exile”. both the idea and, in many nations, Einstein Akte, Springer Verlag, Max von Laue, on the other hand, the of human rights. ... The Berlin (1998). continued privately but actively to human rights revolution ... has not [15] Beyerchen, ref. 11, p. 65. [16] Taken from an article by A. Brin- support Jewish colleagues who still only created aspirations, but also is kley in the New York Time Magazi- remained in Germany. “Most nota- itself an aspiration. The ideas it has ne, , 1999. bly, he often visited Arnold Berli- planted in the minds of men and [17] Some Human Rights Organizati- ner, founder and editor of Die Na- women throughout the world – de- ons: turwissenschaften, who was dismis- spite the many ways in which those ̈ Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org e) sed from his position in August ideas remain unrealized – are per- Little did Haber imagi- ̈ AAAS Science and Human ne then that his inventi- 1935. As the situation of the haps the most powerful and inspira- Rights Programs: on would be the precur- progressively worsened, Berliner tional in modern history” [16]. sor to that used later in http://shr.aaas.org/aaashran.htm the Auschwitz gas cham- became ever more withdrawn. Fi- We have indeed made some pro- ̈ American Physical Society, Com- bers. This should be a nally, in 1942, wrote von Laue after gress but there is much more to be mittee on the International Free- cautionary tale for all of the war , ‘when they wanted to dri- done. As a practical let me dom of Scientists, (CIFS): us: the consequences of http://www.aps.org/intaff/ our actions, good and ve him from his apartment, the last urge you to support organizations welcome.html evil, may outlive us. refuge, he carried out a decision dedicated to such goals. Many of ̈ Committee of Concerned Scien- f) One story has it that made long in advance for this case, them can be found on the net [17]. tists: http://www.libertynet.org/ he always carried two and parted from this life.’ Von Laue We must remember that “Only mo- ccs briefcases, one in each was one of the few people who at- rality in our actions can give beauty ̈ Human Rights in China: hand, in order to avoid having to give the Heil tended Berliner’s funeral in the Je- and dignity to life” [18]. http://www.hrichina.org ̈ Hitler salute. wish cemetery in Berlin” [15]. I thank you very much for your National Academy of Science I could easily go on describing attention and look forward to wor- Human Rights Committee: http://www2.nas.edu/oia/ the active, as well as passive, pro- king together for a better world. 2132.html tests of von Laue during that period ̈ New York Academy of Sciences but I am running out of time.f) I do Acknowledgements Human Rights Committee: want to mention, however, his Pre- I would like to thank A. Benedu- http://www.nyas.org/humanrts.htm sidential Lecture to the annual ce, S. Goldstein and E. Speer for [18] A. Einstein, ref. 3, p. 95.

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