The Einstein Dossiers Siegfried Grundmann The Einstein Dossiers Science and Politics – Einstein’s Berlin Period with an Appendix on Einstein’s FBI File Translated by Ann M. Hentschel with 65 Figures 123 Professor Dr. sc. phil. Siegfried Grundmann Weichselstraße 1, 10247 Berlin, Germany Title of the German edition: S. Grundmann Einsteins Akte. Second Edition © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004 ISBN 3-540-20699-X Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2005930169 ISBN-10 3-540-25661-X Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York ISBN-13 978-3-540-25661-8 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. 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Cover design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg Production: LE-TEXJelonek,Schmidt&VöcklerGbR,Leipzig Typesetting: Da-TEX Gerd Blumenstein, Leipzig Printed on acid-free paper 55/3141/YL - 5 4 3 2 1 0 For my grandchildren Norma and Emil Preface In wise premonition of what was to come, the Prussian Ministry of Science, Arts and Culture opened a dossier on “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity” in November 1919.1 The first indication I found of the existence of this dossier in 1960 was in Bruno Thüring’s diatribe published in 1942 on “Albert Einstein’s attempt to over- throwphysics [...].”2 As Thüring saw it, the mere fact that a ministry of the Weimar Republic3 could compile such a file was evidence enough of the extent to which propaganda tools of the State were being exploited for the benefit of the Jew Einstein. Thüring wanted to use the dossier “to draw the activities of the Jewry[...]outofthedarkortwilightinwhichtheyhadintentionallybeenheld in obscurity up to the National Socialist breakthrough” and to expose them to “the bright light of critical Aryan science.” After much effort and almost feverish searching, I discovered this file in 1962 in Merseburg, a small town near Leipzig (in the Merseburg branch of the for- mer German Central Archive). The files of the Prussian Ministry of Culture had been removed there for storage during the war and only some of the files were accessible. The Einstein dossier became the basis of my doctoral thesis, which I defendedintheKarlSudhoffInstitutefortheHistoryofMedicineandtheSci- ences at the University of Leipzig in 1964.4 In 1993 the file was returned to its original location, the former Secret Prussian State Archive (since then referred to as: Geheimes Staatsarchiv – Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in the Berlin district of Dahlem. It was long thought to be the only integral file explicitly dedicated to “Einstein” and “the theory of relativity.” Since then, it has become evident that numerous “Einstein” dossiers exist, including procedural documentation. By sheer volume these also deserve to be considered files in their own right: 1. The previously mentioned dossier: “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity” in the Se- cret Prussian State Archive (Berlin). 2. and 3. Two files on “Lectures by Professor Einstein Abroad” in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office (Berlin).5 4. The “Einstein” section of the file “Expatriation”6 at the Foreign Office. 5. to 11. Seven files in the official archives of the Community of Caputh.7 VIII Preface 12. The file “Property Purchase for Professor Dr. Albert Einstein” in the Main ArchiveoftheLand of Brandenburg (Potsdam).8 13. The file “Einstein, Albert . Citizenship Matters” in the Secret Prussian State Archive (Berlin).9 Other matters of business concerning Einstein – such as the expropriation of his sailboat10 and the confiscation of his bank accounts11 – are recorded in very many other files as well. The police file “Einstein” cited by Herneck12 (hence still physically accessible after 1945), however, could not be located despite a most intensive search. Other files on Einstein have to be considered lost: The Gestapo’s Einstein dossier is one. A cataloguing card discovered in the Federal Archive in Berlin indicates that the Gestapo did, in fact, maintain a dossier on Einstein. The ob- vious assumption that this file could now be in the “NS Archive” of the former Ministry of State Security of the German Democratic Republic (now Archive of the Federal Commissioner for Files of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic – abbreviated here as BStU) could not be verified. A search in the Special Archive in Moscow (where holdings from German ar- chives were transferred to Moscow after 1945) was likewise unsuccessful. In any event, the response to an inquiry in this regard was negative; not even President Putin could assist me any further. At least one complete Einstein dossier exists elsewhere: the FBI’s Einstein file attheNationalArchivesinWashington.13 It was not available to me prior to pub- lication of the first German edition of this book. The complete file is currently available on the Internet. I am grateful to Fred Jerome for first suggesting to me to peruse this source. (Jerome has since authored the book “The Einstein File.”)14 The first of these files already broaches the topic of “science and politics.” It comprises a formidable 523 sheets and has the capacious breadth of about 10 cm. The temporal distribution of the individual issues in the file already doc- uments the fluctuation in activity during the period between the November Rev- olution and the establishment of National Socialism in Germany. If we consider recurrent identical enclosures as a single issue and further- more treat enclosed brochures each as a single issue, the graph depicted above emerges: The jump in the number of events in the period after November 1919, when the results of the British solar eclipse expedition were made known, is clearly apparent. This was the politically unsettled “postwar period.” The battles over Einstein’s theory of relativity then subside and there is a lull in the mid- 1920s – “Superficially, at least,” as Max Born wrote in his memoirs.15 It is no co- incidence that this was simultaneously the more peaceful, apparently “golden” years of the Weimar Republic. The events accrue dramatically toward the end of the 1920s. Einstein again becomes a preferred right-wing target. Animosity to- ward him, Born continues, had smoldered on “until it flared up again openly in 1933.”16 We have arrived at the period of the global economic crisis and Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933. The situation develops into an open conflict between Einstein and the German Reich; Einstein is driven into exile. Preface IX Figure 1: Cover of the dossier “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity” from the Prussian Ministry of Science, Arts and Culture – opened November 1919, closed October 1934. (A file cover dating to before the war was used: The ministry – commonly referred to in short as the “Prussian Ministry of Culture” – was formerly called “Prussian Ministry of Intellectual, Educational and Medicinal Affairs.” Pursuant to a cabinet decree of 13 Mar. 1911, the entire administration of medicinal affairs – stripped of scientific and medical education – was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior. The ministry thus became a “Prussian Ministry of Intellectual and Ed- ucational Affairs.” On 1 Nov. 1919 it was renamed again to “Prussian Ministry of Science, Arts and Culture.” On 1 May 1934 the ministry was incorporated within the “Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture.”) X Preface 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 Figure 2: Distribution of the number of issues covered in “Einstein’s dossier” be- tween November 1919 and October 1934. The two delimiting pillars of the dossier are downright symbolic. Rightatthefrontofthefile(sheet2)wefindAlbert Einstein’s letter to Prussian Minister of Science, Arts and Culture Haenisch from 6 December 1919. In it Einstein expresses his appreciation that the State Budgetary Committee of the Constituent Prussian Assembly had promised to make available 150,000 marks for empirical research in the area of the general theory of relativity. At the same time he mentions his reservations about such a resolution being made during a time of severe economic need with the potential of triggering bitter feelings among the public at large. He points out conditions under which an ex- perimental test of the theory is possible without such high expenditures. The filecloseswithaletterbyhisworstenemy,theNobellaureatePhilippLenard, to Reich Minister of Public Information and Propaganda Goebbels from 8 Octo- ber 1934, triumphantly demanding a complete settling of accounts with Einstein and his theory. Lenard calls for personal consequences for anyone still following Einstein, even if only on the scientific terrain, and the expulsion of all his sym- pathizers from academic chairs. He also uses political arguments in making his case against his archenemy. Nor should Einstein have any influence in science because it is “so politically harmful.”17 Based on the content the dossier can be divided into three parts. The relevant topics would be: 1. Einstein is promoted. 2. Einstein is exploited. 3. Einstein is attacked and chased away. These topics are interrelated.