Lot 472

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A. Einstein TLS On Eve of WWII, 1 Day Before Nazis Invaded Poland: "because of impending war"

A 1p typed letter in German signed by Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), as "A. Einstein" at the bottom. The letter is dated August 31, 1939 and was written at Einstein's summer cottage on Long Island. On custom stationery paper blind-embossed with "A. Einstein, / 112, Mercer Street, / Princeton, / New Jersey, U.S.A." along the letterhead. A small typographical error has been corrected in pencil on line 17. Expected wear including a central horizontal transmittal fold, and minor edge toning towards the top. A slight chip to the upper right edge. Two faint impressions of philatelic hand stamps (appearing to have been made by an overzealous postal worker?) can be found along the left edge. Else near fine. 8.375" x 11." A complete English translation is provided.

Albert Einstein addressed this letter to Wsevolode Grünberg, the nephew of Einstein's dentist Josef Grünberg (1877-1932). Einstein was close friends with the Russian Jewish Josef Grünberg, whom he affectionately called "Bolschi" and to whom Einstein dedicated several comical poems. In addition to dentistry, the elder Grünberg was an art collector and amateur artist. He most likely introduced his nephew Wsevolode to Einstein in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Now, seven years after Josef Grünberg's death, Wsevolode Grünberg turned to Einstein for his help in untangling a complicated inheritance claim. Einstein's other close friend, the Hungarian Jewish physician János Plesch (1878-1957), was also tasked with assisting young Wsevolode.

Einstein adopts an uncharacteristically impatient and irritated tone in this letter. Evidently, he regretted his decision to help his old friend's nephew with a never-ending legal battle taking place a continent away, in Europe and England. He wrote to Brünberg, translated in part:

"You don't seem to comprehend that I do have other things to do than to deal with your matters. I am asking you to immediately stop the investigation for the lost letter, since you did receive a copy of it and this situation is causing major complications for me as well as for the Postal Authorities…"

Einstein's letter is also striking because he speaks frankly about what may happen should war in Europe be declared in the interim: "The letters that you sent to me shall be used by your trustee in England, provided that he will still [be] able to get there. In case it should turn out impossible for him to get there (because of impending war) I shall make an effort finding another trustee to take care of the matter…"

Einstein's careful planning for wartime eventuality turned out to be extremely prescient; the very day after writing this letter to Brünberg, the Nazis invaded Poland, whose sovereignty Great Britain and France had guaranteed on the threat of war. France and Great Britain declared war against Germany two days later, on September 3, 1939.

A Jewish refugee who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933, Einstein was extremely interested in, and well-informed about, European current events. The political crisis in Western Europe had been worsening for some time. Nazi Germany had annexed Austria in March 1938, creating "Anschluss," or, a reunified sacred "Greater Germany." The Munich Agreement signed on September 30, 1938, allowing Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia populated by ethnic Germans, was a last-ditch effort on the part of the future Allied powers to satiate Hitler's obsessive need for "living space." In March 1939, the Nazis invaded Prague. In late August 1939, then, Einstein seemed to understand--and plan for--the inevitability of war.

Two months earlier, in June 1939, Einstein and Wsevolode Brünberg had met at the Port Chester, New York home of Irving Lehman (1876-1945), the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, most likely to discuss details of the inheritance claim. Vsevolod Brünberg, a hydrodynamic engineer, had been invited to the United States by the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA). Brünberg's hydrofoil designs of a twin-propeller driven speedboat with an enlarged keel and pontoon floats were later tested at Langley, Virginia. Wsevolode Brünberg later became a U.S. citizen and changed his name to Waldemar Craig.

Einstein's letter was written on Long Island during the summer of 1939, which he later told friend David Rothman was one of the happiest summers of his life. Einstein and his family rented a summer cottage on West Cove Road, off Nassau Point and overlooking Cutchogue Harbor, in Cutchogue, on the north fork of Long Island in 1937, 1938, and 1939. (Corton's Cottage was located in what was then Peconic, now Cutchogue.) The relaxed Einstein pottered around the beach in rope-tied shorts and women's sandals. Einstein quickly befriended a local department store owner, David Rothman, who later joined the physicist's string quartet. Besides violin-playing, Einstein often went sailing into Horseshoe Cove aboard "Tinef," his 17-foot-long boat. Einstein was a terrible sailor whose reckless ignorance of basic seafaring often necessitated rescue by the locals. Everyone agreed that the scientist was lovable, even though he caused near shipwrecks on a regular basis!

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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