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323

Albert Einstein

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:7,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
Albert Einstein

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Auction Date:2012 Dec 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS in German, signed “A. Einstein,” one onionskin page both sides, 8.25 x 11, Princeton, November 24, 1948. Letter to Holocaust survivor Siegfried Hessing. In full (translated): “I am confirming the receipt of your friendly letter of November 8 and empathize with you for all the painful experiences which you have undergone. And I am happy for you that this episode of suffering will surely change soon into an existence under more normal conditions. We all owe the small heroic group of our brothers in Israel gratitude and admiration because they have achieved on their own that which is theirs by right. I will gladly send you the photograph you want, which will go, as a precaution, to the indicated address in Tel-Aviv, together with this letter. I have read the introduction to your book with true interest and would be happy if I could help you with a preface to its publication. Unfortunately I feel incapable and unqualified to do so. The reason is that your way to describe conditions and things is so different from my own that I cannot honestly support it—as a [human being] man who has always striven with a sort of fanaticism for the greatest possible simplicity in contemplation and way of expression. I hope that you understand this, and that you will soon be able to publish your work.” Intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, scattered creases and wrinkles, and tape remnant to one corner, otherwise fine condition.

Einstein’s relationship with Polish-Jewish scholar Siegfried Hessing involved two of the most important parts of his life: his continued philosophical inquiry and his ties to the Jewish community. While Einstein was lucky to find a home in America in the 1930s, Hessing and his family remained in Poland until the end of the war, at which time they boarded a ship for Palestine. Because Britain had a mandate over the area, they frequently intercepted these ships and detained the Jews on board, preventing them from emigrating. Hessing and his family suffered this fate, and were confined to Internment Camp 67 on Cyprus, where Einstein addressed this letter care of the A. J. D. C. (American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), which oversaw the re-settlement of 250,000 displaced Jews following World War II. When the British mandate was lifted on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was declared and the detainees were slowly released. Empathizing with his friend for “all the painful experiences,” Einstein praises the work of Jews in Israel and offers words of encouragement that “this episode of suffering will surely change soon into an existence under more normal conditions.” While Einstein denied Hessing’s request for a preface to his book on Spinoza, which was eventually published in 1962, he did it with great respect: “I feel incapable and unqualified to do so.” The explicit support of the new state of Israel, compounded by the wonderful insight into his own motivations (striving with “a sort of fanaticism for the greatest possible simplicity in contemplation and way of expression”), this is a phenomenal letter from the legendary scientist.
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