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280

Albert Einstein

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Albert Einstein

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Auction Date:2010 Jun 16 @ 10:00 (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
Bid online at www.rrauction.com. Auction closes June 16.

ALS in German, signed “A. Einstein,” one page, 8.5 x 11, December 27, [1949]. Letter to “Frau Ehrman,” wife of Dr. Ehrman, Einstein’s Berlin doctor who emigrated to New York before World War II. In part (translated): “I was completely filled with consternation yesterday when I heard what you went through. Helplessly lying in the cold snow with a broken leg for who knows how long, minutes passing like hours. You will continue to have pain, and the enforced immobility is certainly cruel. The devil is creative, as the Nazis were when it was finally decided to round us up…But we hold together and take pleasure with each other and with everyone in that which is beyond the fickleness of fate and remains forever present for those who have the eyes and the ears for it and a warm human sensibility. You and your husband have given me so much friendship over the course of many years that I experience your fate as my own…It was particularly painful that I was the reason that your husband couldn’t be at your side at the critical hour. It was truly surprising the way the five medicine men appeared in my room totally unexpectedly…Otherwise I would have let the matter take its own course…Now I wish from my heart that you can enjoy your enforced peace and quiet with good radio, music, and books.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, a bit of scattered mild creasing, and light show-through from red pencil notations on reverse.

Einstein’s words here are truly eloquent, as his thoughts swirl around the Nazis, God, and friendship. His reference to the devil—a non-scientific entity—having influenced the Nazis and caused the anguish of the Jewish people reflects a belief in a higher authority. Indeed, Einstein was consistent during his life in rejecting the charge that he was an atheist. However, as a scientist, he was bound by the laws that govern reality, thus rejecting the idea that either divine will or human will, play a role in cosmic events. He also believed that mankind’s destinies had been pre-determined—including such mundane events as “lying in the cold snow with a broken leg”—yet still believed in mankind having free will, if only as a measure of holding everyone responsible for their own actions. A warm letter with, as to be expected from Einstein, complex undertones.
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