'A personal world into which one can retreat': a hot summer of sailing and mathematics, with a visit from an old lover.

Einstein cannot remember if he has written since shortly after Elsa's death. He and his stepdaughter Margot are only just recovering from the 'awful humid heat' of the summer. Maja's pessimistic views on human relations chime with his own – 'It seems hopeless, when one considers the whole. But this pessimism is mitigated by the pleasant creatures that one runs into from time to time...'. Scientifically, it has been a profitable time: 'In spite of the heat I have this summer found new and promising avenues, which I must now develop together with two young collaborators. It is really fortunate when one has a finer personal world into which one can retreat and in which one can freely unwind'. His two other great pleasures in life remain intact: 'Apart from that, sailing and music-making give me just as much pleasure as before. I sailed this summer with Frau Lebach, who was getting over some serious business troubles', although her husband later wrote to say that these had been resolved in her absence.

Life in Princeton is pleasant: 'I have isolated myself, but get on well with everyone ... I have also finished surmounting the atmosphere of sensation which bothered me in the first period of my time here'. He has managed to save enough money to look after his near and extended family after his death, having rebuilt his finances after the confiscation of all his German savings, and the loss through fraud of the rest. Margot is excellent company, although they are both often ill. His son Hans Albert is coming to join them – 'alone, thank God' [Einstein had long had differences with Hans Albert's wife, Frieda]: 'Hopefully he can find a basis for living here. But it is very difficult, quite apart from the significant anti-Semitism in the business world, which also blooms in this free land. My fame will not help him, as in truth nothing counts here except money, and my stance on political-social matters is well known and not really popular in the related crises'.

Einstein's relationship with Margarete Lebach dated to the years before his exile from Germany. They were photographed sailing together during the summer of 1937 by Lotte Jacobi. The owner of a department store in Vienna, she was to die of cancer in August the following year, having seen her possessions and businesses confiscated in the wake of the Nazi Anschluss.
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