Albert Einstein, 8 February 1924

EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Typed letter signed ("A. Einstein") to Erich Mendelsohn , Berlin, 8 February 1924.

In German. One page 205 x 160mm.

On the Jewish settlement of Palestine. Einstein invites Mendelsohn for a lecture by Kurt Blumenfeld "in my apartment on the spiritual, political, and economic prerequisites for the colonization of Palestine by Jews. After the lecture, we want to have a thorough discussion over tea…" Blumenfeld (1884-1963) was secretary general of the World Zionist Organization from 1911-13, and president of the Zionist Federation from 1924-33 when he fled to Palestine to escape rising anti-Semitism in Germany. Mendelsohn (1887-1953), a prominent German-Jewish architect, had designed, and had only recently completed, the Einsteinturm (Einstein Tower) in Potsdam to experimentally confirm Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. He too left Germany in 1933 and went on to design several notable buildings in Israel, including Weizmann House as well as three laboratories at the Weitzman Institute of Science.