Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Typed letter signed (‘A. Einstein’) to Dr Hugo Bergmann, Waldstrasse 7/8, Caputh, near Potsdam, 19 June 1930.

In German. One page, 284 x 225mm (some minor tears and marginal losses).

‘A worthy and secure existence’: on the prospects for peaceful coexistence of Jews and Arabs in Palestine. ‘A unified parliament could in the case of conflict have a catastrophic effect on the minority. Some way must be found to secure the existence and cultural self-administration of our minority … Only direct cooperation with the Arabs can create a worthy and secure existence. If the Jews do not recognise this, the entire Jewish position in the Arab region will gradually become completely untenable. It makes me less sad that the Jews are not smart enough to grasp this, as that they are not fair enough to wish it’.

The letter, previously known from a retained copy in the Albert Einstein Archives, is a striking statement of Einstein's evolving vision of Zionism in the wake of the violent clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine in the preceding years.

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