Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Autograph letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Otto Juliusburger, n.p., n.d. [envelope postmarked Princeton, 17 Jun 1942].

In German, 1½ pages, 278 x 215mm. Envelope. Provenance: Stargardt, 4 July 2000, lot 521 (part of lot).

'So excited ... that I could think of nothing else': Einstein describes the all-consuming feeling of chasing a new theory, and delivers an extraordinary tirade against the corruption of Germany by Nazism. The letter opens with one of Einstein's characteristically elaborate apologies for being such a poor correspondent, with the excuse that he has been consumed with excitement about a new scientific theory: 'Normally I suffer little from bad conscience, although the objective grounds for it are sufficiently present. But my long silence towards you really weighs on my soul. The reason is that for that whole time I was so excited about the difficulties and doubts in a work which lies very close to my heart, that I was not free of it day or night and could think of nothing else. But now that I have chewed my way through it and thus got free of it, I must immediately write to you'.

Juliusburger has written a memoir about the German medical profession, which provokes a remarkable outburst from Einstein about the corruption of the German national character by Prussian militarism: 'The Germans are a people who have been so foully corrupted by bad traditions that it will be hard to find a remedy through rational or humane means. I hope that at the end of the war with God's good help they will generally kill each other. That others will do it seems unlikely. Indeed, many enemies are dangerous during a war, but advantageous when the war is over. That is how this band of thieves succeeded in getting away so lightly at the end of the last war ... Hopefully it will be done more thoroughly this time'.

The body of the letter goes on to consider a critique by Juliusburger of the proposals of the political economist Franz Oppenheimer, in particular in relation to land reform. Einstein reflects that whilst land is one of the most important sources of production, it is not the only one, and suggests that today 'machines and financial power with their command of productive work-organisations play a quite similar role to land monopolies'. He considers Oppenheimer's belief in the sufficiency of the spirit of competition to be 'completely childish', and criticises the operation of a free labour market in creating unemployment and reducing purchasing power.

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