ALS in German, signed “Dern Albert,” one page both sides, 8 x 10.5, July 19, 1933. Einstein writes from le Coq [Belgium] to his ex-wife, Mileva. In part (translated): “I have been told by Mr. Dukas [evidently the husband of his secretary, Helen Dukas] about your unfortunate situation. Don’t worry—I will help, though my own situation is problematic…. I agree that the house has to be sold if possible. We have to take into consideration the actual situation in order to spare a more difficult one. Selling the house seems impossible because no one will buy a passive house…. Don’t you know anyone who can intervene for us? You know that in Germany, the Germans took away all of my money. The Swiss authorities protested, but so weakly and without interest that I had no hope for success. My income in America is in dollars … which have lost their value, and the whole family has been reduced to the situation of beggars. So, I have many troubles and worries … but I can find the amount you need. But if I should die, I will leave only poverty to my family.” He goes on to scold her for previously neglecting to transfer money into the names of their two sons, and, after signing, adds a postscript: “Write me soon so that I can make a quick decision. We don’t know what’s going to happen.” Einstein had married the recipient of the letter, the mathematician Mileva Maric, in 1903. The two were divorced in 1919; one of the provisions that emerged from the divorce settlement was that Mileva would receive the proceeds from Einstein’s 1921 Nobel Prize. Einstein married Elsa Löwenthal, his second wife (and first cousin), less than four months after the divorce. The present letter was written during one of the most eventful periods in Einstein’s life to that point. In January of the same year, 1933, the Nazis had seized power in Germany, inducing Einstein to resign from the Prussian Academy of Arts and Sciences two months later. In October, he traveled to the United States and took up a teaching post at Princeton, where he would remain until his death in 1955. Two months after his arrival in America, on December 20, Elsa died in Princeton. In very good condition, with short edge splits and two small holes at intersecting folds (the separations very lightly touching a few words), faint paperclip impression to top edge, and a hint of mild soiling. The writing is clear and dark throughout. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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