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TLS in German, signed “A. Einstein,” one page, 8.5 x 11, blindstamped personal Princeton letterhead, March 3, 1939. Letter to Solomon Goldman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, in full (translated): "I included the phrase in my telegram—"Immigration Issue Solvable Only Through Compromise Between Both Nationalities"—for the following reason: What we must fear, first and foremost, is the disenfranchisement and plundering of the people and the assets that currently represent our work of reconstruction. Eliminating this threat must be our absolute top priority. There is absolutely no doubt that this threat must be taken very seriously. If the resolution of this constitutional issue is encumbered by rigid conditions regarding immigration, then not only is future immigration jeopardized, but our entire current asset base is also placed at risk. That is why, with a heavy heart, I wrote that final phrase. Personally, I do not consider it prudent to omit it.
Naturally, I can imagine that you may have a clearer overview of the entire situation than I do; therefore, I authorize you to omit the phrase, provided that you are prepared to assume full responsibility for doing so.
I have no objection to a dinner being organized on the occasion of my 60th birthday—provided that it serves a practical purpose. However, I would be unable to attend in person, as I have had to decline personal participation in all other such instances, and it would be quite absurd to make an exception in this particular case." In fine condition, with a short split to the end of the central horizontal fold.
Written just months before the outbreak of World War II, and in the shadow of escalating Nazi persecution following events like Kristallnacht (November 1938), the “immigration issue” Einstein references concerns Jewish migration to British Mandate Palestine—a matter fiercely debated among Zionist leaders and constrained by British policy. Einstein, a prominent but often independent-minded Zionist, consistently favored binational cooperation between Jews and Arabs over exclusivist nationalism. His cautious phrasing about “compromise between both nationalities” reflects his humanitarian outlook and his concern that rigid demands for unrestricted immigration might provoke political backlash endangering existing Jewish institutions and assets in Palestine.
The letter also reveals internal tensions within the Zionist movement, as Einstein defers—albeit reluctantly—to Goldman’s potentially superior situational awareness. More broadly, it captures a moment when Jewish leadership was grappling with urgent rescue efforts amid tightening international borders, making strategic decisions under existential pressure just before the Holocaust would fully unfold.
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