Barbara
Wolff: „Colosal victims like this ...“
Nobel Prize of Physics for 1921 - what
happened with the prize money?
Barbara Wolff [1]
[1] barbaraw@mail.huji.ac.il
[p.III]
| Content |
|
1. " … and is very
revolutionary":
From the annus mirabilis of 1905 until
1918 |
1
|
2. "That big colossal
sacrifices...":
From the divorce to the Nobel Prize,
1918-1922 |
3
|
3. "... a big part of
your fortune":
Coming back from Japan in 1923 -
purchasing the first house in 1924 |
7
|
4. "I was always for this
...":
years of - modest - prosperity from
the purchase of the first house in
1924 to the summer of 1930, when
Mileva buys her third house |
14
|
5. "... I'm afraid she
might collapse completely":
From Mileva's first financial problems
with the houses in 1931 to Albert's
departure to the United States in late
1932 |
23
|
6. "... in a constant
stress":
Mileva's desolate financial situation
1933-1938 |
30
|
7. "I never was obliged
to bother about so many fake
businesses as here, but I lost my
money in a more comfortable way":
The Hutten Street Realty Corporation
1939 to 1946 |
39
|
8. What did Mileva and
Eduard live from? "The corporation
wants us to go beg ...":
From the decision to sell the house in
1946 until Mileva's death |
52
|
9. Mileva dies on
August 4, 1948. 87,300 Swiss
francs in notes:
The dispute over Mileva's estate until
the final distribution of the balance
between the sons in 1950 |
65
|
| 10. With the distribution
of the money from Mileva's estate in
1950, the last remnants of the Nobel
Prize are shifted to the hands of his
children, as Albert had in project in
1918 |
74
|
| 11. Footnotes |
77
|
12. Sources
|
77
|
[p.V]
[[Abbreviations (from p.77)
Albert
Einstein: AE
Mileva Einstein-Maric: Mileva
Hans Albert Einstein: Hans Albert
Eduard Einstein (Tete, Teddy): Eduard
Otto Nathan: Otto Nathan
Heinrich Zangger: Zangger
Georg Guggenheim: Guggenheim
Huttenstraße Realty Corporation: Corporation
HuttRC]]
[[Dr.
jur Heinrich Meili,
legal guardian
(official guardian)
of Eduard and Mileva
Einstein: HM]]
[[Introduction]]
In 2015, a woman lawyer from the German town of
Augsburg published a neat little booklet "how
Mileva Einstein secured Albert's Nobel Prize
money" [2],
[2]
Anne-Kathrin Kilg-Meyer: How Mileva Einstein
secured Albert's Nobel Prize money (original
German: Wie sich Mileva Einstein Alberts
Nobelpreisgeld sicherte). Munich 2015.
is just one of several authors who have asked
questions about the whereabouts of this prize
money in recent years and found remarkable,
questionable answers to them.
Did Albert actually pass on the prize money to
"the exiled", his first wife Mileva? Can one even
understand this gesture as a late recognition of
Mileva's contribution to all the physical research
results that were published in the twelve years of
their life together under Albert Einstein's name?
Didn't he keep some of the prize money for
himself, misappropriated it, botched it? Or is it
just the great stock market crash in the United
States that is responsible for the fact that
Mileva has been constantly in need of money for
the last two decades of her life? Who bought and
when were the three houses bought in Zurich, which
soon proved to be unprofitable and could not hold
Mileva? Were these houses foreclosed? Or did
Mileva sell them because the care of the sick son
devoured ever greater sums of money?
"The cleverly invented legends is no end." [3]
[3]
AE to Elisabeth Gabriele in Bavaria, the widow
of the Belgian king, March 28,1954. In: De
Dijn, Raisin: Albert Einstein and Elisabeth of
Belgium: A friendship in turbulent times.
Regensburg 2016, p.166.
Albert made jokes yet one year before his death
profiting of all the commodities of such a
lucrative award as a Nobel Prize, but there were
also problems he had with this, but this had
passed. Well, in 1954, this past was not so far
away.
The story of the Nobel Prize for Physics for the
year of 1921 started in 1905.
1. " … and is very
revolutionary":
From the annus mirabilis of 1905 until 1918
Albert was a clerk in the Patent Office of Bern,
and he said to his friend Konrad, a math teacher
and with a Dr. title since a short time: "You
frozen whale, you smoked, dried, tinned piece of
soul", well, Konrad still has not sent him his
dissertation for reading [p.1]. Albert
misses the stimulating exchange with the two
friends of the "Academy Olympia" who have left
Bern. But in his old friend Michele Besso, who had
also become his colleague in the Patent Office in
May 1904, he discovered a new 'sounding board',
and thus he can offer Konrad Habicht four works
from his own pen this spring of 1905, the first
one already in short: "it is about the radiation
and the energetic properties of light and is very
revolutionary." [4]
[4]
AE to Konrad Habicht, 18 or 25 May 1905.
15 years later, Albert Einstein achieved world
fame with another work with a catchy title in the
early 1920s, inspiring the imagination of 'every
coachman and every waiter'
[5] AE to Marcel
Grossmann, Sep.12, 1920
and which the world identifies the physicist even
in the 21st century: The "Theory of Relativity".
In 1922, however, the Nobel Prize was bestowed on
him primarily for the "revolutionary" work of
1905.
When he wrote them, he was not yet a doctorate.
Five years later - the Berne patent clerk was
appointed just one year ago an extraordinary
professor for theoretical physics at the
University of Zurich - he is nominated for the
Nobel Prize the first time - and it's very
interesting, by a professor who did not want to
hire him as an assistant before.
In 1912 four colleagues already proposed him for
the Nobel Prize in Physics, and until 1917 there
are 11 scientists nominating Albert Einstein all
in all 14 times. Almost all are justificating
their vote indicating that the principle of
relativity would be one of the most significant
advances in science. After 1915 this includes the
"General Theory of Relativity".
Does Albert know about it?
The fact that he was not on the short list is also
due to the fact that the decision-making body, the
Nobel Foundation, is measuring and controling the
theory making proofs. They say it would be too
early; they wait for empirical proofs yet. May be
it would not be a real detection or invention [p.2]
but it would be only a speculative hypothesis.
Sceptic people indicate that it would be a
"question of belief" if one would trust this
theory or not. Albert himself has no doubt about
his findings. The question of a woman student
asking how he would react when the eclipse data of
1919 would not confirm his calculations, he is
answering just like this: "But I am sorry for the
dear God. Because the theory is correct." [6]
[6]
Quoted in Rosenthal-Schneider, Use: Reality
and Scientific Truth. Detroit 1980, p.74.
[Proofs are other ones:
-- Einstein could no high mathematics and
always needed the collaboration with his first
wife Mileva Einstein (born Maric)
-- Einstein gave in his works of 1905 with a
double name Einstein-Maric, which the
directorate of the review "Annals of Physics"
was shortening eliminating the family name of
Mileva dropping her - and he did NOT protest
-- Einstein and the review "Annals of Physics"
were committing a gang crime against Mileva
stealing her copyright and her honor
-- the works of Einstein-Maric had NO sources
indicated and all was stolen from other
physicists, it was a combination of thefts
-- and with the eclipse of 1919 it was like
this: aberration of starlight by the sun was
already searched in 1914 by other physicists,
so also this was stolen and the physicists of
1914 remained without honor].
2. "That big colossal
sacrifices...":
From the divorce to the Nobel Prize, 1918-1922
Albert is so convinced to win a Nobel Prize in
future that he is speculating with the Nobel Prize
money already before he gets the money, so in
January 1918 he offers his wife a new div orce
condition promising her the Nobel Prize money.
In
the case of a divorce, the Nobel Prize money
would be completely relinquished a priori to
you in the case that I win it. You will have
the full interests. The capital would be be in
a deposit in Switzerland and would be secured
for the children [7].
[7]
AE to Mileva, January 31, 1918
Favorably and profitably the prize money could
yield interest, which would perhaps replace the
current maintenance payments completely or at
least partly - a significant, highly desirable
relief in these years with limits of currency
traffic and fluctuating exchange rates, so Albert
could often fulfill his duties to his Zurich
family only with difficulties and seldom to the
satisfaction of all involved,.
But he warns: Of course, such colossal sacrifices
I would only bring in the case of voluntary
divorce. [8]
[8]
AE to Mileva, January 31, 1918
Apparently, Mileva shares Albert's confidence.
His offer seems to promise her the desired
security and so, encouraged by her friends Michele
Besso [p.3] and Heinrich Zangger and
advised by lawyer Emil Zürcher, she permits
negotiations.
In April 1918 - the negotiations are progressing,
but "the horrible events in the big world" [9]
[9]
original German: "die
schauerlichen Vorgänge in der grossen
Welt" - AE to Zangger,
April 22, 1918.
and his desolate state of health promote gloomy
thoughts - Albert's confidence has suffered a
loss. After all, it would be possible for him to
be denied the Nobel Prize. In order to secure the
maintenance of his Zurich family in this case, he
makes another concession. He would deposit
commercial papers (CPs) with a value of 40,000
marks in Switzerland: "It's everything I own; a
big part of it is in two big scientific prizes
that I received recently." [10]
[10]
AE to Mileva, before May 8, 1918.
He also lets know this his friend Zangger and
adds (translation):
You
certainly laugh that I say that to you with a
certain pride; but for my children, it does
mean something that in the case of my death,
they are not so dependent on friends. I had
this experience myself. [11]
[11] AE to Zangger, before May 8,
1918; s.a. AE to Zangger, June 24, 1918
Also for these CPs should coiunt: the interests
are available to Mileva, but not the capital. If
the Nobel Prize finally came to him, the 40,000
marks would be deducted from the prize money. [12]
[12]
AE to Mileva, April 23, 1918.
The maintenance, which should consist of interest
and, if necessary, Albert's additional payments,
is now fixed in Swiss francs; it amounts to 8,000
Swiss francs a year, a good 10% more than Albert
had offered three months earlier. This is,
compared to the increased consumer prices in the
course of the war years in Switzerland, although
only about 75% of what was fixed in summer of 1914
"generously" on the base of the Berlin professor's
salary of Albert [13], but it was still above the
average income of an employee who has to feed
a family in Zurich [14]. In June 1918,
the "first-class commercial papers with a
today's market value of 40,000 marks" have
arrived in Zurich [15].
[13]
AE to Elsa Einstein, July 30, 1914
[14] A simple worker in Zurich in 1918 with a
50 hours work week gets about half of Mileva's
support (see the Swiss Statistical Yearbook,
1919ff. online)
[15] AE to Mileva, June 4, 1918; around the
middle of 1918, 40,000 Marks equals 30,000
SFr; with the fall in the exchange rate of the
mark against the Swiss franc and
hyperinflation, the value of these commercial
papers is falling
and the divorce agreement, legally formulated by
Milevas [S.4] lawyer Mr. Emil Zürcher, can
be signed. There is the indication:
In
the case of divorce, and when he receives the
Nobel Prize, Prof. Einstein transfers his
capital minus 40,000 marks to Mrs. Mileva
Einstein and deposits this capital on a Swiss
bank. [16]
[16] original German: "Herr Prof.
Einstein überträgt im Fall der Scheidung und
falls er den Nobelpreis erhält, das Kapital
desselben abzüglich 40.000 Mark der Frau
Mileva Einstein zu Eigentum und hinterlegt
dieses Kapital auf einer Schweizer Bank." -
see the "Agreement", June 12, 1918; however,
in Emil Zürcher's letter to AE dated of June 2,
1923, Mileva's lawyer leaves no doubt that "the
capital ... is reserved for the children ...", as
well as that the administration is not entitled to
the woman owner alone.
Mileva may freely dispose of the interest, but
not of the capital itself without the consent of
Albert. There is no indication that this capital
will be "secured for the children". Albert did not
notice this change?
Perhaps he was so happy about the coming end of
the long and bitter process getting the final
version of the treaty so he did nod pay much
attention to the treaty any more. Perhaps he
considered also paragraph 4b as a replacement
where was fixed that in the case of another
marriage of Mileva or in the case of her death the
money would fall to Hans Albert and Eduard. What
would happen with the capital in the case of his
own death? This does not seem to be important for
him at this moment. He just said: "I was busy with
many conditions after my death so it seems quite
odd that I am still alive." [17]
[17]
AE to Mileva, April 23, 1918.
[Einstein's proposals: Mileva should
live in Southern Germany]
But until now he has not got yet the Nobel Prize
and the obligations for supporting his family in
Zurich in Swiss Francs will become very
problematic because of the fast devaluation of the
German Mark [18].
[18]
AE is repeatedly trying to convince Mileva
that a change to live in southern Germany
would be only an advantage, and the reaction
of Mileva will be always the same: she feels
at home at Zurich Mountain in Zurich and she
rather accepts material restrictions than
being lured from Zurich ,
Now, since 1920 Einstein gets more and more
payments in foreign currency which can be
transferred directly to Zurich, but the big
turnaround comes only four years after the
divorce. Within 5 years only few percent of the
original sum. What revenue Mileva gets from the
commercial papers (CPs) during the years of
hyperinflation is not known [p.5].
[Japan trip in Octobre 1922 - letter for Nobel
Prize in December 1922]
In October 1922, Einstein wants to begin a lecture
tour in Japan, together with his second wife Elsa,
he is invited by the Japanese publishing house
Kaizo-Sha, and all is well planned, he cannot
resist 'to the sirens of East Asia' [19], but then
in September 1922, a letter of Svante Arrhenius
comes in, the director of the Norwegian Nobel
Institute. He is an insider of the team which
decides about the award. The latter states that
Einstein's precence in Stockholm in December 1922
"probably will be much desired" [20].
[19] AE
to Paul Ehrenfest, March 15, 1922
[20] Svante
Arrhenius to AE on or before Sep.17, 1922. A
similar encrypted message is sent by Max von
Laue, apparently informed by Arrhenius, the
following day.
Is Albert considering for a moment considering
delaying the trip to Japan? It does not look that
way. He informs his colleague Arrhenius that he is
incapable of doing so because "by contract with
Japan irrevocably bound." [21] As early as June,
he had named friend Zangger another reason for
this trip:
"I'm
desperately longing for loneliness, and that's
why I'm going to Japan [...] because that
means 12 weeks of rest on the sea." [22]
[21] AE to Svante Arrhenius,
Sep.20, 1922
[22] AE to Zangger, June 18,
1922
Nobody will be surprised that after the murder of
Walther Rathenau and the attack on Maximilian
Harden, also "he himself is a projected target by
ethnic national (völkisch) attacks" [23], Albert Einstein
sticks to his travel plans. The promised
invitation to Sweden, he answers Arrhenius, is
only deferred, as he hopes, and not canceled.
[27] During a stopover in Shanghai in
mid-November, the official message arrives.
That he has actually been awarded the Nobel
Prize, but Einstein does not consider this
worth an entry in his travel diary any more.
Mentioning this award in a letter from Kyoto
mid of December the first time, he is just
joking about it: "Well, you will really get
the Nobel Prize", he writes to his sons. "You
will be so rich then that I will be the person
lending money from you again." [25]
[23]
AE to Max Planck, July 6, 1922; AE to Wilhelm
Solf, Dec.20, 1922
[24] AE to Svante Arrhenius, Sep.20, 1922
[25] original German: „Nun kriegt Ihr also wirklich
den Nobelpreis“, schreibt er seinen
Söhnen. „Ihr seid dann so reich, dass ich
Euch weiss Gott noch einmal werde anpumpen
müssen.“ AE to Hans Albert,
Eduard, Dec.17, 1922
[p.6]
[Einstein is also a communist
This Albert Einstein is politically a fool,
because he also makes actions to support
communists in prisons, without ever having seen
the Soviet Union or the concentration camps of
Lenin and Stalin (Gulag). That means: Einstein
supports communist Jews instead of impoverished
Germans. And because of these activities for
communists, Albert Einstein is registered at the
intelligence services and is spied for a lifetime
until his death].
3. "... a big part of your
fortune":
Coming back from Japan in 1923 - purchasing the
first house in 1924
The price sum is 121,572.54 Swedish Crowns
(kroner) [26] the equivalent of more than a dozen
of his annual incomes in Berlin [27]. This is
communicated to Albert probably only after his
return to Berlin.
[26]
s. Check of the Stockholm Enskilda Bank from
December 11, 1922
[27] An accurate calculation of his income in
Berlin is extremely problematic, especially in
these months of hyperinflation. The estimate
is based on the salary he received from the
Academy, the University and the Kaiser Wilhelm
Society. Further, less continuous, albeit
higher incomes, e.g. for his work on the
gyrocompass or the income on the shares of the
Swiss Auer Society, funds which in the past
few years were probably passed on to the
Zurich family are only mentioned by the way
here.
Does he regret this having sacrificed his Nobel
Prize money in 1918 for "getting order in his
private relations" [28] corresponding to the
safety needs of Mileva which were not unjustified?
Years later, his friends Fritz Haber and Heinrich
Zangger will make their own statements from their
point of view years concerning this money. In May
1923, when the prize money became real in the form
of a bank statement from Stockholm's Enskilda
Bank, only a seemingly trivial fact is the proof
how Albert is feeling. In an unusual touch of
mischief, he claims that thanks to the "dear
capitalist care" of Arrhenius [29] the accumulated
interest since the day of the award ceremony in
December of last year would be his [30].
[28] AE
to Mileva, Jan.31, 1918; in other
words, "after all the years of
fighting, since [Elsa] is finally at
her goal and AE is ready to marry
her"; s. Ilse Einstein to Georg
Nicolai, May 22, 1918.
[29] AE to
Svante Arrhenius, March 23, 1923
[30] AE at Stockholm's Enskilda
Bank, 28.5.1923.
This is just under 1½% of the total, these are
1,659.24 Swedish Crowns (kroner), about 440 $ or -
in Germany, inflation has reached unprecedented
heights - about 300 million marks.
[1923: After 8 years of poverty the Nobel Prize
money makes problems: discussions about
transfers, taxes, investments]
In mid-March 1923, on the way back to Berlin,
Albert had visited Mileva and his sons in Zurich
and certainly already discussed details of the
transfer of funds. It was important to consider
the taxes, the nature of the investment and the
question of whether, given the uncertain economic
situation, it might not be better to invest the
money outside Europe [S.7].
Only one thing was certain from the beginning on:
Mileva wants to buy a house - a plan that Albert
supports - and she wants immediately have about
45,000 francs at hand. While Albert in Berlin is
advised by banker Leopold Koppel, Mileva and
nineteen-year-old Hans Albert in Zurich, among
others, make investigations at the "secretary of
taxation" and come to the conclusion that the
capital taxes incurred in Switzerland are so small
- above all when not "just all is indicated" - so
"one can quietly deposit money here." [31]
[31]
Hans Albert to AE, March 28, 1923
But Koppel warns Albert from this; instead, he
suggests that the remaining sum which is not
invested into a house should be invested dollars.
For this action, he recommends the private bank
Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co. in New York, with
whom he maintains business relations himself [32].
[32]
Founded in 1876, Ladenburg Thalmann quickly
became one of the most influential private
merchant banking firms, a major financial
intermediary between America, Great Britain
and the European Continent. (see Mossad
Wikipedia: Ladenburg Thalmann).
Mileva is worried of the idea that the money
should not come to her and her children in
Switzerland but to America. She writes alarming
letters to Albert but the letters come late
because in April 1923, Albert is in Kiel for one
week, and in May he is in Leiden two weeks. Now
Mileva is waiting for answers and her anxiety is
becoming greater and greater; Albert answers in an
easy and kindly way not convincing her at all.
While he writes about taxes and other taxes that
can be saved in favor of the Zurich family, when
capital is invested on his, Albert's, name, she
suspects that Albert wants to withhold the money
from her and the children [33].
[33]
AE to Mileva, May 18, 1923; AEs letter from
May 2, 1923 Mileva gets only on May 25, 1923.
Now she is urging the immediate transfer of the
45,000 SFr, which are intended for purchasing a
home. She still has no particular house in view.
Maybe she does not dare to go into bargaining
before she sees the money in her account; but
perhaps she also thinks quite pragmatically about
the 'cash in the hand', which in any case is
preferable to the 'fake promises'.
On May 23, 1923, Albert is announcing Mileva the
transfer of 45,000 Swiss francs to the business
account of his Zurich friend Albert Karr, who has
been Albert's Swiss financial adviser for many
years [34].
[34]
Albert Karr (-Krüsi) was a former employee of
AE's uncle Jakob Koch.
The remainder of the sum, he writes, is deposited
on her, Milevas name [p.8], in dollar
bonds at the New York bank, unless she
telegraphically prevents "the deposit being made
in your name." Albert is convinced that, thanks to
Koppel's assistance, he has done everything well
and carefully: Liquid money will be invested
safely at an interest rate of 7-8%, the interest
will be paid to Mileva; Albert claims the
administration of capital under his authority
"until further notice". "Do your job well!"
("Macht auch Ihr Eure Sache gut!") he encourages
Mileva, expecting to buy a house soon for his
Zurich family [35].
[35]
AE to Mileva, May 23, 1923; s.a. AE to Leopold
Koppel, May 23, 1923; AE to Elsa Einstein,
June 27, 1923. AE's transfer order to
Stockholm's Enskilda Bank on May 28, 1923,
formulated in Koppel's office, reads:
"I ask you charging my fortune at your bank
with Frs. 45,000.- transferring this to Mr.
Albert Karr [...] at the disposal of Mrs.
Mileva Einstein [...]. "
(original German: „Ich
bitte Sie zu Lasten meines Guthabens
bei Ihnen Frs. 45.000.- […] an Herrn
Albert Karr […] zur Verfügung von Frau
Mileva Einstein […] zu senden.“)
The
remainder of the money was to be transferred
in favor of Ms. Mileva Einstein, Zurich, to
the private bank Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.
in New York.
Albert is informing also Albert Karr about the
transaction the same day. He should have the
45,000 SFr at disposal for Mileva: "They will
serve as a prepayment for a house to buy (maybe
also only 40,000 of it)." [36]
[36]
AE to Albert Karr, 23.5.1923; Albert Karr will
misunderstand this formulation and report to
the Zurich-based Einstein family that there
are 40,000 SFr available for them; s. Hans
Albert to AE, about mid-June 1923.
On May 25, 1923, Albert's letter of May 2, 1923
arrived in Zurich and caused Mileva to panic.
Telegraphically, she implores Albert "to wait with
dispositions." [37] - Didn't she receive Albert's
card of May 23, 1923?
[37]
Mileva to AE, May 25, 1923.
The next day, she vehemently expresses her
bewilderment in a letter. She could "definitely
not understand", which is why the money should be
placed abroad, but above all should not be
deposited in her name. The small Swiss property
tax may not be a reason for this; she appeals to
the divorce contract. Her maternal concern for the
material security of her children is clearly
compounded by an irrational mistrust of her
ex-husband and father [38].
[38] Mileva to AE, May
26, 1923.
In fact, Albert's actions contradict the wording of
the divorce agreement of 1918-1919. But the changed,
1923 highly uncertain economic situation calls for
other measures. Albert follows the advice of the
"banker, philanthropist, scholar of science" Leopold
Koppel, whom he considers to be trustworthy and
selfless
[p.9].
Convinced that in the best interest of his Zurich
family, he has made the best of his father's
responsibility, he finds Mileva's suspicions
offensive. "I just have to wonder again and again
about your ingratitude and your distrust," he
outraged. "I still want to see another divorced
woman who gets everything by sacrifice and who is
behaving so badly." [39]
[39]
original German: „Ich muss mich nur immer aufs
Neue über Deine Undankbarkeit und Dein
Misstrauen wundern“, empört er sich. „Ich
möchte noch eine geschiedene Frau sehen,
der man alles opfert, und die sich so
schlecht dabei benimmt.“ - AE
to Mileva, May 30, 1923.
"In great consternation" Mileva seeks assistance
from an old confidant, public prosecutor Emil
Zürcher, who copies her argument: if she easily
agrees to a modification of the divorce agreement
and the New York bank becomes insolvent, how will
argue the orphanage of Zurich accusing her not
having fulfilled her duties? Therefore, the lawyer
considers it "safer and easier to fulfill the
contract" and after this can be sought a court
approval for a revision of the arrangements
considering the changed economic situation [40].
[40]
Emil Zürcher to AE, June 2, 1923.
But the decision, which considers Albert
appropriate, has long since fallen, 45,000 SFr.
have been sent to Zurich, the "rest of the N.P. is
already in New York and is excellently stored", he
lets know the sons in a happy way. "I want to
explain everything exactly to you then, l.
Albert", he promises and is "terribly happy" for a
future holiday together [41].
[41]
AE to Hans Albert, Eduard, June 9, 1923; the
amount transferred to New York is $ 24,210.92
[[in those times, 1 dollar is more or less
4.20 Swiss Francs]].
Now the elder son Hans Albert writes a flashy
letter being like a bolt from the blue to
Einstein. It may be an acceptable mistake only
respecting an "approximate accuracy" with the sum
which had been transferred to Albert Karr - 40,000
Swiss Francs, as Karr mentioned, or 45,000 Swiss
Francs, as Mileva should wait for after Albert's
announcement. But more important it would be
"considering the money as ours" to have a
certificate from the New York bank about Mileva's
portfolio. "If you would deny us this we would
have to assume you have no intention of letting us
have the money." [42]
[42]
original German: „Wenn Du uns diese Sache
verweigern würdest müssten wir annehmen Du
habest nicht die Absicht uns das Geld zu
lassen.“ - Hans Albert to
AE, between 8 and 20 June 1923.
This reproach was modified in the next sentence
when Hans Albert is confessing that he could not
imagine such an intention, but Albert Einstein
remains deeply offended now. That [p.10] a
19 years old is finding hard words for the
mischief of his mother [43] than the lawyer in
Zurich, will not have astunished him. When he also
recognizes the "anger because of the seperation",
and he "has partly given the last shirt [for
Mileva and the sons] [44], he cannot forget simply
how Hans Albert is writing brutal words and lack
of respect before the father [45]
[43]
s. Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe to AE, July 24,
1923
[44] AE to Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, July 26,
1923.
[45] AE to Zangger, after June 9, 1923.
[Albert Einstein deleted the projected holiday
with Hans Albert]
He deletes the holiday together with Hans Albert
from the calendar and answers the disrespectful
child in a letter that Mileva intercepts and
destroys with the explanation: "It would not be
right for you later if he would read these harsh
words from you." [46] Mileva might see that right.
But she also says that she could not understand
why Albert "would be so irreconcilably angry" [47]
- well, this seems to be a little fake from her
side.
[46]
AE to Mileva, after June 9, 1923.
[47] Mileva and Hans Albert to Hermann
Anschütz-Kaempfe, before July 24, 1923.
The documents, which Hans Albert has demanded as
proof of Mileva's ownership of the New York
account, arrived in Berlin in mid-July 1923.
Albert sends them immediately to Zurich, being
addressed to the thirteen-year-old Eduard, who now
plays the role of mediator in the tense situation
[48]. The next day, Einstein writes an additional
letter to son Eduard in the economic chaos in
Europe: "Tell Mama," writes his father, worried
about the increasingly confused economic situation
in Europe, "that it is extremely unfavorable to
let the 45,000 Swiss francs months in the bank."
In fact, the Swiss franc is sinking in correlation
to more stable currencies for several months. If a
house is not bought immediately, it would be
advisable to exchange the francs in dollars,
better still into Swedish, Danish or Argentine
dollar bonds in order to avoid a loss of interest.
Mileva may write to America immediately [49].
[48]
AE to Eduard, July 15, 1923; s.a. AE to Elsa
Einstein, June 27, 1923
[49] AE to Eduard, July 16, 1923.
[August 1923: Holiday on Sylt Island -
arrangement with son Hans Albert]
But meanwhile, Mileva and Eduard have arrived on
Sylt Island [[North Germany, rich German holiday
island]] and are relaxing there, being unconcerned
about the capital, which is in project to be
invested in Swiss francs, and Swiss inflation is
not even 2% in this year, so there is not much
danger that it will melt away.
Thanks to the intervention of prudent friends, the
open conflict between Albert and Hans Albert will
be resolved before the end of the summer. And
after the holiday days that have finally been
spent together, the father finds that his Filius
is "more splendid than ever [p.11] before and
perfectly impeccable in his behavior [...]. If
there were no bad influences, he would be an ideal
son." [50]
[50]
AE to Elsa Einstein, August 14, 1923; s.a. AE
to Zangger, August 29, 1923; to Elsa Einstein,
Sep. 2, 1923; to Paul Ehrenfest, Sep.12, 1923.
[End of 1923: Swiss franc is falling -
Einstein means, Mileva should buy a house now
before it's falling more]
In November 1923, a reminder from the tax office
reminds Albert of the money which is not used but
was said to be urgent for Zurich [51].
[51]
In reply to the request of the tax office of
the Berlin district Beautiful Mountain
(Schöneberg), Ms. Ilse Einstein explains: "The
40,000 M, which should be returned to my
father after receiving the Nobel Prize
according to the divorce contract, have
actually never been paid to him, because this
sum after the return of my father from Japan
at the end of March this year had lost all
real value as a result of the devaluation of
the currency."
(original German: „Die
40.000 M., die gemäss
Ehescheidungsvertrag nach Empfang des
Nobelpreises meinem Vater wieder
zurückgegeben werden sollten, sind
tatsächlich nie an ihn ausgezahlt
worden, da diese Summe nach der
Rückkehr meines Vaters aus Japan Ende
März dieses Jahres durch die
Geldentwertung jeden realen Wert
eingebüsst hatte.“) - Nov.15,
1923.
"What about buying a house?" he asks. "I am sorry
that I have sent you the money, as I foresee
definitely that it will go down with the Swiss
franc exchange rate." If a larger tenement, as
Mileva seems to be looking for, was nowhere to be
found, she ought to consider buying a smaller
house or have Albert invest the money in America.
"Remember that it's a big part of your fortune,
and that you really depend on it to be well
managed." [52]
[52]
AE to Hans Albert, Eduard, Nov.24, 1923.
While Albert is convinced that he has fulfilled
his obligations under the divorce contract
responsibly and properly, Mileva remains with
diffuse doubts not being calm again. Around the
turn of the year 1923/24, she looks for help with
Fritz Haber. Mr. Haber, a proven mediator in
Einstein's family conflicts and full of friendly
understanding of Mileva's concern, promises to
have sessions with Albert. But he warns: "If money
for a longer future is completely sure better in
the "USA" than in Switzerland, this is an earnest
question and has to be evaluated by you
seriously." Also he sees that the Swiss franc is
losing significant value against the dollar [53].
[53]
Fritz Haber to Mileva, Jan.16, 1924.
[Arrangement 1924: now the whole Nobel Prize
money is Mileva's property - Mr. Haber is
managing the matter]
However, Mileva's eternal questions worrying
without end are showing a formal problem: last
year, Albert had told the New York bank to invest
the prize money on Mileva's name and pay interest
to her. But this was not a legal transaction of
fortune as it seems, because with this the dollar
bonds are not yet Mileva's property - the Swedish,
Danish and Argentine dollar bonds. Mr. Haber [p.12]
is managing this problem with good energy and
respecting all sensitivities of both parts, so the
legally correct step can be made on Feb. 1, 1924
[54].
Under Haber's [p.12] well-meaning and sensitive to
the sensitivities of both parties directing takes
place the legally correct step on 1 February 1924
[54].
[54]
s. Fritz Haber to AE, Feb.1, 1924; Fritz Haber
to Mileva, Feb.1, 1924; AE to Ladenburg
Thalmann, Feb. 1, 1924; AE to Mileva, Feb. 1,
1924; Ladenburg Thalmann to AE, Feb. 28, 1924.
"Haber was kind enough," Albert tells the sons
the following day, "to do business properly in New
York. Hopefully, peace and contentment will now
settle in." He is worried about the fact that
45,000 francs remain unused in Zurich. He again
offers to take care of another system if no house
is bought [55].
[55]
AE to Hans Albert, Eduard, Feb.2, 1924.
The plan to buy a house was constantly in
Mileva's projects. But peace and contentment will
not come for a long time yet. Haber's empathetic
mediation does not change that, either, [56] and
Albert is wrong when, in late February 1924, he
considers "the annoying Nobel Prize affair" to
have been completed and can happily "bury the
battle ax" [57].
[56] Fritz Haber to
Mileva, Feb.14, 1924; Fritz Haber to AE, March 14,
1924.
[57] AE to Hans Albert,
Eduard, Feb.23, 1924.
[Zurich, April 1924: Mileva negotiating for a
house purchase - may 1924: house purchase]
In April 1924 Mileva enters into negotiations with
the seller of a five-story apartment building on
Zurich Mountain (Zürichberg). Albert Einstein is
informed first by his friend Mr. Zangger: "If all
goes well, the next time a house will be bought
which she will enjoy it." The rest sounds less
encouraging: losses are almost impossible, but the
return is minimal. The income from the rents less
the mortgage interest estimates Zangger to 3500
Sfr p.a., from which repair and other running
costs must be deducted [58].
[58] Zangger to AE, after April
12, 1924.
Albert comments like this: "There will be much
administration and problems and there is not much
more as when the money is invested in another
way". But a house is a safe possesion, safer than
commercial papers. "When you like this matter
basically", he writes, also when he had more
awaited the purchase of a singe-family house, then
he would not put them a stone for blocking them
[59].
[59]
AE to Mileva, April 19, 1924.
It makes Albert wondering that Mileva has "much
courage, perhaps too much with this small
fortune." [60] But since he does not want to make
his own judgment from a distance [p.13],
he gives the consent, which is no longer required
here, on the condition that friend Zangger finally
approves the purchase [61].
[60]
AE to Elsa Einstein, May 15, 1924; s.a. AE to
Zangger, May 5, 1924.
[61] AE to Mileva, May 12, 1924; s. a. Mileva
to Zangger, May 26, 1924.
At the end of May, contract negotiations are
short before completion. Mileva's melancholy
overshadows the opportunity for a new beginning.
With nothing at all, she writes to the ex-husband,
even with the house she can not be really happy
about all that lies behind them [62]. Does that
only mean the dispute that darkened the previous
year? Albert is not worried about his sons. They
have grown "very solid [...], so they will
probably not go down by the Nobel Prize."
[62]
Mileva to AE, June 8, 1924.
[63] AE to Michele Besso, May 24, 1924.
[[Mileva Einstein will never be able to get
over the fact that the Jewish Einstein family
with the racist-Jewish parents Hermann and
Pauline Einstein and the Jewish racist
Einstein family members in Berlin robbed her
of Albert, who is now flying aroung in the
highest circles of science and nobility, but
still can no high mathematics...]].
4. "I was always for this ...":
years of - modest - prosperity from the purchase
of the first house in 1924 to the summer of
1930, when Mileva buys her third house
[[So, it seems that the Einsteins have
simply played too much Monopoly where the costs
for house administration and house repairs are NOT
included, nor political changes (!!!)]]
At the beginning of June 1924, Mileva signs the
contract of sale and Albert wishes "luck and all
the necessary tenants who will pay and not annoy
you more than you annoy them." [64]
[64]
AE to Hans Albert, Eduard, Mileva, June 17,
1924.
[Zurich, house Hutten Street 62 - price
195,000 Swiss francs - 150,000 of these in 3
mortgages]
At the end of July [[1924]], Einstein had
commitments at the League of Nations Geneva and
then holidays with his sons Hans Albert and Eduard
in the Allgäu in South Germany. On the way he
passed Zurich looking at the purchased house. He
thought that Mileva's purchase seemed to be good,
considering it "an effective result of his
research work (pondering)" [65], and he consideres
this also as a proof ahtat he is able to secure
the future of his children, not failing like his
own parents.
[65]
ibidem; In 1933 [[when Einstein rebels against
Nazi Germany and quits everything in Berlin]],
Mileva will reaffirm this viewpoint by
offering AE and his second wife a temporary
stay in their apartment: "I think that this
house - a source of your work - should not
only be our home, but should be a house for
you, too [...] when you [...] have lost
yours." Mileva to AE, April 24, 1933
This purchase house was at Hutten Street
(Huttenstraße) 62, built in 1909, is located on
the border between the Zurich districts of
Oberstrass and Fluntern, which were incorporated
in 1893. In the first decades of the 20th century,
a residential area with multi-storey, partly very
comfortable, freestanding tenements with central
heating, bathroom and electric light for the
up-and-coming bourgeoisie was built on the former
vineyards above the university and the
Polytechnic.
Around 1920, a family living in [p.14] a
140 m² flat pays an annual rent of 4000 Sfr. Only
wealthy citizens can afford that. The house, which
is now Mileva's house, "almost new, in a prime
location [...], solidly built and with
unobstructed views of lake and mountains" has an
estimated value of about 220,000 SFr. The purchase
price is 195,000 SFr., 150,000 of these are fixed
in three mortgages [66].
[66]
s. Purchase contract, May 28, 1924.
[Zurich Hutten Street 62: Mileva moving in in
Sep. 1924 - big roof repair in 1925]
Mileva pays 45,000 SFr to the previous owner and
thus becomes the house owner. She gets the rents
of the tenants, this income is for the mortgage
interest and for taxes and for house repairs. When
it's needed, she can raise the rents within the
law. End of September 1924, she moves in the 6
room flat in the third floor of her house. Now she
lives without paying rent. Two rooms of the big
flat are rented or are for girlfriends and
doughters of girlfriends for short or longer stays
in Switzerland.
According to the divorce agreement, Albert is now
exempted from his payment obligations as long as
Mileva's income from the rents and interest paid
by the money invested in America is at least 8,000
Swiss francs per year. Her financial independence,
and the newly acquired wealth, let Mileva's
bitterness subside and in her letters Albert
discovers a new tone: "Sincere and satisfied [...]
as since Olims times no more." [67]
[67]
original German: „herzlich und zufrieden [...]
wie seit Olimszeiten nicht mehr.“ -
AE to Mileva, Aug. 14, 1925; s.a. AE to Maja
Winteler-Einstein, Sep.14, 1925.
[Zurich Hutten Street 62: Big roof repair in
1925 - Einstein gives private credit]
In summer 1925, a big roof repair is needed
provoking a disbalance of Mileva's budget. Vor
covering the cost she chould sell American CPs.
Albert is assisting against this; he wants to gove
Mileva a credit trusting her that she will pay all
back at the latest by the end of next year [68].
Because, he defends his offer to the skeptical
wife Elsa, "normally there remains enough of the
income." [69]
[68]
AE to Mileva, Aug.14, 1925.
[69] AE to Elsa Einstein, Aug. 21, 1925.
[p.15]
Albert's offer to Mileva seems quite reasonable.
The money that now accumulates in his Berlin
account - a security reserve from which he sets
aside a portion for the sons - brings less
interest than capital in "America". By plugging
the hole in Mileva's current budget without having
to attack her capital, Albert shows caution and a
sense of responsibility.
[Einstein's testament for his Zurich family and
for his Berlin family - new discussions about
testament and a certified statement]
It is probably this sense of responsibility and
the knowledge that in his hands for some years,
more and more possessions accumulates, which
arouses desires [70] that cause him in the fall of
1925 to establish a new testament (last will). If
there is a possibility to inhibit any fight
between the two families after his death fighting
for his enharitage, he wants to arrange this
before. He simply wants that both families will be
well supplied. For this, he writes to Mileva: "For
that, I need a legally certified statement,"
"that
you and the children, after receiving the
Nobel Prize, make no claims to what I leave
behind." [71]
[70] look: Controversy about the
ownership of the manuscript of the General
Theory of Relativity (GTR) in the years
1921-1925.
[71] AE to Mileva, Sep.26, 1925.
Now Mileva is dreaming what she and her sons will
loose when she would sign such a certified
statement of disclaimer. Perhaps she imagined a
good life as members of loafers class "M.o.L."
[72]
[72]
AE to Mileva, o.D. End of February / beginning
of March 1930.
which she never wanted to have on the cost of her
children - nor on her own cost, and she shought of
richness which could fall into the hands of rival
Elsa dne their daughters, who were presente as
Albert's daughters from time to teim in German
newspapers, when her ex would get more and more
financial rewarding honors.
Maybe she did not read the rest of the sentence at
all. The other part of the sentence reads, "apart
from what I specifically designate for my children
in my will."
This part for the children had been defined by
Albert in spring 1925 in a testament draft: his
violins, his books, and all "papers" would be of
the will of the sons, above all his scientific
manuscripts which were already now [p.16]
wanted collector's items, speculation objects with
rising value in future [73].
[73]
Testament, March 1, 1925; s.a. AE to Elsa
Einstein, April 15, 1925.
[Addition: Manuscripts from 1905 don't
exist any more (!)
However, as it turns out in 1943, when a war
organization wants to auction the manuscript
with the Theory of Relativity, this Einstein
himself must admit that he has DESTROYED the
manuscript of 1905 - so that seems a bad joke,
what this Einstein is writing in his 1925
testament (!)].
Does Mileva know this? She ignores Albert's
request for the certified statement. Three weeks
later he intervenes: "Send me soon the desired
statement that I can also take care of my local
people. Otherwise, I would be forced to bare
myself of any possessions during my lifetime."
[74]
[74]
AE to Mileva, Oct, 17, 1925.
Once before, in 1918, when he promised Mileva the
Nobel Prize money, he "bared himself from any
possessions." In 1925, such an act would differ
only slightly from what he always does in small
steps anyway, for example by shifting an account
with his income from the USA trip to his
stepdaughter Ilse, or with his Dutch income was
financed a "house and estate" ("Haus und Gütchen")
for his sister Maja in 1924 [75].
[75]
AE to Sigmund Zeisler, March 28, 1924; s.a.
Maja Winteler-Einstein to AE, Dec.4, 1924; s.
AE to Vero Besso, Aug.9, 1952.
He never has the feeling to need to accumulate a
big fortune. Pleading for a written declaration he
above all wants Mileva's trust for his project to
take responsible decisions about his possession.
Mileva does not want to give him the trust. Even
Alberts third call is left without answer. This
time he writes this "declaration" in clear words:
Since
Prof. Albert Einstein has ceded most of his
possessions in the form of the Nobel Prize to
his divorced wife, Mrs. Mileva Einstein,
during his lifetime, which ownership will pass
on the way of inheritance to his sons, Albert
and Eduard, the sons declare that they will
resign to any claims of Prof. Einstein that do
not correspond to the will left by her father
[p.17].
(original German: Da Prof. Albert
Einstein den grössten Teil seines Besitzes in
Gestalt des Nobelpreises an seine geschiedene
Frau, Frau Mileva Einstein, bei Lebzeiten
abgetreten hat, welcher Besitz auf dem Wege
der Erbschaft auf seine Söhne, Albert und
Eduard übergehen wird, erklären besagte Söhne,
dass sie an die Hinterlassenschaft des Prof.
Einstein keinerlei Ansprüche stellen werden,
die nicht dem von ihrem Vater hinterlassenen
Testament entsprechen [S.17]).
And Einstein compares the two families: "As good
as for you I cannot support them" - he means
his second bride Elsa and her two daughters [76],
that's why he calls for the declaration. And this
is not an unrealistic estimation looking back to
his life after his death [77].
[76]
AE to Mileva, Nov.1, 1925.
[77] In the eyes of the general public today,
the image of the sorrowful, poor Mileva is
shown in contrast to the wealth of Albert with
a funny Elsa. This has it's reasons which are
not presented here. Albert was worried about
both, but his worries were not the reason for
the presentation of this stereotype.
It would be pointless to ask whether there is
actually a danger that Elsa and her daughters
would "fall into poverty" when his sons would not
resign the their rights to fight against his
testament. This, Albert wants to exclude. Hans
Albert and Eduard could fight each for a quarter
of the legacy using the German law, so Elsa and
Margot would remain only with half of his Berlin
legacy, and as it looked like in 1925, this would
not be enough for according life in wealth. For
high comfort which stepdaughter Ilse is claiming
for, her husband is responsible since 1924 anyway.
Only a decade later, Albert will have the
fatalistic awareness that it would be "just
rediculous" to arrange things for the time after
death [78]. In 1925 he is full of this fortune -
with double meaning of the words - to arrange the
future life, with full satisfaction. Mileva
presumes a fraud, but Einstein is not thinking
about a fraud for sure. But there is the question
if such a declaration would be according the law,
and Mileva was communicating this with her friends
for sure [79].
[78]
AE to Hermann Dukas, Dec.24, 1935; According
to this knowledge, AE will not act.
[79] In 1932, when it comes again to an
"explanation", Zangger will raise this
question again.
[Zurich Hutten Street: Unexpected bill - borrow
money]
About the answer, she never speaks. In this autumn
of 1925, there were many letters circulating between
Zurich and Berlin. Mileva does not see any reason to
write a word about Albert's claim, and Albert does
not want to write about this topic a fourth time. At
the turn of the year Mileva is unexpectedly in a bad
situation. Bonds ended and were payed, and Albert
bought new bonds for a price which reduced the
interest for Mileva under the avaited level; now she
cannot pay an unexpected bill without
additional money. Albert has almost no cash now, and
he recommends to borrow money from the New Yorker
fortune [80].
[80]
AE to Mileva, Dec.23, 1925.
He is advising against selling CPs, as also two
years later
[p.18] for protecting the
capital.
"Let the money [...] better in America.
I now understand why Koppel advised me so. "[81]
(original German: „Das Geld lass [...] doch
lieber in Amerika. Ich begreife jetzt,
warum Koppel mir so geraten hat.“ [81])
[81]
Albert will buy the piano that Hans Albert
will get (from Mileva): "For that, there is
enough." AE to Mileva, June 4, 1928.
Mileva finally decides, "In this case, just lend
something here". She is confident that US interest
rates and current income in Zurich will quickly
make up for the small deficit [82].
[82]
Mileva to AE, before Jan.28, 1926; AE to
Mileva, Jan.28, 1926
Albert was a little bit skeptical concerning the
big house: "There had be a far better income when
you had not concentrated on this house" [83] - but
Mileva is answering decisively and he has to
confess that "the feeling is important doing the
work", and he is glad that Mileva "is happy with
the house" [84].
[83]
original German: „Ihr hättet ein weit besseres
Einkommen, wenn Ihr Euch nicht auf das
Haus kapriziert hättet“ - AE
to Mileva, Feb.13, 1926.
[84] AE to Mileva, March 6, 1926.
Significant bad news seems to come when in
spring 1926 the former house owner wants to
terminate his mortgage. But the law protects
Mileva: the mortgage over 17,000 SFr is fixed for
another three years. If the owner wants to sell
it, he has to find a buyer himself. There is no
reason to worry [85].
[85]
s. Zangger to AE, after March 16, 1926; AE to
Zangger, April 3, 1926; AE to Mileva, April 3,
1926.
The shared concern for the Nobel Prize money has
obviously led to a satisfactory cooperation, after
the first phase of misunderstanding and
disappointment. Mileva's ambition is to keep the
house well maintained and to achieve higher rental
income through small modernazations [86], not
least so that their children will "take it in
better condition than I got from my predecessor" [
87]; Albert is caring about profitable investments
at and with the American bank.
[86]
Mileva to AE, between Oct. 4. and 15, 1926.
[87] Mileva to AE, after Feb.27, 1927.
[Mileva gives the borrowed money back]
After having shown that unexpected additional
costs could have been paid out of the revenues of
the current year, Mileva offers Albert the
repayment of her debts at the end of 1926. For
safety's sake, she immediately asks what
percentage of interest he expects. But he does not
want any interest from Mileva, and he [p.19]
"does not wish either" that she hastened with
paying back. "You can give me back some of it when
I come to Switzerland." [88]
[88]
Mileva to AE, after Dec.23, 1926; AE to
Mileva, after Jan.10, 1927
Alberts visits to Mileva and Eduard in the Hutten
Street - mostly on the way to Geneva for the
meetings of the League of Nations and often before
and after holidays with the younger son - have now
become a fix habit. "I always tell everyone how
well I stand with my divorced wife and how well I
am in their home." Occasionally, he shocks
conventional thinking people of his epoch.
[Hutten Street 62: mortgage is sold by
the old owner - and what now?]
There are money questions only in summer 1929
again [89] when the mortgage, which caused trouble
three years earlier, is finally terminated.
Albert's advice to Mileva, who now has the choice
of either taking over this mortgage or letting it
slip into other hands, so Mileva's decision is
primarily depending on the itnerest she has to
pay. When the mortgage would be taken by a new
person, would the interst she had to pay to this
person be lower or higher than having a credit at
a bank taking over this mortgage into her own
hands? [90]
[89] The
seemingly mysterious question in the
letter of Einstein of May 5, 1928, as
it stands "with the return of the
money", may be a sign that Mileva took
much time for repaying the borrowed
sum as Albert Einstein had expected.
Apparently this did not cause any
discrepancies at first.
[90] AE an
Mileva, July 4, 1929.
[New York 1929: Stock market crash is
NOT mentioned in the Einstein letters?]
Even now, it is not considered to sell the
lucrative papers in America which are an income
guarantee. The New York stock market crash is not
mentioned in the correspondence between Mileva and
Albert and for the next time there is no negative
effect on Mileva's "American" fortune, as it
seems.
[since
1929: Mileva is teaching physics in a
grammar school in Zurich
(from Plötz: The woman who did Einstein the
matehematics - 1990, p.428)
[Bank in New York: There are 5,000 dollars
free - Einstein's idea to take a mortgage with 8
to 10% - or stay with bonds in the "USA" with 7
to 8%]
In the spring of 1930, on this account a larger
sum is free. Albert communicates to Mileva:
"Thalmann suggested to buy similar government
bonds as you have already". Albert himself has
another idea, "take a first mortgage on a good
house, this would bring 8 to 10%". Albert ist
justifying this idea properly, but in retrospect
it seems strange. Perhaps this idea comes above
all from a new feeling of life that Albert had
since he had his [[summer]] house in Caputh [[near
Berlin]]. But several days after, he will come to
the conclusion that [p.20] the conditions in
Germany would be too unsave for investing "here".
When Mileva just wanted to have invested the money
with a lower interest rate - 7%, 8% - leaving it
in the "USA", so he would also agree, he writes
[91].
[91]
AE to Mileva, mid-June 1930; AE to Mileva,
after mid-June 1930.
Albert's suggestion "concerning that money"
surprised Mileva. She asks for time to think
about. "The pleasant thing about the previous
system [at Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co. Inc.] for
me is mainly that the thing worked perfectly and
everything went so impersonal." Since 1924, she
herself is communicating with the bank what
concerns purchase or selling CPs; she gets the
interest that satisfy her, and it looks like as
this will continue. She does not see any advantage
of a mortgage which has a little bit higher
interest rate, but the fate is to be in the hands
of another house owner.
The situation is familiar to her from her own
experience and she can not warm to Albert's
suggestion. But if he thinks it's good to invest
that $ 5,000, then "she's right,
after all." But she wants to avoid discrepancies;
she would be "so nervous at the moment that [she]
would rather reject to 1% than to have any
excitement."
[Mileva is nervous: Old mother with
unpredictable sister - and Eduard studying in
his 1st semester of medicine is uncertain]
The cause of Mileva's nervousness is neither a
financial emergency situation, nor the fragile
health of the younger son Eduard; it is first and
foremost the "desolate conditions" in Novi Sad,
where her sick old mother lives with her mentally
disturbed, unpredictable daughter, Mileva's
younger sister. Perhaps she also worries about the
cognition that Eduard, who soon after beginning
studying medicine "resumed literary habits" again,
is not so sure any more with his studying matter,
but the feeling become mixed after a few months
[92].
[92]
Mileva to AE, June 15, 1930; s. a. Eduard to
AE, Jan.22, 1930
[Madness in 1930: there is world
economic crisis - and the Einsteins purchase
another two houses (!)]
[Zurich, June 18, 1930: Mileva's idea: buy a
second house - consideration time 3 days (!) -
and Einstein trusts Mileva blindly - price too
high - Mileva seeks another second house (!) -
second house bought in July 1930]
[The
second house is at Behind the Mountain Street
(Hinterberg Street) 86 or 88 in
Zurich-Fluntern]:
But the idea of investing the released money in
another house does not leave Mileva's head. By
chance, "there is a nice house to sell that we
know very well ." It costs about 160,000 Swiss
francs, she writes. Now she needs Albert's
approval as soon as possible, because there are
"of course also other devotees" and they have
given her a consideration time of only three days.
[p.21]
[93]
Mileva to AE, after June 18, 1930
[[1 math and 1 physic copy clerk are
playing Monopoly: The financial suicide
of the Einsteins: worldwide stock market
crash since October 24, 1929 - and the
Einsteins buy more luxury houses -
WITHOUT a million reserve at hand (!)
-- Since October 24, 1929, the global
stock market crash is taking place in the
capitalist countries, and this also
applies to the Zurich Stock Exchange
-- If Albert Einstein continues to do
business with the Mileva as usual buying
luxury houses without having millions in
reserve, then this is financial suicide
-- Albert Einstein KNOWS from experience
what is a crisis (WWI, hyperinflation
1923). So, it's absolutely NOT
understandable that Einstein permits the
purchase of two other houses. It seem rare
why he did not suggest to by gold. Every
good administrator sets different colums
distributing the risk: house, bonds, gold,
antiquities, arts etc.
-- friends are not intervening (??!!) - or
they believed that the stock exchange
crisis will be over fast (!!) - see the
graphics in 1930 (!!!)]]:
Börsenkurse
des Dow Jones 1925-1955 [1]
Albert replies immediately: "I have faith in your
judgment [...] because you've already bought
well." That the profit will be low with another
house "interest will not be that brilliant" is
mentioned only incidentally. If Mileva keeps
enough liquid reserves "not risking an emergency
situation" and when the matter is provedby an
expert who cannot find any hook with the matter,
then she should buy the house [94].
[94]
AE to Mileva, after June 20, 1930
Mileva's negotiations with the seller are fast
coming to nothing; the price is too high for her.
But now the desire for a second house has taken
hold of her. She sets out to search and gets the
impression that "there are many possibilities to
get something decent". Therefore, she is very
happy, if Albert comes for a visit in summer "you
come for a wile and you can perhaps help us to
choos, or at least define a short-listed choice."
For not endangering the completion of the
contract, she asks him to advise the transfer of
the available money now already, because in New
York there would be anyway only 1% interest [95].
[95]
Mileva to AE, before July 11, 1930
On one of the last days of July 1930 - Albert is
on a return trip from Geneva to visit Zurich, he
examines the selected object, makes no objections
and gives his consent - Mileva buys her second
house [[of luxury class in Zurich]].
[Zurich September 1930: Mileva's idea: buy a
third house - Einstein should quickly deliver
the money (!)]
[The
third house is at Hinterbergstrasse 86 or 88
in Zurich-Fluntern]:
Barely six weeks later, "[...] slowly, but
gradually," Mileva's purchase negotiations for a
third house are nearing completion. The price of
152,000 SFr appears "acceptable". She asks Albert
to sign the enclosed slips and send them to
Ladenburg Thalmann Bank, because there is a rush
to pay. Mileva is les charged by the house
purchase than with the introductory semester of
Eduard at the university which Eduard should pass
there in the near future. "I am so nervous as if I
myself would be obliged to pass the exam." [96]
[96]
Mileva to AE, Sep.8, 1930; in September 1930,
Mileva sold $ 7,000 in nominal paper for
around $ 5,400; See [[the bank documents of]]
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Sep.22, 1930
There is no reliable information about how much
Mileva has to pay for the acquisition. In a
lawyer's letter from 1937, which for reasons of
usefulness contains very doubtful or even fake
data, a sum of 40,000 SFr is indicated [p.22].
And it's not possible to investigate what sum
remains on the "American" account after the third
house purchase. When Mileva explains to helpful
friend Mr. Zangger in Summer 1945 that "the money
which remained in "America" [...] was lost" [97],
this must be at least a misleading information.
Until 1936 there is a remaining sum from tne Nobel
Prize money on Mileva's "American" account, but
with only little interest. In summer 1936 this
remaining sum is invested in a reconstruction of
the house at Hutten Street no.62.
[97]
Mileva to Zangger, Aug.3, 1934
In the autumn of 1930, Albert's prize money is
invested in three Zurich apartment buildings [[of
luxury class!]], with income by the rents,
supplemented by the interest from the remaining
dollar bonds from Mileva's account in New York,
and this should bring at least 8,000 Swiss francs
[[per year]]. Or at least should.
5. "... I'm afraid she might
collapse completely":
From Mileva's first financial problems with the
houses in 1931 to Albert's departure to the
United States in late 1932
[Zurich in the global economic crisis
from 1931: tenants can no longer pay the rent or
move out - Mileva has only reduced rental income
(!)]
In 1931, in small steps, the global economic
crisis is also becoming more noticeable in
Switzerland. Mileva's tenement houses acquired at
Hinterbergstrasse 86 and 88 in Fluntern last year
are quickly proving to be a costly burden. Some
tenants are in arrears, others move out. Not
everyone can afford an expensive apartment on
Zurich Mountain in uncertain times [98].
[98]
Mileva to AE, May 31, 1932
And even a single apartment vacant over a few
months brings Mileva's budget to the skid.
However, the houses could not be sold without sad
losses. Mileva also has to accept a drop in
interest rates on its dollar bonds, which have
shrunk considerably since the autumn of 1930. In
anticipation of the complete loss of interest, for
instance when the bank of Ladenburg, Thalmann
& Co. should go bankrupt, she decides to
transfer this deposit to another bank, a move that
Albert may wish to support with a letter of
recommendation. The papers, he assures her, keep
them, even if the bank goes bankrupt. Now Mileva
blames the bank that "she had made a bad
purchase", but Albert says this cannot be blamed.
The economic crisis and its consequences were not
foreseeable [S.23] when Koppel recommended
the bank to him in 1923, "but since then many
things may have changed." [99]
[99]
AE to Mileva, Nov.20 and Nov.29, 1931;
Ladenburg Thalmann was one of the most
influential American private banks in the
1920s and one of the few banks to prosper in
the global economic crisis instead of making
losses.
Is Mileva changing the bank? This can not be
deduced from the existing correspondence. In any
case, Mileva's financial situation is not
consolidated.
[From May 1932: son Eduard with depressive
disorder]
In May 1932 - there are not only financial
problems, but now the younger son [[Eduard]] is
making problems during winter times showing
symptoms of a depressive disorder - so she
[[Mileva]] has to ask if she will be able to pay
the mortgage interests in following summer. The
situation seems threatening because perhaps by the
state government an order for a rent reduction by
20% may be awaited.
[Mileva did NOT WORK for 8 years - 8 years no
own salary]
After many years of relative prosperity allowing
her a wealth without own income - she only gave
some private lessons - Mileva now wants to apply
for a job as Custodian of the Collection at the
Daughters High School. For that, she hopes, Albert
will have a good word for her at the Zurich mayor
[100].
[100]
Mileva to AE, May 31, 1932
But Albert does not want to make a recommendation.
In a time of high unemployment, when many people
are more needy and able to work than they are, he
writes to Mileva that he finds such an
intervention unjustified. He promises to help in
other ways. He would hire the Zurich lawyer
Hermann Dukas to get an overview of Mileva's
income and obligations, and together with him
consider how he, Albert, could help her. "I will
not let you sit in the dirt." [101]
[101]
AE to Mileva, June 4, 1932
[Mileva complains: One house is unprofitable
and nobody wants to buy it - advice from lawyer
Hermann Dukas: sell everything - Mileva blocks]
Hermann Dukas' consulting with Mileva is not
clearing much in this situation. He is asking much
and whe feels puzzled and misunderstood. Again she
tells her emergency situation to Albert: One of
the houses was a bad choice, the dwelling house
which Albert had seen in Juily 1930. "Perhaps when
both of us had worked with the matter alone, the
matter had been finished better"; but may be there
was an "unconsceous feeling" that everybody had
relied on the other one [p.24].
[[The reasons why this house should be
bad are concealed]].
Well, she is blaming Albert in a certain way, but
cannot leave it stay like this confessing that
"also the crisis of the last two years has changed
the dwelling conditions and this also plays a
role". All attempts for selling this "bad luck
house" or to lease it were not successful. Since
one year she had no calm any more and could not
work with other matters and she "was just at the
end of her forces". But the other two houses are
"functioning" well, and she was very happy
possessing them, and therefore she does not accept
the Hermann Dukas' proposal "to sell everything"
arguing that "houses will keep their value, but
commercial papers can be without worth from one
day to the other." This makes sense.
[June 1932: 1 house is a bad house - and heavy
losses with commercial papers in the
"USA"]
The assistance of Dukas did not solve Mileva's
problem at all. She sees a desaster coming when
the mortgage depths from the bad house will
consume an always bigger part of the income of the
other houses, and when there is not enough money
left for her and Eduard, "especially because our
income is considerably cut by the loss of
commercial papers in "America"." [102]
[102]
Mileva to AE, June 12, 1932
How high can this interest loss be after the
purchase of two houses, as only a little part of
the originally capital being set in "America" was
cut in it' value by the "American" depression,
which Mileva is blaming to Albert now? [103]
[103]
Mileva to Zangger, after Oct.28, 1932: "I
think the point is that the sum of the Nobel
Prize is absolutely non-existent and that it
can not be billed as such. Einstein at that
time reserved the right to procure and
supervise the investment of this money, but
did not care much about it, so that a
considerable part is lost."
(original German: „Ich finde,
dass der springende Punkt ist, dass die
Summe des Nobelpreises absolut nicht
vorhanden ist und dass sie als solche
nicht in Abrechnung gebracht werden kann.
Einstein hat sich damals das Recht
vorbehalten diese Anlage dieses Geldes zu
besorgen und zu beaufsichtigen, hat sich
aber wenig darum bekümmert, so dass ein
beträchtlicher Teil verloren ist.“)
The blow for her ist strong making her so nervous
that Eduard fears that "she could collapse
completely one time." [104]
[104]
Eduard to AE, after Aug.21, 1932
And there comes another blow when in August 1932
Albert repeats his request he had years ago. Also
for him the times have changedand presumably he
thinks another time to actualize his testament
(last will).
[104]
Eduard to AE, after Aug.21, 1932
[1932: Einstein wants a notarial declaration from
all heirs in Zurich that they recognize his
decisions in the will]
Albert has no great wealth to inherit. House and
property in Caputh, his most valuable property, are
registered in the land register on the names of his
stepdaughters. The remaining property he wants to
distribute as he wants. But the idea that the heirs
do not understand his sense of justice
[p.25]
and "would fight scandalously" after his death
worries him that much as it was in 1925; and so, in
the summer of 1932, he emphatically insists on a
notarized "declaration of all parties that they will
unconditionally recognize my will." In return, he
offers the sons, in advance and immediately, the
interest on a fortune of 25,000 marks, which he has
saved for the two. [105]
[105]
AE to Eduard, Aug.20, 1932
Albert's demand triggers anger and resistance,
fears and confusion among the three affected.
Mileva, as it was in 1925, she wants to escape the
demand, is not telling anything first and then
seeks support from the friends Besso, Zangger,
Zurich and Haber.
Eduard, in need of harmony, tries to be the
mediator. He told his father that he had talked
about business matters with his mother and brother
and was convinced that they could communicate. He
does not consider Mileva's "somewhat affective [s]
disturbed" reaction to be important: "I will
personally ensure that we all take a conciliatory
and objective attitude." [106]
[106]
Eduard to AE, before Sep.19, 1932
But his situation is hopeless. Neither can he
ally with his angry brother and stunned mother
against the father, nor beat against mother and
brother on the side of the father, who in turn
suspects that behind the behavior of the - so he
sees it - insincere and cunning ex woman and her
sons, whose desire is to grab everything after his
death, what he will leave behind. Is this about
the Nobel Prize money?
[1932: Albert Einstein has lost almost
all his private assets and CP assets]
In 1925, Albert had justified the renunciation
that he had made in vain to Mileva, claiming that
the Nobel Prize money, and above all the children
whom the capital should be payed, had been better
cared for than he had ever provided for his second
family. In 1932, at a time when not only Mileva
had to deal with the consequences of the economic
crisis, but Albert also [p.26]
lost his savings "just almost completely" [107],
he prudently does not mention the Nobel Prize at
first.
[107]
[Losses from an Einstein friend in Spain -
and a "US" account]
AE to Mileva, June 4, 1932; the
loss includes "a hefty, hefty sum" speculated by a
good friend in Spain (see Elsa Einstein to Luise
Karr-Krüsi, June 1, 1933), possibly also an
American account; the German funds are probably
not affected.
[1932: What is the Nobel Prize money still
worth? - and Eduard will probably never work]
Above all the friends around Mileva are thinking
about what has become of the more than 121,000
Swedish Crowns (kroner), which once secured her
and her sons an annual income of 8,000-10,000 SFr.
What is the remainder of this sum worth in autumn
1932 yet? If Mileva wanted to demand an equitable
distribution of Albert's heritage following her
ideas, this question should be clarified first.
Friend Zangger thinks that in any case it would be
nonsense rating the Nobel Prize to it's original
value. This point of view he represents not only
by thinking that Albert is responsible for a
considerable part of the money during the
depression which was administered by him. But a
just distribution of the heritage in 1932 of the
values which had gone into Mileva's hands in 1923
should consider above all the fact that Eduard
"will not have an own income by his illness, if he
just will be capable to work in a full time job."
And Zangger means that also another factor should
be considered:
"Einstein never rated him high." May be, this is
Zanggers conclusion by a remark of Albert when he
was promising the Nobel Prize money to Mileva in
1918: Best to inherit to the boys would not be
money but a good head, a satisfied sense and a
perfect name? It seems that Zangger has forgotten
Albert's pride having secured financially well the
future of his chldren thanks to the Nobel Prize
money [108].
[108]
Zangger to Hans Wolfgang Maier, Oct.4, 1932;
Zangger to Michele Besso, Oct.6, 1932; Zangger
to AE, Oct.4, 1932.
The precarious political situation, mistrust on
all sides, material insecurity and the very
different perception of concern for the vulnerable
younger son from both parents makes prudent
communication almost impossible. Once again,
Albert presents Mileva his view of facts in clear
words:
At
the time, I gave you the Nobel Prize with the
intention of making sure your and your
children's future. It should be clear at that
time that this sum - the only thing that I
possessed at that time - would count toward
the inheritance of the children at my death.
Because only in this way [p.27] it
will be possible for me to support also other
people who are close to me to a sufficient
extent. This was missed to fix before [109].
[109] AE to Mileva, Oct.6, 1932
Whenever he made an effort to clarify the matter,
he got evasive answers. "Instead, on every
occasion you've tried to get money out of me over
and over again," and he points to a larger sum he
lent Mileva, but did not get back, contrary to her
promises.
Now he expects "that you all three together will
send me a valid statement that either states that
the Nobel Prize is for the inheritance of the
children or that you will not contest my will
[110].
[110]
AE to Mileva, Oct.6, 1932
[The declaration is legally illegal - the
children have never seen a cent of the Nobel
Prize money]
Presumably such an explanation, given under force,
would not be binding. This is not aware of Albert,
but irrelevant. For what he expects is nothing but
a proof of Mileva's and his sons' confidence in
the honesty of his decisions, the confirmation
that they recognize in him the responsible father
whom he is considering himself.
Already Hans Albert's first reaction shows how far
Albert's desire and Zurich's reality diverge. Did
Mileva ever talk to her sons about the Nobel Prize
money? Hans Albert can not remember. He does not
know the amount Mileva has received, and is "not
specifically informed about to whom the money
actually belongs now". Above all, he "has not
gotten a centime from it," he outraged, and that
will probably continue to be the case as long as
Mileva lives [111].
[111]
Hans-Albert to AE, after Oct.6, 1932
In fact, in the divorce agreement it's not
foreseen that the sons receive money during
Mileva's life. But payments to the sons are not
excluded either, but the dicision is with Mileva
as long as the money comes from the interest, and
the dicision depends from the coordination of both
parents, when the capital itself would be touched
[p.28].
[from 1927: Mileva denies Hans Albert any
support in the first working life]
What Hans Albert had to experience since leaving
the household together with his mother and brother
in 1927 is that he was denied financial support
"for pedagogical reasons" because Mileva argues
that "a young man should learn reasonably well to
handle the earned money." [112] His younger
brother, on the other hand, was "greatly
indulged." [113] Hans Albert's reproach to the
father, unfounded but understandable, culminates
in the bitter sentence:
"You
obviously do not even think me worthy, to get
at least a modest memento of you after you
were stolen from my life." [114]
(original German: „Du
hältst mich offenbar nicht einmal für
würdig, wenigstens ein bescheidenes
Andenken an Dich nach Deinem Tode zu
bekommen, nachdem Du mir im Leben
gestohlen worden bist.”)
[112]
s. Milena to AE, before Jan.28, 1926. AE is
also of the opinion that it is better for his
sons not to grow up in too much wealth, s. AE
to Mileva, Feb.13, 1926. However, behind
Mileva's "pedagogical" principle is, above
all, her eternal fight with the
daughter-in-law.
[113] Hans Albert to Michele Besso, January
1935; this is not only ment in material sense.
[114] Hans Albert to AE, after Oct.6, 1932
Mileva, who gets support by benevolent, legally
dependable and friendly, loyal friends, can
renounce these accusations which are "a little bit
affective and depressed".
[Testament: Mileva lets lawyers and friends
"treat" Albert Einstein: Dr. Zürcher, Heinrich
Zangger, Fritz Haber]
She had not reported everywhere, but she had
reported - with the exception to the tax office -
"that you have given us the whole Nobel Prize",
and she had looked for a constant feeling of joy
and thankfulness for this - "at least as it's
possible with my mentality". But she would not
give the desired explanation, because such an
explanation "could be dangerous and could have
incontrolable consequences". She relies on that
the friends will represente her matter with
Albert. Dr. Zürcher had already written to him
because of that [115].
Even though she did not say it all over, she did
not tell anybody - except the tax authorities -
"that you gave us the Nobel Prize," and always
tried to show Albert a sense of joy and gratitude
- "at least ] as far as that is in my nature ".
However, she will not give the desired explanation
because such explanations are "dangerous and can
have obvious consequences". She relies on the
friends to represent her affair to Albert. Dr.
Zurich had certainly already written to him [115].
[115]
Mileva to AE, Nov.18, 1932
Dr. Zürcher had written, Mr. Heinrich Zangger had
written, and finally also Mr. Fritz Haber had
sessions with Albert following Mileva's order.
Haber understands the point what Zangger does not
understand: that Albert "is angry because there is
no conficence for his justice from the sides of
his sons, but Albert thinks the sons have to trust
him according to his character and his behavior."
(???!!!) - Mr. Haber can move the hurt friend at
least to a concession: The decisive paragraph of
the last will will be formulated with the help of
a lawyer in that way, so it corresponds to the law
os succession, so that the controversial
"explanation" will be superfluous [116].
[116]
Fritz Haber to Mileva, Oct.28, 1932
Already at the beginning of October 1932, Eduard
was suffering anxiety and nervous heart
disturbances making the impression for
hospitalization, Albert is giving in: "In the
first place [p.29], do not bother yourself
about the matter of the will," he appeals to his
troubled son, "I will never mention it again."
[117]
[117] AE
to Eduard, Oct.8, 1932
And he will fulfill his statement.
6. "... in a constant stress":
Mileva's desolate financial situation 1933-1938
[Eduard hospitalized - Eduard becomes a nursing
case - economic crisis makes luxury homes
unprofitable]
Mileva now had always more and more problems. In
late autumn of 1932, the younger son was
hospitalized for an indefinite time. He will not
be able to continue his studies, and he will not
have an own salary soon, but he will go on to be
depend on the mother. The three houses, the value
of [[a part of]] the Nobel Prize, don't produce
the income which was awaited two or three years
before and which would be necessary for the future
covering the additional charges which Mileva has
to pay for the additional treatment of her son -
Mileva sees that [118].
[118]
By letter dated Nov.12, 1932, AE requested the
[[Swiss]] Foreign Exchange Office [[Amt für
Devisenbeschaffung]] for an approval of the
transfer which was required for Eduard's stay
in the hospital.
[December 1932 to April 1933: Einstein is
angry against Germany in public and gives
his German passport away
Einstein is naive: Instead of waiting,
Einstein is shouting against the Hitler regime
from the beginning, and he does not see the
collaboration between Rothschild and the
Rothschild descendant Hitler, that simply
masses of Jews should be driven to IL into the
desert. When he did not take back his words
but gave back his German passport in April
1933 in the German embassy in Belgium, the
Hitler government is considering measures
against Einstein. Instead of studying history,
Einstein RISKS HIS CAPITAL IN GERMANY AND HIS
HOUSE IN CAPUTH NEAR BERLIN].
[June 1933: NS regime blocks Einstein's
fortune in Germany justificating "preparation of
high treason and treason"]
What contribution Albert can make to supporting
Mileva and Eduard is uncertain. The National
Socialists were confiscating his bank accounts and
Elsa's bank accounts with the justification of
"preparaiton of high treason and treason", even
before a "law on the confiscation of Communist
assets" authorized them to confiscate his and
Elsa's bank accounts in Berlin with a total value
of about 60,000 marks including the 25,000 marks
that Albert set aside for the sons [119]. Above
all, security is offered to him with a position in
Princeton, from which he hopes to be able to "live
quite properly" despite the progressive dollar
devaluation and despite the growing number of
family members dependent on his support since the
political upheaval in Germany [120].
[119]
Elsa Einstein to Abraham Shalom Yahuda, June
3, 1933; Elsa Einstein to Luise Karr-Krüsi,
June 1, 1933.
[120] AE to Mileva, April 29, 1933; s. a. AE
to Swiss ambassadors in Brussels, May 5, 1933;
s. a. AE to Mileva, June 25, 1933. AEs request
for intervention by the Swiss authorities in
favor of the release of the funds "which are
also foreseen for the care of the younger son"
remains without result - official Switzerland
does not show any inclination for having a
conflict with the Third Reich [[because Hitler
has confiscated also Swiss investments in
Germany, which will be compensated with Jewish
companies given to Swiss industrial bosses
since 1936]]. See also the book of Siegfried
Grundmann: "Einstein's property confiscated by
the Nazis" (original German: "Einsteins von
den Nazis konfisziertes Eigentum", Berlin
2017, p. 27ff.
[June 1933: Mileva's cry for help
because of the bad house - no bank wants the two
houses at Hinterberg Street - 3000 Franks
mortgage interest are due]
As early as June 1933, Mileva's cries for help
became more urgent: the story of the 'dreadful
house' will provoke her death. When she would not
pay the mortgage interest [p.30] being
duty in July , the rents are in danger to be
seized. No bank wanted ti give her a credit or
take over one of the two houses at Hinterberg
Street which cannot be sold for a good price any
more on the market .
"Perhaps
you know advice or help. Please do not leave
me", she implores Albert [121].
[121] Mileva to AE, June 20, 1933; Mileva to AE,
July 5, 1933.
Albert knows how to act and, compassionately,
sees himself "able to help you in this position in
some way". To give her an overview of her actual
financial situation, he once again appoints the
lawyer Hermann Dukas, who is "very
experiences with house administrations" and he is
trusting him [122]. But as in the previous year,
Mileva is rejecting Dukas' professional advice.
Should she really give away the expensive house at
any price? Is it advisable to lose a large part of
the invested capital in order to escape the danger
of having to put in more sums of money in vain and
uselessly? In mid-July, Mileva sees only one way
out of her dangerous situation:
"My
last and only hope is you, I have to ask you
again and again, not to forget me now." At the
latest by the end of July 3000 SFr have to be
paid [123].
[122] AE to Mileva, June 25,
1933; AE to Mileva, July 3, 1933.
[123] Mileva to AE, July 15, 1933.
"At least
this time", promises Albert Mileva, he wants
to help her staying through the delicate
situation, despite their own sorrows and
drudgery, because the whole family had come
to the beggar's staff. The sum that is here,
he could "still find out". A transfer of
3000 SFr will be commissioned immediately
[124]
[124]
AE to Mileva, July 19, 1933; AE to Mileva,
July 25, 1933.
[From September 1933: Amortizations of 2000
Swiss francs per year - and: son Eduard gets a
private carer, cost 10 francs per day + housing
+ food]
Existing resources allow Mileva, Eduard and his
private carer to spend several weeks in the
countryside. Already in September [[1933]] Mileva
gets into financial difficulties again. In
addition to the mortgage interest, she now has to
pay off ¤ 1,000 per annum, a sum that burdens her
"momentary miserable conditions" above the
bearable level, because since Eduard was released
from the psychiatric hospital in the summer, costs
for the private carer are pressing her budget. "If
you wanted to help us a little, that would be a
real good action." [125]
[125]
Mileva to AE, Sep.29, 1933; In addition to
board and lodging, the carer receives 10 SFr /
day.
[May 1934: Both houses of Hinterberg
Street are not profitable any more - the
caretaker for Eduard costs a lot]
The generally desperate economic situation is
increasingly restricting Mileva's financial scope.
Again and again she complains about inadequate
rent payments and the [p.31] futile search
for a buyer for one or the other houses in the
Hinterberg Street, both "not profitable". She even
offers Albert one of the houses as an exchange for
an eventual help "in return for an eventual help
which you would give me", and she leaves it to his
thinking if his "performence" couldbe for the
costs of the carer or for the reduction of the
depts, because Mileva feels that "sooner or later
these depts will be distructive [...] and can
provoke the loss of all possession." [126]
[126]
Mileva to AE, after May 4, 1934
She can afford yet a private caretaker for
Eduard, but she is already confessing that "he
costs much for my difficult conditions of today".
The stay in the clinic, she is justifying all,
would not be much cheaper. This counts for the
costs in the half private class. This is the
Cantonal Psychiatrical Hospital Burghölzli.
Putting She has not the heart to commit Eduard
into the basic class of this hospital [127].
[127]
Mileva to AE, May 4, 1934.
At the beginning of 1934, she has the project to
rent her own comfortable flat in Hutten Street for
a good price, and she would change to a cheaper
flat. But a renovation would be before, and this
money is missing. Mileva may be happy that her big
flat with the view over the town and the lake is
preserved [128].
[128]
Mileva to AE, February 13, 1934
[Mileva playing the poor girl? Mileva with
psychologist?
There is the question why Mileva
was not with a psychologist giving up all and
working normally during this crisis. The
neighbors must have observed that this Mrs.
Einstein does not work, and this is harming
her reputation a lot - and Albert Einstein
does not see this connection...]
She finds support with Albert: "Just stay calm in
your apartment; as long as I'm fine, it should
also be the case with you", he assures her. She
does not need to worry about a business
catastrophe. Albert knows Mileva in good hands
with Hermann Dukas.
"If
Dukas writes me that a debt should be paid by
me, or that you do not have enough to live on,
then I will pay it." [129]
[129] AE to Mileva, no date,
after Feb.13, 1934.
[May 1934: Einstein check for 650 Swiss francs
Albert had a project to visit his family in Zurich
in summer 1934, but this project was blocked some
weekse before. In May 1934, he sends a check for
650 SFr. Is this money for the carer or money that
should flow into the payments for one of the
houses? Can that be separated? The sum does not
satisfy Mileva. "If you had helped me for only a
few months in the cost of [p.32] the
caregiver, it would be a great help for me." Are
their financial reserves really exhausted? [130]
[130]
Mileva to AE, May 4, 1934; Mileva to AE, May
29, 1934
[June 1934: There should be a life insurence
with 5,000 Swiss francs for Mileva? - and Mileva
is claiming again and again]
Just one time comes up the topic of a life
insurance in the letters, which Albert had
installed as a young man for Mileva and which
should be payed this year, 5,000 Swiss francs
should it be, but it's mentioned only once [131].
[131]
AE to Hermann Dukas, June 9, 1934.
Does Mileva receive the money? That is to be
assumed. She does not comment. While Albert, on
the other side of the Atlantic, trusts that Dukas,
the very reliable lawyer, is taking on Mileva's
financial problems with the necessary expertise,
Mileva's complaints to the Zurich friends give the
impression that Albert has ruthlessly left them to
their fate since Nobel Prize money, which was
deposited in the New York investment bank
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co [...] was destroyed in
the world economic crisis." [132] "Since he knows
that all is so bad, he does not write any more",
she claims. Well, he gave the order to a friend to
get information from time to time how she is
going, but this would not be a great help. She
would live now always waiting for the desaster
[133].
[132]
look the book: R. Schulmann (ed.): Soul
Affiliation (original German:
Seelenverwandtschaft), p.541.
[133] Mileva to Zangger, Aug.22, 1934
The catastrophe is - or would be - the
termination of a mortgage on one of the houses on
Hinterberg Street in June 1935. When nobody is
found taking over the mortgage, so the house comes
to the mortgage owner or to the bank, and Mileva's
down payments would be lost. And Mileva writes
Zangger, that there cannot be help awaited from E.
in this matter [134].
[134]
Mileva to Zangger, Aug.22, 1934.
She conceals that, in order to turn down or at
least mitigate catastrophes, "E." has continued to
pledge to her every possible help as soon as the
expert attorney Dukas requests them. Did Albert
just make empty promises and let Mileva "sit in
the dirt"?
Or is Hermann Dukas not fulfilling his mission?
[1934/1935: The auction of the two houses of
Hinterberg Street]
Already towards the end of the year 1934 it is
foreseeable that the two houses on the
Hinterbergstraße will not be able to be hold for
much longer and will be auctioned [135].
[135]
Emil Zürcher to Hermann Dukas, Dec.7, 1934.
Lawyer Dukas, here in line with friend Zangger,
again advises to sell at least one of the houses
herself with a loss. The revenue - because there
is still a revenue [p.33] to be expected -
should be invested in a pension for Eduard. The
pension plan is dropped quickly. The pension that
would be available with the funds available - if,
in the desolate situation of the real estate
market, the house could be sold - would be
ridiculously small [136].
[136]
Zangger to AE, around Nov.14, 1934; s.a.
Hermann Dukas to AE, Dec.11, 1934.
[New mortgage and the profits go to
desoriented Eduard]
Finally it seems that the danger for the house of
Hutten Street is eliminated. On the base of old
depts of Mileva with Albert - or how Milevas'
lawyer Mr. Emil Zürcher says: "for the requierment
of about 40,000 Swiss francs from the family
history", he [[Emil Zürcher]] can in Albert's name
install an owner mortgage of over 40,000 Swiss
francs for this house, so the creditors will not
have an unlimited access, or the access will be
difficult at least. Mr. Zürcher's idea is - and
this is also Albert's desire, that the profits of
this mortgage should go to Eduard [137]. So there
would be one problem less [138].
[137]
Emil Zürcher to Hermann Dukas, Dec.7, 1934;
however, Mileva's debt to AE does not amount
to the sum stated here, and other details of
the construct turn out to be questionable on
closer inspection; after all, they will
fulfill their purpose.
[138] s. AE to S.D. Leidesdorf, Oct.25, 1938.
Eduard is thus entitled to the interest
payable on the mortgage. What initially
represents, at best, a small profit for
Mileva, which now deducts the interest before
the tax to the mortgage holder who uses it for
their and Eduard's maintenance, will gain
importance with the change of ownership of the
house.
Albert says: "Today there is [...] not much time
with stable conditions, so one has to give in that
it's not possible to secure existences for a
longer time". This is one year after the Nazis
have stolen his house in Caputh, his sailing ship
and his German fortunes, so he was telling from
his experience. It seems astunishing how cool he
is handling the loss [139].
[139]
AE to Zangger, Aug.29, 1934.
[1934: Mileva's strategy telling that all "American"
money was lost by world economic crisis]
And his estimations are very realistic, because
for example the juridical constructions become
always more complicated for protecting at least
the house of Hutten Street and Mileva's reserves
of 15,000 Swiss francs which are mentioned here
the first time. As it seems, this money is not a
remainder of the "American" capital. According to
the traditional strategy that it's not necesery
"to indicate everything", Mileva is defrauding his
friends like Zangger - and probably also the two
laywers who are managing her problems - she leaves
the men believing that the "American" capital was
destroyed during the world economic crisis [p.34].
[1934: Insulin shock therapy for Eduard in
Vienna - Dec.1934: Zürcher+Dukas
calculate: Einstein has to send 3,000 Swiss
francs per year]
Eduard and his caregiver go for some weeks to an
"insulin shock therapy" in Vienna [140]. Aftger
their return to Hutten Street, the two lawyers Mr.
Zürcher and Mr. Dukas come in December 1934 to the
conclusion that the current situation would afford
a help by Albert Einstein of 3,000 Swiss francs.
The rent profits and the additional sum Mileva
will have enough money for holding the living
standard [141].
[140]
This "insulin shock therapy" was a standard
treatment until about the beginning of the
1950s against depression and schizophrenia.
[141] Hermann Dukas to AE, Dec.11, 1934.
[Albert
about Mileva's psychosis: she is playing the
"poor girl" - Einstein confirms 250 Swiss
francs per month - rising until 350 per
month]
Albert replies that "he does not want to give a
higher sum" to Mileva, "because by many actions
she has proved a bad will to me. She takes much
and at the same time she distributes the rumor
everywhere in Zurich the meaing that whe was left
in misery." For showing that he is also ready to
helop, he assures to Hermann Dukas to pay the help
from January 1935 on "without any juridical
obligation" in montly rates of 250 Swiss francs
[142].
[142]
AE to Hermann Dukas, Dec.23, 1934. By the end
of his life - for some war years under
difficult conditions - AE will ensure the
monthly transfers and increase them in several
steps to 350 SFr.
[1935:
Rental income no longer covers the cost of
the houses - Mileva means that she soon goes
bankrupt - private caretaker for Eduard or
permanent Burghölzli for Eduard?]
One year later, the confident forecast of the
previous year proved too optimistic. All three
houses are still owned by Mileva, and she is still
responsible for their preservation, even though
the income from the houses definitely no longer
covers their costs. At the end of December 1935
Mileva considered her bankruptcy inevitable [143].
[143]
s. AE to Hermann Dukas, Dec.24, 1935.
Once again, Albert shares her worries and once
again promises to "keep her afloat" as long as he
lives. Once again, he asks Hermann Dukas to
"examine Mileva's circumstances, and to advise
them and possibly comfort them." In the worst case
- when a private caretaker is no more possible to
be financed, and when Mileva could not manage the
sick son - Eduard will be housed in the
psychiatric clinic Burghölzli, and he, Albert,
will support both persons separately [144]
[144]
AE to Mileva, Dec. 24, 1935.
[Switzerland 1935: Poverty and Nazi maneuvers
by Nazi Germany against Switzerland]
The crisis is not Mileva's private crisis; the
whole country is now suffering from economic
problems and the political situation is also a
cause for concern. In view of all the economic
interdependencies, it is difficult for Switzerland
[p.35] to legitimize itself to Nazi Germany
as independent. Mileva is thinking much, but not
communicating anything to her ex-husband.
[Spring 1936: Idea of Einstein: The House
Hutten Street could be transferred to the sons]
In the spring of 1936, a new rescue plan is taking
shape. If the lawyers manage to transfer the house
Hutten Street, "the only house that pays well," to
Hans Albert and Eduard, then "at least some of
your maternal assets would be saved for you, and
[Eduard] would not quite live after my death to
the state, "Albert lets the older son know. He is
ready to take over the "very significant charges"
for the transfer. But the project proves to be
impracticable, because it may be legally
challenged and thus it's too risky [145].
[145]
AE to Hans Albert, March 29, 1936; Hermann
Dukas to AE, April 14, 1936 and Sep.14, 1936
[Summer 1936: Mileva with reconstruction at
the house Hutten Street - the houses on the
Hinterberg Street are threatened by forced
auction - the property of the sons can not be
attacked]
In summer 1936, Mileva decides to make a
reconstruction work in the house Hutten Street 62,
so the income will rise. For this purpose, the
last papers are sold on Mileva's American account
[146]. The additional 4,000 SFr Mileva borrows
from Albert and receives another letter of debt to
the house.
[146]
Hermann Dukas to AE, Sep.14, 1936.
The creditors of the houses Hinterberg Street are
not eager for recovering their demands; the
(forced) auction, which, as things stand, is
Mileva's only chance to be released from her
obligations, provokes dark shadows. "Since one
[...] is liable for the mortgages with the
complete fortune, it may be that sie will be also
impounded with her personal fortune", writes son
Hans Albert to his father to consider and asks him
for a written explanation that the sons'
possession (objects) will be protected from any
seizure which are in the household of the mother.
After Hans Albert moved to America with his family
in 1938, Mileva will once again ask for such an
explanation in Eduard's name and Albert will also
confirm in writing that the piano, the music, the
radio and the books are the possession of the son,
not of the mother, and have to be exempted from
the auction [147].
[147]
Hans Albert to AE, Jan.21, 1937; Mileva to AE,
July 20, 1938.
[Summer 1937: poem of a bearer debt letter
with Mileva in poverty and Einstein as a
blockhead]
In summer 1937, lawyer Mr. Zürcher considers the
moment has come to apply to the tax office the
approval for establishing a bearer debt letter in
Albert's name, which was already discussed end of
1934. For this, Mileva has to prove her disastrous
financial situation. The letter to the Cantonal
Tax Office, written by Emil [p.36] Zürcher
for this purpose, reads like a bitter report with
Mileva's ex-husband who would not fulfill any
appointment, anoy contract, and would be
penny-pinching and without love. This letter
contains fake data and partly doubtful
allegations, partly completely a poem, there are
presumptions and contradictions. It is unlikely
that Mileva dictated such a letter to her lawyer,
but it may have made her reconciled with her
destiny for a brief moment that someone is so
vehemently taking sides with her. Albert probably
will not hear anything about this letter [148].
[148]
Former Prosecutor Mr. Emil Zürcher to Cantonal
Tax Office, July 13, 1937. An excerpt from the
land register of Sep.15, 1938 shows that
already on Feb.5, 1935 Emil Zürcher in his
name - with the remark "ns. Prof. Albert
Einstein "- has registered a mortgage over
40,000 SFr. After July 1937, no changes were
made.
[So, the lawyer Mr. Zürcher is committing a
heavy diffamation against Albert Einstein].
[ab
Januar 1938: Monatliche Zahlung von Einstein
wird auf 300 Stutz erhöht]
[from January 1938: monthly payment from
Einstein increased to 300 Swiss bucks]
As of January 1938, "to make your life a little
easier", he raises the monthly allowance for
Eduard unsolicited to 300 SFr. [149].
[149]
AE to Mileva, Dec.21, 1937. The amount of
maintenance is equivalent to the earnings of a
simple worker who works 48 hours a week and
has to feed a family with his salary.
[Albert Einstein pays EVERYTHING
for Eduard
And with this is proved: Mileva has NOTHING to pay
for Eduard, Albert Einstein pays EVERYTHING].
[Summer 1938: 1 house on the Hinterberg Street
is sold - household items are in danger - house
Hutten Street in danger - rental income is in
danger]
After all the years in which friends, lawyers, and
not least the ex-husband, with professional skill
and friendly sympathy, endeavored to obtain the
last Nobel Prize-money possession of Mileva and of
the sons, summer 1938 is like the beginning of
"the evil dance", as Mileva says [150]
[150]
original German: "der üble Tanz"; Mileva
to AE, July 20, 1938.
which results with the threat of the loss of the
house Hutten Street.
"I
live in a constant stress, my creditors do not
even leve me breathe for a moment." She has
ended with "true Shylocks."
It seems that one of the two houses on Hinterber
Street has been sold in the meantime, but Mileva
remains in depts; the second house is still in
their hands and "does not provide enough to cover
the outrageously high mortgage rates". She ows the
interest, and, after the seizure of her household
was turned away by the friends Zürcher and Zangger
at the last moment [151], now expect that the
creditors will attack the house of Hutten
Street.
[151]
s. a. Albert Züblin to Zangger, Oct.26, 1938.
Not all information in this letter is current;
s. a. Mileva to Zangger, Oct.8, 1938; Zangger
AE, Sep.1, 1938 (2 letters).
"But even that they do not want
to sell and [...] they take what comes out on
sale and then leave me in calm, but they want
to seize the rental income."
[New idea 1938: Mileva
urging Albert Einstein to buy the house at
Hutten Street no.62]
When Hutten Street 62 would be
sold, Mileva had to continue with the
administration including its obligations and
costs, while the revenues would flow into
the pockets of the creditors. The only possibility [p.37]
to escape the confiscation of the rents,
according to a lawyer Züblin, who was
recommended to Mileva by friend Zangger, is
to sell the house before the attachment
order is circulating. And
"the only right thing" would be, she writes
to Albert, that he would buy the house,
because he owns the last mortgage. "Dear Albert," she begins a new
paragraph, "I bring you this thing and ask
you to help me this time, as you have done
so many times." She agreed with everything,
when whe could come to a rest a little bit [152].
[152] Mileva to AE,
Sep.28, 1938.
In July 1938, Albert had been certain yet that he
could not keep this house for permanently with his
limited income and with his rising obligations.
Even when it "comes out well", as Mileva claims,
she had to change her thinking to give it up
[153]. In September 1938 there are desperate cries
for help and a letter of Zangger above all for
Eduard provoking that Albert's conviction is
becoming unsafe [154].
[153]
AE to Mileva, July 20, 1938.
[154] s. a. AE to Karl Zürcher,
Jan.8, 1948.
While his friend and financial advisor Otto
Nathan was still investigating about the legal
situation in Switzerland [155], Albert informs his
older son at the beginning of October that he will
"if yet possible, be obliged to take over the
house in Hutten Street in my name." [156] The
thought of getting involved in a loss business
causes him discomfort; it would endanger his
legacy.
[155]
Otto Nathan to Paul Guggenheim, before Oct.15,
1938; s. a. Paul Guggenheim to Otto Nathan,
Oct. 15, 1938
[156] AE to Hans Albert, Oct. 11,
1938
In 1938, Albert is almost 60 years old and
nothing points to his near end. However, there is
nothing to suggest that his reserves, about $
22,000, 1½ Princeton annual salaries at that time,
could increase rapidly and significantly. He has
to expect after retirement to see his salary
reduced to half by the Institute for Advanced
Study in a few years. How will it be in future
with his money feeding two women in his household,
helping his elder son in America from time to
time, support the younger son in Zurich regularly,
and from time to time also come unknown people
looking for help on their flight from the Nazis?
Or will he have to attack his reserves, which are
intended for those who [S.38] he relies on
his legacy: the schizophrenic son and the sickly
and not meritorious stepdaughter? [157]
[157]
s. a. AE to Karl Zürcher, Jan.8, 1948.
A better solution to the problem in Zurich than
that desired by Mileva would be most welcome. "On
the other hand," he admits to Hans Albert, "but I
would like to ease your mother's last years."
[158]
[158]
AE to Hans Albert, Oct.11, 1938.
[October 1938: a trust company is founded for
the house Hutten Street no.62]
At the end of October 1938 he is ready to "perform
the transfer of the house Hutten Street". A trust
company is to take over the house. This maneuver
would prevent that creditors of mortgages would
confiscate his personal possesion. This would be
in their as also in Eduard's interest "necessary
so my inheritance which is primarily destinated
for Tetel will remain safe." And as many times
before, he is adding: "Don't worry [...]. Somehow
I will fix this." When the house will be
confiscated at the end after all, he will keep her
and Eduard above water, when also in a modest way.
[...] Until then we will try it with the trust
company. The revinue of the houses will flow to
Tetel and you will [...] have the free
disposition." [159].
[159]
AE to Mileva, Oct.26, 1938.
7. "I never was obliged to bother
about so many fake businesses as here, but I
lost my money in a more comfortable way":
The Hutten Street Realty
Corporation 1939 to 1946
After calculation of a Zurich expert the house
with full rental gives a revenue for Mileva of
still about 3000 Swiss francs per year [160].
[160]
AE to S.D. Leidesdorf, Oct. 25, 1938. How much
of this revenue has to be reduced for the
maintainment of the house is not said in this
calculation. Einstein's two mortgages for wich
Mileva does not pay interest are not
considered in this calculation.
[1938: Mileva's conditions: no rent, subletting
2 rooms, money for Eduard - Eduard can live
without caretaker since beginning of 1936]
She lives rent-free and has additional income by
subletting two rooms in her six-bedroom apartment.
Albert transfers 3,600 SFr per year for Eduard.
Since almost 3 years Eduard does not have nor need
a private caretaker any more; expensive therapies
[p.39] are not planned. With their income,
mother and son can not lead a life in luxury, but
they must not starve at all [161].
[161]
Einstein's monthly support for Eduard are
almost 40% of Mileva's budget, and this is
only few under the medium salary of a well
skilled worker. Male employees earn between
3,500 and 5,700 SF per year in June 1939, and
women between 2,200 and 3,500 SF per year.
The takeover of the house by the trust company
should not change anything principally [162].
[162]
When the house would be sold, the mortgage of
4,000 Swiss francs will pass to the buyer.
Mileva's income is not changing with that.
But for protecting Mileva an arrangement is
necessary neutralizing the law: Mileva will be the
agent of the trust company and will officially get
only a little payment for administration work.
[November 1938: House Hutten Street no. 62:
Otto Nathan+Georg Guggenheim managing the
transfer in favor of the trust company]
After the Zurich attorney Georg Guggenheim, who
had been brought in by Otto Nathan [163],
recommended the purchase of the house at the end
of October 1938 and a few days later, by repeated
request, assured that the counterfeiting or
cancellation of the transaction by the mortgage
creditors was precluded [164], and after the
inquiries made by Albert among his American
confidant people on the same questions and on the
modalities of founding a trust [165] have
alleviated his misgivings, the transaction begins
in November 1938
concrete forms. It is literally the last moment to
save the house - and the reminder of the Nobel
Prize capital - for Mileva and the sons.
[163]
Otto Nathan, national economist, AEs friend
and financial advisor, 'Chairman of the
Supervisory Board' of Hutten Street Realty
Corporation, s. Otto Nathan to Robert Meyer,
Nov.22, 1948.
[164] Guggenheim to AE, Nov.7, 1938.
[165] Corporation HuttRC to S.D. Leidesdorf,
Nov.1, 1938; s.a. AE to Guggenheim, about at
Nov.8, 1938; s.a. Otto Nathan to AE, Nov.4,
1938.
[Hutten Street no.62: now comes lawyer
Guggenheim - he gets the notary's power]
In agreement with Mileva, attorney Guggenheim
obtained the notary's power and the order to
register the transfer of the property Hutten
Street 62 from Mileva Einstein to the US trust
Treuhand Hutten Street Realty Corporation
(Treuhand Huttenstrasse Realty Corporation), New
York, which was established for this purpose. The
corporation transfers expenses and fees of $ 523
promptly [166].
[166]
AE to Princeton Bank & Trust Comp., Nov.9,
1938.
[Hutten Street no.62: Swiss law gives no safety
for Einstein's possession, and mortgages
are unsafe]
That same month it comes out that the conditions
to which Albert made his commitment and the
expectations he had based on Guggenheim's
confirmation are not covered by Swiss law. First
he will not get any safety for his private
possession concerning the mortgage depts of the
house [p.40]; Second, the Corporation -
with only the minimum capital which was given by
Otto Nathan - has also to expect that one of the
mortgages will be payed off and the complete or a
artial sum has to be payed in a short period of
time.
And it can not even be ruled out that the
creditors of a house on Hinterberg Street contest
the transaction as soon as they realize that they
have been deprived of the opportunity to collect
the debts by transferring the debtor's property
into foreign hands [167].
[167]
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, Nov.25,
1938.
[Lawyer Guggenheim with debt restructuring
measures]
In order to give the transaction a more stable
foundation in the Land Registry, attorney
Guggenheim introduces restructuring measures which
look complicated [168].
[168]
Maas & Davidson, Attorneys, AE, Dec.15,
1938 and other data.
[Sale of Huttenstrasse 62 for 196,000 Swiss
francs to the Trust Company in New York - Mileva
may continue to collect rents - and
cross-allocations]
There were many letters and checks sent between
Zurich, New York, and Princeton, and in January
1939 a treaty comes out saying that the house
Hutten Street no. 62 in Zurich 6 will be sold to
Hutten Street Realty Corporation for 196,000 Swiss
francs. Owner is not Mileva Einstein any more, but
since Jan. 1, 1939 the juridical owner is the
Corporation which is now responsible for the
payments of taxes and mortgage intrests to the
three mortgage creditors, one of them is Albert.
The responsability and care for the maintainment
of the house Albert would like to see going on in
Mileva's hands; also Mileva is urging for getting
a confirmation of the Corporation "that we will go
on with the administration of the house and enjoy
the revenue." [169]
[169]
Mileva to AE, Jan.28, 1939.
Such an affirmation which should clear the
official relation to the Corporation is written by
Albert in the Company's name: "We hereby authorize
you to continue to take over the management of the
house Huttenstraße 62 for us, in particular to
collect the rents, the legal fees for to pay us,
to pay the mortgage interest etc." For this
management Mileva will receive a compensation in
customary amount of 600 SFr per year [170]; at the
end of each three months a settlement from her is
awaited. For avoiding currency transactions, the
corporation will charge the rental income with
Albert's payments to Eduard. In other words, the
corporation lends Albert the sums that Mileva
[p.41] incurs until further notice, and Albert
repays the debt to the corporation according to
the quarterly statement [171].
[170]
AE to Otto Nathan, before Feb.13, 1939.
[171] Otto Nathan to AE, Feb.13,
1939.
[The fear from the other mortgage creditors
of the Hinterberg Street: send rent income to NY
- Einstein sends the money back to Mileva]
Such a contract between Mileva and the
Corporation, however, would only be a paper for
the Swiss authorities. In practice, a way has to
be found that assures Mileva's and Eduard's upkeep
as before, but at the same time prevents any
access by the mortgagee to Mileva's money as well
as to Albert's private possession. If "currency
transactions" can not be avoided, the originator
of the sums to be transferred could be Albert's
secretary Helen Dukas or his sister Maja, as the
addressee could be Eduard.
In mid-February 1939, in Princeton and New York,
"everything was thoroughly considered in case the
transfer was subsequently challenged." Albert
reports Mileva that all this" not only had cost
him much money, but also much time". First Mileva
will receive only an employment treaty as an
administrator, and she has the revenue to the
'Coop', "so nobody could say that you get the
revenue like before and the whole sale would be a
fraud." Then Albert will send back the money fast,
"of course to Tetel's address". After expiration
of claim period this detour will be superfluous.
And then he hurries for sending the explanations -
with an understanding for Mileva's emergency
situation - so "you will not feel plundered when
Guggenheim presents you the official letter."
[172]
[172]
AE to Mileva, Feb.14, 1939.
[House Hutten Street: Zurich Cantonal Bank
(ZKB) has already called for the first mortgage
- Mileva takes out a 4th mortgage (!)]
Now, Alberts's letter is crossing with a letter of
lawyer Guggenheim. He says that already one year
before, the Zurich Cantonal Bank (Zürcher
Kantonalbank ZKB) has warned that she has to pay
back one part of the first mortgage. The requested
sum is 15,000 Swiss francs. The lawyer had first
tried without success to shift the mortgage to
another donor. Then, another way without success,
he had offered a payment in smaller installments.
So, there is no way out to pay the first
installment of 5,000 Swiss francs until July 1,
1939, and the second installment of 10,000 Swiss
francs until Dec.31, 1939. If this money is not
payed, then the whole mortgage of 135,000 Swiss
francs would be due. For this payment Mileva would
be responsible. Hutten Stree Realty Corporation
could be recognized by the Cantonal Department of
Finance only when these claims would be fulfilled
[173].
[173]
Zurich Cantonal Bank (Zürcher Kantonalbank) to
Guggenheim, May 30, 1939
[p.42]
Lawyer Guggenheim sees only one solution at this
moment suggesting Albert Einstein to install
another mortgage of 15,000 Swiss francs on the
house. Mileva "without any reseve for any emergeny
case" becuse "she had to give all for the house
Hutten Street saving it from the seizure by the
vampyrs" [174] had given her concent installing a
new mortgage with 5% interest [175] trying to pay
it off in small installments to the Corporation
[176].
[174]
Mileva to AE, Feb.28, 1939.
[175] 5% is a high rate of return, which does
not matter as long as these interest rates, as
provided by AE, are retained by Mileva and
only appear on the tax declaration.
[176] Guggenheim to AE, Feb.17, 1939.
Is laywer Guggenheim a good lawer for being
admired for his ability to negotiate, or are there
doubts now already if he really only acts
representing the interests of his client?
Mileva herself does not comment this payment
request which had not been considered in the past.
Albert and Guggenheim have taken the heaviest
charge from her and Guggenheim is responsible for
all kind of house administration yet.
[1939: Danger of war and danger for Eduard]
Mileva has new worries. "Here the possibility of a
war is rising again," she writes to Albert,
summoning him, who "has enough connections" in
these countries to help her and Eduard to bring
themselves to safety in one of the surrounding
countries; in a more convenient way than, and not
for example in a stream of refugees." [177]
[177]
Mileva to AE, Feb. 26, 1939.
The fact that an invasion of the Germans could
provoke a danger to Eduard - "opportunity to take
a revenge for me" - this is a legitimate fear,
Albert thinks; he sends immediately
recommendations to the British and French
authorities, but advises Mileva first to retire to
the Swiss mountains where friends in the Canton of
Glarus had a good place for her when Nazi Germany
would force Switzerland to surrender. "When these
two [...] are not visible", Hans Albert writes,
"nobody will look for them." [178]
[178] AE to
Hans Albert, after Jan.28, 1939.
[Einstein has hardly any cash]
Now there are the 5,000 Swiss francs coming to be
payed and this is a big worry for him. The big
part of his funds is invested interest-bearing
[179].
[179]
s. Princeton Bank and Trust Company, Feb.20,
1939.
To take something from there means that the
interest will sink by an uncertain matter.
Additionally since March 1939 also his sister Maja
lives in his house, so his salary has to nourrish
four persons at 112 Mercer Street [p.43]
in Princeton.
Albert claims to Mileva that "the house
[Hutten Street 62] seems to be saved for the time
being, but with significant sacrifices. The
mortgage issue has not been resolved yet." [180]
[180] AE to
Mileva, after Feb.14, 1939.
[Hutten Street June 1939: Attorney Guggenheim
now demands rent from Mileva - Guggenheim wants
to force Mileva into a cheaper apartment -
Guggenheim does Mileva's duties]
Guggenheim's proposal displeases him; but he
cannot make any counterproposal promising success.
He operates the transaction of the first part of
the mortgage punctually. If the money will be part
of a new mortgage remains an open matter first.
Perhaps it had been better to finish with the
matter now already when he had a clear knowledge
how invasive Guggenheim will go on with his
mandate. But it seems that Mileva has given in to
the limitation of the rights given by the
Corporation, and that she has also given in that
the lawyer has made a rental contract with her and
Eduard for the dwelled part of the flat where they
live. The rent for her is under the market price,
but is charging her budget considerably, as her
income by subletting also falls away [181].
[181]
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, June 6,
1939.
Already in the spring of 1939 she was in arrears
with the rent payment for her part of the flat.
Guggenheim is deducting this amount from the rent
revenue and makes advertisement for renting her
flat. Is Mileva thinking now earnestly to change
into a little cheaper flat? And was it a good luck
that until first summer months nobody was found
who wants to rent this flat in Hutten Street no.62
for 3,300 Swiff francs per year? Oh, this flat was
in bad condition and was not renovated...
[Details
are missing what was all not in order with
this flat].
The Corporation and Albert are informed about
these procedures only months later, and Guggenheim
is censoring much not communicating everything.
Without any doubt he is working with all layer's
tricks for the matter of Hutten Street Realty
Corporation not leaving out any legal loopholes
[182].
[182]
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, June, 23,
1939; Guggenheim to AE, Aug.21, 1939; s.a.
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, Oct.23,
1941.
He has success after success and becomes always
more indispensable - as for his work for the
15,000 SFr. mortgage wich was handled out between
February 1939 and autumn 1940 in numerous letters
- and, above all, he is exceeding his power
cashing high fees for managing the administration
work, or he lets do it by third persons, which
were given by the Corporation to Mileva. So
resistance is coming up and Albert and the
Corporation does not want to accept that any
longer [183]. In summer 1939, Mr. Otto Nathan is
on a Europe trip taking this opportunity for
speaking personally with [p.44] the laywer with
the goal that - as is Albert's oder - "my dear ex
will administrate the house alone again." [184]
[183]
Otto Nathan to AE, June 19, 1939; AE to Otto
Nathan, June 22, 1939
[184] AE to Otto Nathan, July 10, 1939.
[Hutten Street no. 62: Guggenheim switches
and acts as he wants - the creditors of
Hinterberg Street can still make their lawsuit]
The conversation does not achieve the desired
result. The correspondence between Georg
Guggenheim, Albert Einstein, Otto Nathan and the
New Yorker lawyers representing the Corporation
shows that Guggenheim can go on acting as an
administrator of the house Hutten Street no.62
without limit. This can be at one side becsue the
"American" company needs Guggenheim as Swiss
representative for juridic matters at the
location, at the other side procedures which are
already going should be brought to a conclusion.
So, what brought this conversation?
Uncertainty is going on regarding the other
unsatisfied creditors of the houses at Hinterberg
Street who can assert their claims yet. And it's
unclear if the house Hutten Street no.62 will come
out profitable or not [185].
[185]
Guggenheim's calculation statement of Nov.20,
1940 is proving that in 1939 the house brought
rental income of 11,740 Swiss francs. This
includes the rent which Guggenheim is cashing
from Mileva and from the subtenants. After
deduction of all costs - may be the 600 Swiss
francs for Mileva are included? - and
deducting the mortgage interest remain 2,246
Swiss francs. Guggenheim is taking the half of
it for his efforts.
[Huttenstrasse 62: Guggenheim insures stable
conditions]
Will it be possible to entrust the administration
of the house back to Mileva Einstein, not least to
keep the expenses of the corporation as low as
possible? What fees would George Guggenheim
foresee for his services if he only had some sort
of supervisor role to play?
With these questions the Corporation turns in
October 1939 in writing to the Zurich lawyer. The
letter is also alluding that a sale of the house
is an option [186]. Guggenheim is confident that
the property will not provoke any more cost than
the 15,000 Swiss francs which are known since the
beginning of the year. The house carries itself,
he assures [187].
[186]
Corporation HuttRC to Guggenheim, Oct.10,
1939.
[187] Guggenheim to Corporation
HuttRC, Nov.4, 1939.
Between the assessment made in the summer of 1938
and Guggenheim's forecast in the autumn of 1939,
however, a closer look reveals a difference of
5,000 SFr or more, money that is lost, above all,
to Mileva [188].
[188]
The sum of 5,000 SFr results, if one
interprets Guggenheim's remark in such a way
that the house does not make a deficit, but
after deduction of the running costs there
will only remain a little insignificant
reminder of the income. This means for Mileva
that the rental revenue of 2,000 to 3,000
Swiss francs falls away. Additionally her
budget is charged by the missing income by
subtenants, and she has to pay a rent herself
now with 1,600 Swiss francs per year. So, when
all is going fine, she would get the interests
from Albert's mortgages, 1,600+160+675 Swiss
francs, as also the 600 Swiss francs which
were assured by the Corporation for her
administration work.
[Mileva does not work anything! All are
fighting, only Mileva not! Mileva does not
make any further education, no courses! Mileva
is immuring herself and is not making new
relationships for new possibilities!]
[p.45]
[Einstein installs a 15,000 franc mortgage to
hedge HIS 40,000 franc mortgage]
In the meantime, Albert has been persuaded that
hedging his $ 40,000 mortgage - "probably in
defiance of the still-to-be-challenged purchase" -
would make it cheap to invest the $ 15,000 in the
form of an additional mortgage [189]. He has to
take this sum from his reserves, which he has
already had in his will [190].
[189]
AE to Otto Nathan, after Aug.10, 1939; AE to
Otto Nathan, Sep.5, 1939; s. a. Guggenheim to
AE, Aug.21, 1939; AE to Otto Nathan, Nov.3,
1939.
[190] That requires a revision of his will.
But even in its revised version, Eduard comes
first in the beneficiary. If his father died
today or tomorrow, the interest on this
investment, together with the interest on AEs
mortgages on the house Hutten Street no.62,
would secure Eduard's life. - In monthly
installments, AE slowly increases his reserves
again; s. AE to Otto Nathan, Nov.24, 1939.
[State of war as of September 1939:
Guggenheim without answers, unpaid bills, real
estate tax "unique defense sacrifice" - Einstein
is no longer in the mood]
With the outbreak of war in autumn 1939, the
correspondence thins out. Guggenheim complains
that he did not receive any replies to his letters
to the corporation and that his bills had not been
paid. That may be because coordination between
Albert, his financial adviser, Otto Nathan, and
the legal experts who provide the correct wording
and notarial signature, does not always run
smoothly. But it may also have something to do
with Princeton's slow-moving unwillingness to hold
onto a house whose rent surpluses, reduced in 1940
by a tax levied on real property as a "one-off
loony," flow almost entirely into the lawyer's
pockets, and at the end he is also claiming a part
of the mortgage interest from Mileva [191].
[191]
Guggenheim to Otto Nathan, April 13, 1940; s.
a. Corporation HuttRC to Guggenheim, Oct.21,
1940; Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC,
Aug.30, 1940; Guggenheim to AE, Oct.18, 1940;
AE to Guggenheim, Oct.11, 1940; s. a. Otto
Nathan to AE, Nov.14, 1940.
[Hutten Street Trust Company with only one
shareholder Otto Nathan - de facto shareholder
is Einstein - the cantonal tax office demands
income tax on Einstein's mortgage interest
rates]
In November 1940 - the mortgage over 15,000 SFr is
officially registered since several weeks and it
would have come the time to hand back the
administration of the house from Guggenheim's
office into Mileva's hands - but now the lawyer
indicates complications indicating that the
Corporation as owner of a dwelling building with a
value of nearly 200,000 Swiss francs has only one
single shareholder, Otto Nathan, with a deposit of
just 150 Dollars. This fact and controlling the
documents for the financial maneuver the cantonal
tax office - "and rightfully so" - had concluded
that not the Trust Company Hutten Street Realty
Corporation, but professor Einstein himself would
be "the main party interested from an economic
point of view in the real property", and he
himself, this means [p.46] as a private
person, has to pay income tax on his mortgage
interest [192]. Now, the tax request for 1939 and
1940 may be an additional amount that can be
accepted. More complicate will be the consequences
because it comes out that the construction with
Hutten Street Realty Corporation does nos fulfill
the purpose obviously for which it had been
installed.
Still, they are not a direct threat. But again,
Albert, Otto Nathan, and their American advisors
are considering whether it would be more sensible
to "get rid of the house." First and foremost,
however, the high costs incurred by Guggenheim's
administration must be contained. This is to be
demanded in a friendly, informal letter to
Guggenheim [193].
[192]
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, Nov.26,
1940.
[193] Otto Nathan to AE, Nov.14, 1940.
[March 1941: Mileva is still in Zurich]
In mid-March 1941, after a long silence, Mileva
spoke again about this matter. She did not leave
Zurich when "indescribable excitement" prevailed
in May 1940 and 30,000 Zurich people fled in panic
over an anticipated German invasion into the
countryside and into the mountains [194] and
continues to wonder how Eduard could be protected
from the revenge of German invaders.
[194]
Mileva to AE, Maja Winteler-Einstein, May 21,
1940.
[Hutten Street no.62:
Guggenheim charging too high fees - but he is
irreplaceable - Einstein foresees that also his
"rescue money" will be lost in the end]
Mileva is sharing Albert's opinion about
Guggenheim's administration work considering the
fees; it's much too much. But basically she is
well satisfied with the results of his efforts
with the bank and the authorities. One should not
"take the thing out of his hands, this would be a
deadly offense", she is arguing, "and, in rage, he
could play us any bad joke." But perhaps it's
possible yet to transfer her "all work which not
has to be done in his office"; she would already
now look after "these businesses with tenants,
craftsmen, heating, etc." [195]
of Guggenheim's caretaker activity is shared as
far as fees are concerned; they are gross.
Basically, she is quite satisfied with the results
of his efforts at the bank and the authorities.
One should "not simply rip the matter out of his
hands, that would fatally offend him," she argues,
"and, incurably, he could play some joke on us."
Maybe it's possible, "all work that is not exactly
has to be done in his office ", to transfer it;
she is already looking after "these businesses
with the tenants, craftsmen, heating, etc."
already now [195].
[195]
Mileva to AE, March 26, 1941.
An amicable solution is not in sight.
Furthermore, the house causes "enormous
difficulties and costs" and Albert is regretting
since a long time that he was giving in to take it
over; it may be feared that all will be lost at
the end what was invested to save it. "Guggenheim
comes out as a bad pickpocket." There should be
found another administrator as fast as possible.
Because one could not trust the administration to
Mileva without [p.47] endangering the
whole transaction after all. This is the view of
the Corporation yet in the beginning of August
1941 [196].
long regrets that he has allowed himself to be
softened to take it over; it is to be feared that
in the end everything will be lost that he has
invested in his salvation. "Guggenheim turns out
to be a bad bag cutter." As soon as possible,
another administrator must be found. For Mileva
could not be entrusted to the administration
without later jeopardizing the whole transaction.
This is the view of the corporation at the
beginning of August 1941 [196].
[196]
AE to Mileva, after July 8, 1941, Aug.5, 1941.
But two weeks later Albert writes to her: "We
have decided to give you the administration of the
Hutten Street into your hands." An official letter
to Guggenheim is already on the way; also Mileva
will receive such a correspondence from the
corporation. Under the current circumstances, this
step is a lower risk and more new sacrifices will
be hindered "which will be probably in vain at the
end." [197]
[197]
AE to Mileva, Aug.14, 1941.
[Hutten Street 62: Mileva gets the
administration - Guggenheim retains revenue for
himself - CH constantly invents new taxes for
homeowners]
In October 1941, Guggenheim is handing out the
administrative documents to Mileva, an empty cash
register and tax debts from the years 1939 to
1941. He retains the rental surplus of the
previous years - more than 900 SFr for 1939 and
1940 and an amount of unknown amount for the
current year [198].
[198] Mileva to AE, Oct.20, 1941; Mileva to AE,
Dec.2, 1941; s. a. Guggenheim to Corporation
HuttRC, Dec.16, 1941; s. a. Mileva to Otto Nathan,
May 16, 1947.
He has just arranged a "matter with a difficult
tenant," the "tiresome story with the tax office"
remains unfinished. Guggenheim justifies himself
by saying that the Corporation did not answer his
letters. The matter is more complicated now by the
fact that "unfortunately difficult conditions are
prevailing now and everything is taxed, which
somehow is possible to be taxed." [199]
[199]
Mileva to AE, Sep.14, 1941, Sep.15, 1941.
[Hutten Street no.62: A tenant from the
Cantonal Tax Office Mileva's existence "easier"]
Perhaps it is Mileva's work in the background - at
her request, a friendly tenant who is a high
official at the Cantonal Tax Office, is working
with this matter - or Guggenhaim had done a good
job with maneuvers that the authority finally
agrees to the following compromise:
"Here
is taxed the mortgage in question which is on
your name, and [...] they will stop any
further blockage to which the office should be
obliged to according to the new regulations."
So Albert will not be obliged to present his
"American" income and fortune. When he does
not accept this proposal, so "the story could
come out just badly", Mileva warns.
She is confident that the old tax debts will be
covered by the money she has now received under
her direction, and she pleads Albert to accept the
[S.48] compromise because "it would be a
catastrophe for us when also this house would be
lost." [200]
[200]
Mileva to AE, Oct.20, 1941.
At the beginning of November 1941, Mileva
received the letter from the Corporation
confirming her appointment as administrator of
Haus Hutten Street 62. Their tasks are described
in detail: they include the cashing of rents,
maintenance of the house including minor repairs,
payment of taxes and mortgage interest, and
regular detailed bills must be sent to the Hutten
Street Realty Corporation. From time to time also
an evaluation of the property is expected. Mileva
is not authorized to enter into commitments on
behalf of the Corporation other than those
necessary to maintain the property. Negotiations
with the tax authorities remain - officially or
without a clear mandate - Guggenheim's task until
further notice [201].
[201]
Corporation HuttRC to Mileva, Nov.7, 1941.
[January 1942: Guggenheim is still acting for
Hutten Street no.62]
Even in January 1942, attorney Guggenheim is still
in never-ending negotiations with the authorities,
and he still proves himself to be a clever lawyer
acting for the benefit of the Corporation. At
least that's how it appears in his detailed
reports on the tax benefits he has negotiated for
the client and hopes to negotiate in the future.
But his negotiating skills reach their limits, his
delaying tactics creates confusion, the recently
negotiated tax relief turns into a tax increase,
his justifications persuade only for a brief
moment [202].
[202]
Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC, Dec.16,
1941, Jan.23, 1941, Feb.3, 1942; Otto Nathan
to AE, Jan.16, 1942.
[Hutten Street 62 in January 1942: Mileva
sends an incomplete report - the house actually
does not come out (!) - Einstein expects
bankruptcy]
In mid-January 1942, Mileva sent the Corporation
the billing for the year before. The rental income
of 11,647.20 Sfr is offset by expenses of
10,525.79 SFr. This does not include Guggenheim's
claims of more than SFr2,000 for the first nine
months of 1941, nor the arrears for 1939 and 1940,
the final amount of which has not yet been
decided.
Also, Mileva did not list the mortgage interest of
1,600 SFr. for Albert's 40,000 SFr. mortgage,
which she would have been allowed to take for her
own maintenance [203].
[203] Mileva to
Corporation HuttRC, Jan.18, 1942.
In fact, the house makes a considerable
deficit in 1941. Whether this means a
bad forecast for the whole year, in which
Guggenheim will no longer make any demands [p.49],
remains to be seen. The Corporation is now
officially depriving him of the mandate for
representation before the tax authorities.
Albert announces to Mileva in mid-February 1942:
"You receive an authorization of the Corporation
representing the Corporation at the authorities."
But Mileva is not allowed to make new commitments
without the consent of the Corporation. "When all
is going too far, we have to get rid of the house
yet." He is promising that this will only happen
by harsh reasons. He above all would be eager to
secure the support for her and for Eduard, and the
possession could only be maintained when the
support will not be reduced. "You are at the mercy
of arbitrariness, as long as you have something
tangible," he says to Mileva, who values
property and security far more than her rather
needless ex-husband, who considers the course of
events in a dry way: "Bankruptcy is the only
reliable thing in those big times." [204]
[204]
AE to Mileva, Feb.15, 1942.
A bankruptcy is not apparent for the time being.
After a few tenant changes, all apartments in the
house Hutten Street no.62 are let in the spring of
1942. The tax authority has authorized Mileva to pay
off the old debts in monthly installments of 100
SFr. , which obviously does not overburden their
budget; their concern is again primarily Eduard
[205].
[205] Mileva to Corporation
HuttRC, March 25, 1942; s. a. AE to Mileva, July 26,
1942.
[December 1941: Rothschild's escalation
after Pearl Harbor with "USA" entering the war
blocking any written correspondence "USA"-CH]
The US entry into the war is affecting the postal
service between Europe and America. Albert's
sister Maja, now in exile with her brother Albert
at Princeton for three years, maintains
correspondence with her husband in Geneva passing
the mail over an address in England. Mileva has
given up writing letters to America. It's not just
the postal obstacles that neither Albert nor the
Corporation hear from Mileva for more than two
years. It is "generally still good here," as she
reports to her older son after twenty months of
silence in December 1943. Because of the shortage
of combustible, one could only heat the stove in
the living room and she hopes that the winter will
not be too severe, but "concerning the rest we do
not have it bad". What they need is available,
with certain wartime restrictions. It sounds as if
they can afford what they need [p.50].
Edward's state of health is a heavier burden than
the property management. Mileva is hiding more
details [206].
[206]
Mileva to Hans Albert, December 29, 1943
[February 1944: Eduard = unfit for work -
Mileva wants the money for Eduard in her name]
Letters may be lost or confiscated by censorship:
telegrams reach their addressees. In February 1944
Mileva asked Albert by telegram to issue the
monthly transfer for Eduard in her name. She gives
no reason [207] but Albert, convinced that there
must be a good reason for the desired change, is
promptly contacting the bank with which he has
made a special arrangement in favor of the
incapacitated son, which was a guarantee for
punctual and reliable money transfer during the
war years. Mileva's wish can be fulfilled without
putting in danger the arrangement [208].
[207]
A first presumption that this change might
have to do with Eduard's hospitalization is
not confirmed.
[208] Mileva to AE, Feb.5, 1944;
AE to Weber, Credit Suisse NY, Feb.8, 1944.
[Telegram April 1944: Einstein gives 500
Swiss francs extra for Hutten Street no.62]
Two months later, she telegraphs once again: she
had unavoidably high expenses for the house, "PRIE
INSTAMMilevaNT AUSSITOT POSSIBLE 500 FR" (French:
"PLEASE AT
Otto NathanCE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE 500 FR").
Albert transfers the money promptly [209].
[209]
Mileva to AE, April 14, 1944
[Autumn
1944: Again censorship-free correspondence
"USA"-CH - Einstein still expects the bankruptcy
of Hutten Street no.62 - testament]
In the autumn of 1944, "Switzerland is finally
free from encirclement" and Albert has heard that
letters are being sent uncensored and without
delay again. He hastens to give Mileva and Eduard
at least a short greeting. He still hopes "that
things are going well with the house," but he does
not hide his skepticism.
Three years ago, the house has made a deficit. It
was probably not advantageous to hold on to it. If
the situation in Zurich has not changed for the
better, at least he can come up with some good
news: "By the way, I've taken care of you as best
I could for the time after my death (in the
will)." [210]
[210]
AE to Mileva, Nov.19, 1944.
For the time before his death counts still the
following: "As long as I live, I'll somehow keep
you afloat."
[Zurich summer 1943: loan for installing an
air-raid shelter - repayment is due in autumn
1945: 900 SFr. - the 0 balance of Hutten Street
no.62]
Has the situation in Zurich changed for the
better?
Until autumn of 1945, Mileva does not need
Albert's offer. Then the payback of a credit is
due, which had to be for installing the air raid
shelter which was prescribed by law [p.51].
As a precaution, she adds another wish to the
request for the money, which Albert, after sending
Mileva 900 SFr, passes on to Otto Nathan: "She
urgently requested that she would not be robbed of
the house." And he is adding pushing skepticism of
the last year away: "I think she's right." [211]
[211]
AE to Otto Nathan, Nov.12, 1945; Mileva to AE,
Nov.26, 1945.
How threatening the situation in Zurich has
become, one learns in New York and Princeton at
the beginning of the new year. On January 19,
1946, Mileva sends the billing to the Corporation
for the years 1942, 1943, and 1944. The balance
confirms Albert's premonition: "There is no
money," writes Mileva. As long as Guggenheim took
charge of the administration, she had not received
a cent; In the following years, the revenue would
not or had only scarcely covered the exceptionally
high expenditure due to the war. After three years
in which the property has been in deficit,
Mileva's settlement for 1944 shows a surplus of
415 SFr. [212]
[212]
Mileva to Corporation HuttRC, Jan.19, 1946.
[The houses of Hinterbergstrasse
are not mentioned anymore?]
8. What did Mileva and Eduard live
from? "The corporation wants us to go beg ...":
From the decision to sell the house in 1946
until Mileva's death
[Hutten Street no.62: rents remain the same -
mortgage interests rise without end]
For the year 1945 Milevas account shows a plus of
241 SFr. The rental income has remained unchanged
since last year [213], the total amount of
mortgage interest payable has increased by Sfr.
400, since 1942 by Sfr. 1,000 [214];
[213]
In 1943, revenues had dropped significantly
compared with 1942, perhaps because Mileva was
no longer paying rent.
[214] Amazingly enough, the 1,600
SFr. from Alberts mortgage which are hold back
by Mileva are not included, see Mileva to
Corporation HuttRC, March 6, 1946
[1946: Einstein's Trust Company wants to sell
the house Hutten Street no.62 - why was the
house not sold to son Hans Albert? - Expected
profit: 30,000 Swiss francs per year]
Mileva will voluntary give further detail if
needed. But now the Corporation is not interested
in more details any more. It seems that the
maintenance of the house has become completely
unprofitable, this means: the matter is beyond
control.
The Corporation is deciding this definitely in
summer 1946 to sell the house "under the present
relatively favorable conditions". "We would try,
writes Albert to his elder son, "with an
arrangement so that Mileva gets the right to stay
in her flat under [fixed] conditions, so that the
change for [p.52] her would be only a discharge."
Hans Albert is travelling for a visit to Zurich in
summer 196, and he has the thankless task to
convince his mother from the necessity to sell the
house without bad consequences for her [215].
[215]
AE to Hans Albert, May 13, 1946.
After his return and after consultation with his
father in Princeton, Hans Albert once again states
this in writing for the mother: "The revenue of
the sale of the house should benefit you first, in
form of a rent or other kind of support." For
Eduard the fixed support will continue to be payed
regularly [216], independently if he is at home or
in the clinic [217].
[216]
Since mid-1943, these are 350 SFr monthly.
[217] Hans Albert to Mileva, Nov.3, 1946.
Does Albert mean with "revenue" the "profit", the
amount, which will be paid out with the sale of
the house? Or are these three different sums?
Mileva will have her thoughts.
A "very competent person" in Zurich calculates in
September 1946 a selling price that "comes close
to the insurance value of 228,000 francs", but the
house looks like to be very renovation-needed. All
in all after deducing all obligations, a profit of
about 30,000 SFr. seems realistic [218] and this
is the last push for the Corporation to begin with
the sale's procedure.
[218]
Leo Hofmann to Helen Dukas, Sep.23, 1946.
On behalf of Hutten Street Realty Corporation,
Albert Mileva asks to look for suitable ways.
[Hutten Street no.62: Mileva trusts
the homeowner association]
As early as the beginning of December, Mileva "has
started the matter with the house", the property
was valued by the Homeowner Association, being
known as decent and reliable, and she was
investigating how the Homeowner Association will
be helpful with the sale. She reports in a
satisfied way that the estimation had come out
"considerably well", the house had a value of
210,000 - 215,000 SFr. the Homeowner Association
would take a fee of 1% of the sale's value
organizing a buyer and proceeding the work for the
authorities [p.53].
[Hinterberg Street is auctioned - Mileva
remains in debt - mortgage bonds (owner bonds)
in Guggenheim's hands yet]
Mileva does not openly oppose the sale. How little
she cares about the process, however, becomes
clear in her anxious letters to Albert: "I already
see ourselves as homeless," she laments, for in
Zurich there is a great shortage of housing. She
also fears that cash will be lost to her with the
devaluation of her money, and recalls that her
debts were not annulled when the two houses on
Hinterberg Street were auctioned: "The claims of
those people never finish." And finally she speaks
about the mortgage bonds, which are not defined on
Albert's name as it was claimed several times in
the past years, but they can be redeemed by anyone
who shows them [219]. And again she is mistrusting
Guggenheim, and this mistrust is justified as it
will come out. Mortgage notes were let in his
hands, of 15,000 and 4,000 Swiss francs, and she
requieres Albert to handle that also the mortgage
note of 40,000 Swiss francs will come to her
possession or will be deposited in a bank and she
would have access to it [220].
[219]
However, AE is registered by name in the land
register.
[220] Guggenheim to Corporation HuttRC,
Jan.21, 1947; Guggenheim to Corporation
HuttRC, March 10, 1947; Guggenheim to
Corporation HuttRC, March 11, 1947; s. Mileva
to Otto Nathan, March 26, 1947; Otto Nathan to
Mileva, April 14, 1947; Mileva to Otto Nathan,
May 16, 1947; Otto Nathan to Mileva, May 24,
1947; Mileva to AE, Dec.12, 1946.
Albert thinks that Mileva's concerns are
reasonable and understandable. But he is comparing
yet cash with a house considering that the danger
to loose everything selling the house would be
bigger than the inflation which destroys only a
part of the money. Mileva is afraid to be without
home at the end? Albert is giving advice to make a
paragraph in the sale's treaty putting a right to
live for life there. When this would not be
possible, another flat could be provided with the
revenue. And as one could not give any money to
Mileva because of her depths which never go away,
he is advising her to deposit the money in Zurich
in the name of the Corporation. And another topic
is that Eduard now should be deprived of rights
because of incapacity. "Just think about the
helplessness of his situation, if somehow he would
be in a position to dispose of his own money",
explains Albert the measure. In another passage of
the letter he is telling something about the
protection from exploitation. This includes,
without clear saying, also the prohibition for
Mileva to take the son's money [221].
[221]
AE to Mileva, Dec.22, 1946.
[p.54]
[31.12.1946:
Selbstmordversuch von Sohn Eduard -
wöchentlich mehrere Besuche von Mutter
Mileva im Burghölzli - Beinbruch am
17.2.1948]
Mileva's response to the Corporation reaches Otto
Nathan at the end of March 1947. She asks for
leniency; In the meantime a misfortune had come
over her. Details she does not mention [222].
[222]
In the night of December 31, 1946, Eduard made
his suicide attempt throwing himself from a
window, without success. Then he was brought
in this night to Cantonal Psychiatric Hospital
Burghölzli of Zurich. Mileva is visiting him
several times a week. On February 17, 1948,
it's icy weather in Zurich, she is sliding
breaking a leg. All this is communicated to
Princeton and New York only weeks later.
She promises that she will handle the matter of
Eduard's incapacitation as soon as she can; she
hopes to be able to fulfill her obligations to the
Corporation in future "in some way".
But before house sales and incapacitation deprive
her of their authority, Mileva demands more
security: Will Albert stick to his commitment and
provide Eduard with the SFr. 40,000 mortgage,
perhaps also the second SFr. 15,000 mortgage? She
"would be very glad if Mr. Prof would send me a
clear message on what he wants to leave to Teddi,
so that in case of any need I have something in my
hands. [... Eduard] is also the son of the Prof.
[...] and should, if possible, not remain without
means."
[from 1947: Mileva presses for cash for Eduard,
before Albert's death already - because of the
high inheritance tax in the CH - Albert waits,
who is Edward's legal guardian]
Because the inheritance tax in Switzerland is very
high, Mileva insists on making the transfer now,
not only after Albert's death. And in order not to
put such a demand into a bad light, she emphasizes
that Otto Nathan may not believe that she was only
anxious to "take as much money as possible from
Mr. Prof". She proposes to leave the mortgage of
40,000 CHF at the house. This would leave the
beneficiary with a secure source of income of
1,600 SFr per year to receive. Mileva wants the
little mortgage of 4,000 SFr. payed in cash. "I
have no intention of consuming the money for
pleasure," she assures; she wants to hold it as a
small reserve for emergencies [223].
[223]
Mileva to Otto Nathan, March 26, 1947.
Mileva's arguments sound plausible and her
wishes barely go beyond what was Albert's project
for her. But by good reason he is holding his
decision to let the letters of debt be overwritten
on Eduard only when the son has a reliable legal
guardian.
[April 1947: Eduard's Burghölzli stay: $ 600 -
Mileva Tacts Against the Attitude of a Guardian
Who May Also Patronize It (!)]
In mid-April 1947, Albert transfers $ 600 [[appr.
2500 SFr. in those times - web01]] to Mileva, to
cover the deficit which her hospitalization has
caused in the housekeeping budget, and on behalf
of the Corporation, Otto Nathan promises her that
once the house is sold, and when Eduard [p.55]
has got a legal guardian, the equivalent of the
Sfr 40,000 mortgage resp. of the mortgage itself
will be defined on his [[Eduard's]] name and
Mileva will get Sfr. 4,000 directly [224].
[224]
Otto Nathan to Mileva, April 14, 1947, AE to
Credit Suisse, April19, 1947.
In May 1947, Mileva entrusted the homeowners'
association with the sale of the property and now
also seeks advice and help from friends and
acquaintances concerning the matter of a leagl
guardian for Eduard. It becomes obvious that they
want to postpone the decision as long as possible
and avoid the regulatory hurdles. "The matter is not
urgent at all", she explains to Albert, explaining
to Otto Nathan that "the certificate of the
Director" from Burghölzli will protect Eduard "for
all difficulties, and also from any incapacitation."
[225] Cleverly she conceals what is behind Albert's
request, and what she does not want to imagine: to
gove away her own "legal guardianship" [226] with
her own son. And she is acting very carefully for
protecting all what is possible for herself and her
"charge" [227].
[225]
Mileva to Otto Nathan, May 16, 1947; Mileva to
AE, May 30, 1947; Mileva to Heinricht Zangger,
June 4, 1947; Mileva to Otto Nathan, June 5,
1947.
[226] "In the beginning of Teddi's illness, I
am officially enrolled as his legal guardian",
Mileva to AE, May 30, 1947. How officially her
function is or was, cannot be investigated
with the documents of the authorities. Doubts
may be justified with this role as legal
guardian "by authority", above all, because
Eduard's file of guardianship is only
beginning at 1941, and there is nothing
indicated that Mileva had got the
responsibility transmitted in 1932 or 1933 or
later.
[227] It is also R. Milentijevic's assumption
that Mileva acts purposefully in a fraudulent
manner (book: Mileva Maric Einstein - zivot sa
Albertom Ajnstajnom, Belgrade 2012). However,
she does not consider Mileva's approach to be
condemnable, but her action makes sense
considering maternal concern. R. Highfield /
P. Carter (The secret lives of Albert
Einstein, dtv Munich 1996 p.310) call it
Mileva's "retaliatory
weapon".
[227] Dass Mileva in betrügerischer Absicht
zielstrebig vorgeht, ist auch R. Milentijevics
Annahme (Mileva Maric Einstein – zivot sa
Albertom Ajnstajnom, Belgrad 2012). Sie
betrachtet Milevas Vorgehen allerdings nicht
als verurteilenswert, sondern als zweckmäßig
im Sinn mütterlicher Sorge. R. Highfield/P.
Carter (Die geheimen Leben des Albert
Einstein, dtv München 1996 p.310) bezeichnen
es als Milevas „Vergeltungswaffe“.
[July
1947: The organization of the sale of the
house Hutten Street 62]
At the beginning of June 1947, people for the
house purchase could be found and now, Mileva
needs a power in written from the Corporation and
needs the mortgage letters which she has to show
at the signing of the contract. Otto Nathan's idea
was to have a lawyer for this, but Mileva means
this would not be necessary because the
Homeowner's Association would be on her side.
The Corporation payed all bills from lawyer
Guggenheim for his little work from 1943-1947, it
can be assumed that his bills were partly not
justified or at least too high. Then mid of July,
the lawyer hands over to district lawyer Mr. Karl
Zürcher all files about the house Hutten Street 62
with the mortgage letters which were deposed with
him [228], where the files are ready for Mieva.
Also the required
[228]
District Attorney Karl Zürcher is the brother
of recently deceased prosecutor Emil Zürcher,
with whose family Mileva had maintained
friendly contact for many years.
[p.56]
power in written has reached Zurich. So there
should not be any obstacle any more for the sale's
procedure. Again Mileva is asking what she should
do with the cash which should be payed to her. She
gets the order to deposit this cash in the name of
the Corporation on a bank, and Albert is
emphasizing again how glad he would be when the
transaction would be completed, "so after my death
will not remain such a dangerous and difficult
situation for Tetel's support." [229]
[229]
Mileva to Otto Nathan, July 18, 1947; Otto
Nathan to Mileva, July 31, 1947; AE to Hans
Albert, Aug.25, 1947; see also AE to Heinrich
Zangger, July 28, 1947
[Es
scheint absolut fragwürdig, wieso Albert
Einstein für den Verkauf von Huttenstrasse 62
nicht selbst nach Zürich kommt].
[Hutten Street no.62 on Sep.1, 1947: house
sale to Walter Siegmann - Einstein is NOT
PRESENT (!) - takeover of the mortgages, balance
sum comes on Oct.1, 1947]
[It
seems absolutely questionable why Albert
Einstein did not come to Zurich himself for
the sale of Hutten Street no.62 - because
Einstein is retired now].
On September 1, 1947 Mileva signed in presence of
the notary a treaty so the property of Hutten
Street no.62 will be transferred becoming the
possession of Mr. Walter Siegmann on October 1,
1947, for the price of 235,000 SFr. The buyer
accepts the house mortgages amounting to a total
of 192,000 Swiss francs, in which are included
Alberts mortgages over 40,000 SFr and 15,000 SFr,
and will pay the remaining amount in cash on 1
October. The remaining sum is 43,000 SFr, of which
Mileva has to pay the house owners' association a
commission and taxes and, as it was already
promised by the corporation in April, she may keep
4,000 SFr [230].
[230]
Robert Meyer to Corporation HuttRC, Sep.1,
1947, Mileva to Corporation HuttRC, Sep.1,
1947.
[Huttenstrasse
62 wird weiterverkauft: Neuer Besitzer wird:
Frieda Ehrler, Privatiere - und neuer Streit
wegen einem Hypothekenbrief]
[Mit dem Weiterverkauf wird die
Klausel, dass Mileva im Haus wohnen bleiben
kann, hinfällig].
[Hutten Street no. 62 is resold:
new owner becomes: Frieda Ehrler, Private Banking
- and new dispute over a mortgage letter]
[With
the resale, the clause that Mileva can stay in
the house becomes obsolete].
Walter Siegmann, notary and authorized
representative of the UTO Commerce and
Administration Co. (UTO Handels- und Verwaltungs-AG)
[[in Lucerne]], will not be the new owner for long.
A few weeks after signing the contract, the house is
sold to Frieda Ehrler, Private Banking (Privatiers),
with a profit for sure. On Sep.3, Mileva, as Otto
Nathan is not to reach, asks Albert to write
"immediately" to lawyer Meyer - Meyer is the partner
and successor of ex-prosecutor Emil Zürcher who had
died just a short time ago, but he has the mortgage
letter of over 40,000 SFr. in his deposit. Together
with an updated full power in written - because of a
change of persons in the Corporation - she had to
show also these documents to the notary in Zurich,
she writes, and she remembers him: "In the beginning
of these negotiations you offered me to give me the
money. Please, do it! Here it's invested on the name
of the Company with the declaration that I can
dispose of it, for the support of the sick son."
[231]
[231]
Mileva to AE, Sep.3, 1947.
Is Mileva talking about the cash that will be
paid out on October 1st, or does she mean, above
all, the $ 40,000 of the mortgage, for ransoming
she has no order, and which is for the Eduard's
support in project since 1934 already? [p.57]
Four days later, Albert has already transmitted
the Mileva's requests to the lawyers of the
Corporation, they will emit the updated full power
in written. Albert is writing a letter to Mileva
now, and he puts the letter to lawyer Meyer into
the same envelope calculating that there will be
further notice about the sale procedure soon: "As
soon as we here know where the sum of the sale is
deposited, we will ensure that you will have the
right to dispose of it." [232]
[232]
AE to Mileva, Sep.7, 1947.
Respective to the fact that Mileva will be
allowed to dispose about only a little part of the
sale's profit, this is not a favorable sentence.
On Sep.20, Otto Nathan is therefore explaining
again in clear words "how the hole sale's
procedure is going": 4,000 SFr. should be given
Mileva at disposal at once after the payment
procedure of the sale's sum. The counter value of
the mortgage of 40,000 SFr. (or preferably, the
mortgage itself) "will be installed for the
support of her son [...] and as soon as her son
has got a legal guardian." From the remaining sum
of the sum which has to be payed on Oct.1, 1947,
the Corporation needs 25,000 SFr. "first for
paying back the depghs which were made years ago
for paying the mortgages of SFr. 15,000", and
secondly, for paying of profit tax (gains tax) in
the "USA" which is due by the house purchase
[233].
[233]
Otto Nathan to Mileva, Sep.20, 1947
[From Oct.1, 1947: The purchase contract is
valid - the Corporation does not get a sales
contract, no money transfer, Mileva remains
silent - Einstein plans to revise his will
accordingly]
With the 1st of October 1947 the purchase contract
becomes valid. Now the corporation is waiting for
a copy of the documents.
But now, Mileva is mute. Until mid of December
there were several warning letters to Mileva's
address, but no purchase treaty, nor a transaction
or any news where Mileva has put the cash has
arrived in "America".
In this embarrassment Albert turns to District
Attorney Karl Zürcher with the request that he
would induce Mileva to fulfill her obligations.
When she does not want to give the money out of
hand - in the meantime Albert also counts on this
possibility - he has to update his will making a
balance [234].
[234]
AE to Karl Zürcher, Dec.18, 1947.
What may seem like a heartless display of power
and that some biographers see as a threat to
disinherit Eduard must, on the contrary, be
understood as an indication of Albert's
pre-and-fears for the sick son. For Edward [p.58]
the will says that Einstein has defined the
biggest trust fund, and it's the only one which is
not allowed to be cut for other heirs, even if the
estate is lower than calculated. In the
calculation included are the 15,000 Swiss francs
of the 1939 mortgage, as well as the 40,000 Swiss
francs mortgage which was taken by Albert in 1935.
When this money will be lost in Switzerland, when
it cannot be saved as Alberts inheritage for
Eduard, then the sums of all other heirs have to
be redistributed with a new key [235].
[235]
"Memorandum re proposed revision of will of
dr. Einstein ", Marc 9, 1940. This
redistribution in order to "install a fair
balance" will be discussed again in the autumn
of 1948, when AE and legal guard Meili are
considering to withhold all the money in
Zurich for Eduard's supply, and the other son
Hans Albert should be given a bigger
percentage in the will as a compensation.
Attorney Zürcher's intervention [236] turns out
to be successful first.
[236]
Karl Zürcher to Mileva, Dec.24, 1947
[1.10.1947-Jan.1948:
Nun kommen Intrigen gegen Mileva:
Käufer Siegmann bricht sein Wort, eine
Bekannte beraubt Mileva, Mieter werden frech
- Eduard will ins Burghölzli flüchten -
Mileva klagt, wie werde zur Bettlerin]
[Oct.1,
1947-Jan.1948: Now intrigues are started
against Mileva: Buyer Siegmann breaks his
word, a friend is robbing Mileva, tenants
are insulting - Eduard wants to flee to
Burghölzli - Mileva complains that she would
become beggars]
Even before the turn of the year, Mileva broke
her silence and reported to Albert with a
longer letter: "It's been ages since I wanted
and should write to you and report on
everything." Her report on the house sale is
limited to a few lines, but she is writing
much then about all the bad things and
manipiulations against her which were coming
after the sale's procedure and have harmed her
and Eduard very much so in the last November
week, he himself requested to be
brought into the clinic. She
complains about insulting tenants
in the house, about the buyer who did
not keep his word, about an
acquantence woman who offered help but turned
out to be a thief at the end
[237];
[237] The
woman turning out as a thief is Hilda
Dukas, the widow of lawyer Hermann Dukas,
she is a "notorious psychopath", and also
her sister was a kleptomaniac. AE to
Mileva, Jan.5, 1948.
she complains about the avaricious lawyer Zürcher
and the recently acquired wealth impelling friend
Zangger and asks for their desolate state of
health: "I am sick and very suffering, so I can
not do business at any moment". In a new
paragraph, perhaps added only the next day, she
says goodbye to the despondent and compassionate
tone of the first pages and begins an attack. The
corporation - in quotes without estimating much of
it - "wants us to pull everything out of our hands
and provoke that we would become beggars." [238]
[238]
Mileva to AE, Dec.30, 1947; s. a. Mileva to
AE, Jan.3, 1948.
And she reminds her ex-husband: "Please, don't
forget, too, that we have a poor son who suffers;
he has no father" and he could not count on his
brother. What should become of him, as well as his
mother no longer endures this sad life [p.59].
The requested money she will send "probably just
after Newyear". "Take patience just some days",
she begs him, "then the necessary answer will come
which you have requested." This would be a good
answer for Albert, who is impatiently waiting for
the money and the contract for connected
proceeding the matters in the "USA", pay the gains
tax, and dissolve the Hutten Street Realty
Corporation. But Mileva has also written another
sentence before which may be an allusion that she
has other things in project: A more precise answer
will be given to Albert and to the Corporation "as
soon as I have spoken with the guardian lawyer,
and this is my duty to do." Is she calculating to
get support from another side which lawyer Zürcher
cannot give her? [239]
[239]
Next month, Mileva will accuse Karl Zürcher of
causing confusion instead of helping: "I
implore you [...] no longer write this idiot,"
Mileva to AE, January 27, 1948.
(original German: „Ich
beschwöre Dich […] schreibe diesem Idioten
nicht mehr“)
[1948: Mileva complains: Einstein never
visits Zurich - but lives with 3 women in
Princeton]
Mileva is complaining that Albert had given is
sick son to the pledge with "only 300 Swiss francs
per month", and that in the case of his death
there wold not be any prevention for him. This sad
impression Mileva is not only presenting to lawyer
Zürcher. Similarly she is complaining in a letter
to the director of the Psychiatric Hospital
Burghölzli who is organizing the legal guard for
Eduard: "Perhaps it would be possible that [the
Guardianship Authority] could help us something to
manipulate the father of my poor son that there
would be more money support. He is not showing any
interest for the poor suffering boy." But - Mileva
says - he is living with 3 or 4 women who have all
the reputation "to pluck him extensively". [240]
[240]
Mileva to Manfred Bleuler, Jan.16, 1948.
[1948: Mileva suffers from mental confusion -
diagnosis early summer 1948 - Einstein pays the
Corporation out of his own pockets]
It is difficult to attribute all these accusations
to Mileva's mental confusion that the doctors will
diagnose in early summer 1948. But her behavior
seems consistent yet, her claims sound credible
and even the director of Burghölzli, the
psychiatrist Manfred Bleuler, gives Mileva
confidence. For a long time, Albert, in response
to Mileva's moving letter of December 30, had
revoked the Corporation's wire transfer request
immediately by telegraph, then on the same day
also a letter was sent [241] revoking the transfer
request, and it was confirmed that the "American"
depths of the Corporation will be payed by the
personal fortune in "America".
[241]
AE to Mileva, Jan.5. 1948; s. a. AE to Karl
Zürcher, Jan.8, 1948; Karl Zürcher to Mileva,
Jan.13, 1948.
This is not mentioned in Mileva's letters, she is
continuing complaining. Because even before the
"guardian jurist" [p.60] chould have had a chance
to make effective his influence, she has solved
the problem for herself and in her own way.
Albert's assertion that all will be made like
this, "as it's best in your and in Tetel's
interest", has become meaningless; she can ignore
all this.
[Mileva was thrown out of the house -
costs without end
It was NOT foreseen
-- that Mileva was confronted with insulting
tenants
-- that Mileva was thrown out of the house - and
the new address is NOT mentioned here
-- and all the changing of the household and the
rent of the new flat cost much - that's why Mileva
is short of money
-- it seems that Mileva conceals to Einstein that
she had been thrown ouf of the house (?!)].
[1948: Hans Albert protests against
Einstein+Mileva because of a general commitment
from Einstein - Einstein promises Hans Albert a
clear safety]
That everything will be done as it is in Milevas
and Eduard's interest, this is alarming now for
Hans Albert with the suspition that his interests
and rights were not respected. He requieres a say
in the administration of the funds, because at the
end he would be the one who will be asked by the
state for Eduard's support [242].
[242]
Hans Albert to AE, January 17, 1948; s.a. Hans
Albert to AE, July 28, 1948. Behind Hans
Albert's seemingly real reasoning stays also
rivalry between the two brothers: the little
brother was pampered, saved and spoiled, but
the first-born had to take a man's role with
10 years already in the family, and then he
was kept short of money "because of pedgagogic
reasons". See about this also the letter from
Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe to AE, after Nov.15,
1925.
His father does not want to give him that say;
but he promises him that with the help of the
legal guardian everything will be done, "so that
nothing gets stuck with you when I'm no longer
there. [...] The worst thing that can happen is
that Tetel's supply endangers your projected
inheritage." [243]
[243]
AE to Hans Albert, 21.1.1948.
(original German: Dieses
Mitspracherecht will ihm sein Vater nicht
zugestehen; er verspricht ihm aber, dass mit
Hilfe des Vormunds alles unternommen werde,
„damit nichts an Dir hängen bleibt wenn ich
nicht mehr da bin. [...] Das ärgste, was
passieren kann, ist, dass Tetels Versorgung
Deine Erbaussichten verdirbt.“)
Even this danger is slight, because according to
American law, Albert's testament provides an
instrument for dividing his legacy according to
his own sense of justice and the needs of his sons
and other heirs [244].
[244]
AE to Otto Nathan, Sep.4, 1948.
[1948: Mileva was quit the apartment -
Mileva is only suffering because of Eduard, and
Einstein does NOT come (!!!) - legal guardian
Meili]
At the end of January 1948, Mileva again asked the
corporation for leniency in not having sent the
sales contract and billing. The reason for the
block would be the "so called Rent Office". There,
her objection to the possibly unlawful quitting of
the apartment is processed, which the new
houseowner has made for the end of the year.
Mileva does not complain for no reason about the
misery in which she is. But is this a misery that
would be remedied with Albert's financial help, as
her friends and supporters believe? [245]
[245]
"It would be a salvation if you would help
your family a bit," Maria Kerekes to AE, May
18, 1948; s.a. Maria Kerekes to Michele Besso,
June 1, 1948; Elly Bernet-Studer to AE,
Jan.27, 1947 and other letters.
What is happening in her spirit when she is
begging to Albert, "just send some money for the
boy now already, the best would be here, so the
people are quiet, so he has to live?" [246]
[246]
Mileva to AE, Jan.27, 1948.
What does she expect to be able to expect from
Albert, since she herself has already 'secured'
most of the money that he has earmarked for
Edward's support at this time? [p.61] But
this will be detected by Albert and legal guard
Mr. Meili only after Mileva's death.
[Beginning of February 1948: Eduard must
sign his incapacitation - legal guardian Meili
from March 1, 1948 on]
At the beginning of February 1948, Eduard signs
his consent for the Guardianship Authority. Four
weeks later, his incapacitation becomes final.
From this time on, official guardian Dr.
jur. Heinrich Meili is responsible for
Eduard's well-being. This is the moment when
Albert will write over the SFr. 40,000 mortgage on
his son's name, or, alternatively, the cash amount
for Eduard should be provided.
[Beginning of February 1948: Einstein still
does not know where the money from the house
sale of Hutten Street 62 is (!) - Mileva is mute
with no indication about the money - nor telling
to the new legal guardian Meili]
Now, the sale's documents have not reached
"America" yet, nor Albert knows how high the gains
tax will be to pay, nor does he know which sum was
put on which bank in Zurich which could be used
for the son or is used already. Now he is waiting
for a report and ideas of Eduard's legal guardian.
Mileva has kept him in the dark about her and
Eduard's financial situation.
[March 1948: Mileva actually wanted Albert to
come to Zurich to help (!) - and this Albert
Einstein NEVER comes (!)]
Mid-March 1948 - In a further conversation with
Mileva, attorney Zürcher had the impression that
she will fulfill her obligations to the
Corporation now [247].
[247]
Karl Zürcher to Otto Nathan, June 18, 1948.
"Things have turned this way," she tells Albert,
that she could send the desired documents. Behind
her was an incredibly difficult time: "All men
involved in the case" had proven to be fraudsters
and counterfeiters. She even counts her ex-husband
to this group of fraudsaters: "I would thank God,
if I could get from your side, some kindness and
help, because unfortunately I have too many duties
to assist our poor child, which is also a
difficult task and where I would be grateful for
your assistance."
(original German: „Ich würde Gott danken, wenn
ich auch von Deiner Seite, etwas Güte und
Hilfe bekommen könnte, denn ich habe ja leider
gar zu viel Pflichten unserem armen Kinde
beizustehen, was auch eine schwere Aufgabe ist
und wo ich auch für Deinen Beistand über alles
dankbar wäre.“)
What assistance, what help does she hope for
beyond the long-promised financial security of the
sick son, which will now depend on how the legal
guardian Meili assesses the situation? [248]
[248]
Mileva to AE, March, 11, 1948
[This Einstein becomes criminal never
coming to Zurich for a visit
Mileva had to take a cheap flat, the new
address is NOT indicated, and Mileva becomes
week, she feels her death and wants to see
Einstein a last time - and this Einstein does
NEVER come whereas this Einstein is retired,
is FREduard of work!]
[End of May 1948: Mileva continues to hide
the money from the sale of the house - stroke
(brain attack) on May 27, 1948, cantonal
hospital, half sided paralyzation (hemiplegia),
mentally impaired - the money is in the hospital
room: 87,300 francs (!) - Mileva means that it
is about 30,000 francs (!)]
Also at the end of May, the sale's papers have not
reached the Corporation yet. On May 27, Mileva
suffers a stroke (brain attack) and is admitted to
the Cantonal Hospital. She is paralyzed on one
side and, as the receiving doctor states, mentally
damaged and "unable to provide information about
her financial circumstances". After all, [p.62]
when the paramedics picked her up from her
apartment she was clear-sighted enough to pack her
cash. Soon after her hospitalization, the sector's
nurse finds banknotes lying around "on the floor,
in the bed and in the bedside table" of a value of
87,300 SFr. [249]
[249]
Cantonal Hospital Zurich to Guardianship
Authority, May 31, 1948
When questioned, Mileva states that the entire
sum is owned by her - she estimates the total to
be around SFr 30,000 - and this should handed over
to the Guardianship Authority. It becomes clear
that she wants to use this money for the care of
the sick son [250].
[250]
Minutes of the Guardianship Authority, June 2,
1948; there also remarks of legal guardian
Meili, June 9, 1948
[Legal guardian Meili asks Albert Einstein
what amount is intended for Eduard - and
conceals the 87,300 Swiss francs to him (!!!)]
At the beginning of June 1948, Edward's legal
guardian Heinrich Meili established contact with
Albert Einstein. The Guardianship Authority has
now entrusted him with Mileva's representation for
the purposes of property matters, and Meili would
like to know from Albert the means by which the
nursing costs for mother and son are to be
covered. Mileva has so far only spoken of "that
she is in dispute with you because of the transfer
of a large sum of money, which resulted from the
sale of the house Hutten Street 62." That these
conflicts were already settled before the guardian
took office, Mileva did not seem to speak. And she
did not mention either that Mili's idea to "save"
the disputed sum "in the name of son Eduard
Einstein" was discussed already . Meili is asking
how high is the amount, and Albert cannot give the
answer. Because the registered 87,300 SFr. which
are registered at the Gaurdianship Authority now
were not communicated to him, and are not
communicated either in Meili's letter [251].
[251]
Legal guardian Meili to AE, June 5, 1948, AE
to legal guardian Meili, June 9, 1948
Albert answers immediately and in detail,
leaving the legal guardian in no doubt which are
the powers and obligation of Mileva to the
Corporation, which revenues she had by house
administration and by the sale of the house, and
how the existing cash should proceeded. "Despite
of all efforts without end" he had not succeeded
to receive a final billing. About 40,000 SFr., so
his estimation, had been payed cash to Mileva.
This sum is property of the Corporation, and he
decides that two mortgages which are on his name
with a total value of 55,000 SFr. "should be used
for paying the costs of Mileva's illness and for [p.63]
the support of my mentally ill son". It was very
important to him to regulate Eduard's care so that
his elder son would not be charged later.
[June 1948: Albert Einstein informs son Hans
Albert only now about the house sale and
Eduard's incapacitation - and Einstein still
does not go to Zurich (!!!)]
So far, Albert had avoided burdening Hans Albert
with disquieting news about what had been going on
in Zurich for a long time. Now he considers it
necessary to inform him of Eduard's incarceration,
and more importantly of the sale of the house:
"Mileva had authority to proceed the transaction.
Despite of all reminders and warnings she did not
communicate what she has done with the cash even
not indicating how much she has." Now the
Corporation is in an embarrassment to pay a gains
tax - in quotes emphasizing the nonsense of this
term for him - but any data is missing for the
calculation. "It's impossible to describe what
costs and chicanes I had with this house all the
years", he claims, "always only reproaches and
fake information of people in Zurich about my
behavior." [[But: he is retired now and never
comes to Zurich for a visit also when Mileva is in
hospital half paralyzed??!! Such an asshole!!]]
For Eduard's support he could not have done
anything until this moment; a final decision
depends on the sum which left after the sale of
the house [252].
[252] AE to
Hans Albert, June 6, 1948
[Meili conceals to Einstein the 87,300 SFr.
from Mileva]
In mid-June, the legal guardian Meili receives
Einstein's answer. Now, Meili has to be aware that
only a part of the 87,300 SFr found on Mileva can
be her property, but the other half belongs
to the Corporation or to Albert personally. So,
what kind of action is this to leave Albert
without knowledge of this money?
Or does the legal guardian think that the elder
son Hans Albert would inform Einstein about the
most important facts [253]?
[253]
Legal guardian Meili to Hans Albert, June 30,
1948
[Hans Albert conceals Einstein the 87,300 SFr.
of Mileva]
However, Hans Albert sees little reason to pass on
these details to the father. Well, he cannot
answer the question who would be the legal owner
of the 87,300 SFr., but Hans Albert will never
adopt the opinion of his father "that all remainig
money should be used for the support of Tetel." It
can be assumed that above all the order of his
father does not taste him good "not to [p.64]
try to get something of the Zurich money as long
as the matter with Tetel is not in order." [254]
Although he can give Meili no answer to the
question of the rightful owner of the 87,300 SFr,
under no circumstances but he agrees with the view
of the father, "all remaining money in Zurich
[should] be used on Tetels supply." Presumably he
dislikes above all the instruction of the father,
"under no circumstances [to] [S.64] trying to get
something from the money in Zurich, as long as the
matter is not settled with Tetel." [254]
[254]
AE to Hans Albert, July 11, 1948.
[July 1948: Hans Albert has "no time" to come
to Zurich - legal guardian Meili distributes the
money]
Hans Albert would like to take matters into his
own hands on the spot. But his professional
commitments do not give him the time to travel to
Zurich immediately [255]. In the middle of July
1948, legal guardian Meili therefore made the
following obscure account for Hans Albert: 40,000
SFr are due to Albert Einstein; this could be
taken from the divorce convention of 1919 [256].
47,000 SFr are therefore Mileva's property, the
last remnant of the Nobel Prize capital. Now,
Meili wants to "conserve" the 40,000 SFr for his
ward Eduard; that is in the spirit of the father
and also corresponds to Hans Albert's suggestion,
to secure "a lot" for the brother. The other
available sums are the mortgages of all in all
55,000 SFr. which have to be negotiated for
heritage, this will happen when time is coming
[257].
[255]
Frieda Einstein-Knecht to legal guardian
Meili, July 20, 1948.
[256] Apparently there is a confusion with the
"first-class commercial papers in the ...
market value of 40,000 marks" before.
[257] Legal guardian Meili to Hans Albert,
July 19, 1948
9. Mileva dies on August 4, 1948.
87,300 Swiss francs in notes:
The dispute over Mileva's estate until the final
distribution of the balance between the sons in
1950
It is a fortunate coincidence that Otto Nathan is
just on the way to a conference in Poland, so he
can pass Zurich just some days after Mileva's
death talking with all power representing Albert
Einstein and the Corporation for speaking with
legal guardian Meili about Eduard's future
support. The decisive question is: will the legal
guardian be able with the existing means to save
Eduard's support to Hans Albert "will not be
charged later which could be a ruin for him
because his income as scientist is a modest one?"
Already Einstein had promised his elder son that
he will not spare sacrifices to realize this
[258]. ç
[258]
AE to legal guardian Meili, Aug.4, 1948, AE to
Hans Albert, Aug.4, 1948.
[p.65]
[The final bill of Otto Nathan, attorney of the
Corporation]
The final bill which Otto Nathan is presenting is
different from Meili's conclusions from the
divorce convencion in one essential point: Nathan
is dividing the 87,300 SFr in: at one side, the
profit of Hutten Street Realty Corporation, appr.
43,000 SFr., and it may be assumed that this money
was cashed to Mileva during the house sale, and:
at the other side, there is the reminder sum of
appr. 44,000 SFr. which counts as Mileva's
property, which - after reducing this sum by
several open bills and other costs - has to be
parted and given to two heirs, Hans Albert and
Eduard. On the basis of this calculation, Nathan
Meili makes a proposal for Eduard's lifelong
provision: in addition to Eduard's approximately
20,000 francs from Mileva's estate, Albert
Einstein will receive the profits from the sale of
the house minus the tax liability payable in
America, ie approximately 35,000 SFr. and the
equivalent of the two mortgages over Sfr 15,000
and Sfr 40,000, totaling around 110,000 SFr. [259]
[259]
Otto Nathan to AE, Aug.6, 1948. Thus, Otto
Nathan revokes the promise that AE will pay
the tax debt in America out of his own pocket;
however, the loss is completely offset by
Eduard's share of the 40,000 Swiss francs
assigned here to Mileva's estate.
[Sep.4, 1948: Otto Nathan announces Einstein:
With Mileva 87,300 francs were found - where
does the money come from?]
Albert Einstein is informed about this in a letter
of Otto Nathan coming in on Sep.4, and only now he
is informed of the 87,300 SFr.
First Einstein has no worry that Mileva as it
seemed had received cash of more than 40,000 SFr.
after the sale of the house. The fact fits into
the picture: "Mileva has [...] acted like a real
Serbian farmer's daughter concealing her life
conditions." But he is not angry, it's "just
something funny in all the tragedy." [260]
[260]
AE to Otto Nathan, Sep.4, 1948; AE may have
actually guessed that one part of the cash
came from Mileva's Yugoslav heritage, which
she had been trying to trigger for many years
[[land possession of the father]].
[The clearance of Mileva's apartment -
Frieda Einstein comes with the authority of Hans
Albert, "to take the inheritance in receipt":
Einstein has never paid his mortgages (!!!) -
and thus Einstein's Trust Company gets nothing]
His displeasure, even more his mistrust, is
provoked by Frieda Einstein's trip to Zurich.
Hans Albert's wife had offered guardian Meili to
assist him in the clearance of Mileva's apartment.
On August 23, she arrives in Zurich. She is
empowered by her husband to receive the part of
the inheritance attributable to him. [261]
[261]
Hans Albert to HM, Aug.4, 1948; "Power of
Attorney" ("Vollmacht"), Aug.14, 1948; AE to
Otto Nathan, Sep.4, 1948.
How justified Albert's mistrust is is shown after
Frieda has convinced the legal guardian Meili of a
new view of the facts, of Hans Alberts view of the
facts, and of her view of Mileva's estate [p.66].
"Probably not without reason,"
Meili then opens Otto Nathan, Frieda takes the
position that the entire 87,300 SFr were, as a
remainder of the Nobel Prize, Mileva's property
and should be handled accordingly as
inheritance. Frieda presumably refers to
Albert's - false - confession that he had
never payed in the amount of the mortgages,
thus "morally" they are Mileva's property [262].
[262] s. AE to Hans Albert,
July 11, 1948.
This is a good change of
conditions also for legal guardian Meili who
anyway has doubts about this Realty Corporation
of Hutten Street which is said having taken over
the house of Hutten Street no.62. So, Albert's
mortgages were "only" installed to save Mileva
from the attacks of the creditors - Meili is
speaking of "overwriting" mistakenly - he now
believes to be able to conclude that there was
"in fact" no change of the divorce convension.
In coordination with the meaning of the couple
Einstein-Knecht, the legal guardian is
considering all the means invested in the
house as Mileva's possession. And
the Corporation (Hutten Street Realty
Corporation) has no space left.
[262]
s. AE to Hans Albert, July 11, 1948
[Simple handling of the heritage sum: Hans Albert
and Eduard each receive half - with detour passing
the Corporation]
If Albert Einstein and the corporation wanted to
join in this view, the legal guardian would be very
satisfied, as "then the estate would only have to be
divided in half" and it remains to be clarified
whether Hans Albert would like to give his brother,
who is more in need, a "voluntary advance" [ 263].
[263]
Legal guardian Meili to Otto Nathan,
Sep.9, 1948. "Voluntary advance
payment" (receipt in advance -
Vorbezug) is described in Article
no.631 of Swiss Civil
Code.
Otto Nathan's response reaches legal guardian Meili
on September 30, 1948. In it Nathan emphasizes again
what he had already mentioned in conversation with
Meili in early August and what is also not unknown
to Hans Albert and Frieda: "that [Mileva's] estate
is owing about Frs. 43,000.- to Hutten Street Realty
Corporation". For legal and tax reasons, the
Corporation can not resign to this requirement.
Professor Einstein is willing to pay not only the
tax debts in the US from its funds, but also to
transfer 43,000 SFr from his own pocket to the
estate as soon as the Corporation has received the
same sum from this estate [264].
[264]
Otto Nathan to legal guardian Meili, Sep.27,
1948
[p.67]
What may seem like a nonsensical and unnecessary
maneuver, is a well-considered procedure. Whether
the money one day directly from Albert's legacy or
already now passes on the detour through Mileva's
estate in the hands of the sons, is ultimately
rather irrelevant. But only if Alberts claims and
the Corporation's claims are now legally
recognized, he will be - eventually - hinder that
the money from Mileva's possession will flow into
foreign pockets [265].
[265]
s. Otto Nathan to AE, Sep.3, 1948.
This counts for the 87,300 SFr as well as for the
mortgage from the year 1935. To avoid a debate on
whether or to which extent these 40,000 SFr are to
be assigned to the Nobel Prize money, Albert has
decided that this sum should go into the mass
which has to be parted between the two sons.
Together with the 15,000 Swiss francs from the
mortgage taken by Albert in 1940 and for obvious
reasons he does not want to mix with the Nobel
Prize money, but wants to provide for Eduard as a
whole, o there remain by the new calculation only
about 75,000 Swiss francs for his support; a
considerable loss compared with the calculated
110,000 SFr in August which according to Mili's
estimation would not be fully used [266].
[266]
Otto Nathan to legal guardian Meili, Sep.27,
1948
[End of September 1948: New debts are
"discovered": Old taxes something like 9,000 SFr.
- and old debt letter 37,616 SFr.]
But at the end of September, even this latest
calculation is already outdated. Because in the
meantime, the inheritance issue has, as Meili must
report, received "new aspects"; debts have emerged
that take into question all previous calculations
[267],
[267]
Legal guardian Meili to Otto Nathan, Sep.28,
1948; This includes, among other things, an
old tax requirement of just under CHF 9,000
(see Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan, Dec.22,
1948) and an old debt letter of CHF 37,616.
and there is reason, writes Meili without further
details, to the fear that "the sons of Einstein
have to turn down the estate of the deceased
mother." But this danger can be avoided, he
explains, by "treating the matter legally as it
has actually developed in fact." One has to read
the last sentence a second time to fully realize
its meaning.
[Legal guardian Meili now wants to give money
to the Corporation ...]
Now the lawyer Meili is changing his position
completely - he accepts the real procedures
handling the inheritage matter as it is in fact
confessing that [p.68] it would be in the interest
of all affected family members "when the
Corporation (Hutten Street Realty Corporation)
wold keep it's claims espectively would have the
point of view that essential amounts of the money
found with Mileva would not be her possession but
the Corporation's possession." Meili has thought a
lot with caution between two juridical points of
view which are not without problems; well,
principally he doubts "the legality of the
corporation" [268], but he is determined for
acting to the best of his ward Eduard Einstein.
[268] s. Hans Albert to
AE, March 6, 1949.
[Frieda Einstein: Mileva is said to have
illegally sold two mortgage bonds and thus
amassed the 87,300 Swiss francs?]
At the beginning of October, Frieda [[comes to
Princeton]] to father-in-law Einstein
communicating him "some enlightenment" from
Zurich. "The high cash of Mileva comes obviously
from an illegal sale of the two mortgage letters
by Mileva", Albert reports to Otto Nathan. "The
daughter-in-law was a bit meek and is now very
thankful for the existance of the Corporation". It
remains unclear how much money got for the two
dept letters [269] and in which hands they are
now. Albert is asking Nathan now: should one
insist on the surrender of the mortgages and repay
the money - as the new owner has the idea for sure
that the matter is not so clean - or should there
be an arrangement with this person on the base of
the accomplished facts? For Eduard's support a
mortgage with regular interest wold be an
advantageous investment, better than any other
investment [270].
[269]
The amount which was found is about
5,000-7,000 SFr less than expected after the
sale of the house and after the sale of the
mortgage bonds. It is conceivable that Mileva
received less than 55,000 SFr for the two
promissory notes; but it would also be
conceivable that, as AE feared, cash was
"lost" or stolen.
[270] AE to Otto Nathan, Oct.7, 1948.
Mileva had also argued in this way - and she
had, against all rationality, taken the step soon
after, provoking consequences which provoked again
a new calculation for Albert and his projects.
[Mid-October 1948: Corporation cemands 98,000
Swiss Francs from Mileva's estate, including two
mortgage letters]
Formally well done and just in time before
deadline, albeit without too much hope for
success, Otto Nathan therefore made a claim in the
name of the Corporation and in Albert's name in
mid-October 1948 totaling SFr. 98,000 in relation
to Mileva's estate. 55,000 SFr of which are for
the mortgage bonds, "which [Prof. Alb. Einstein]
was not handed over, but were sold by Mrs.
Einstein-Marity and whose revenue was withhold."
[271]
[271]
Otto Nathan to legal guardian Meili, Oct.11,
948; legal guardian Meili to notary
Zurich-Fluntern, Oct.18, 1948.
[p.69]
[Zurich: Swiss attorney Robert Meyer for the
Corporation - legal guardian Meili for Eduard -
investigation because of taxes, mortgage
letters, and psychiatry forever for Eduard]
At the same time, as it becomes increasingly clear
that the legal guardian Meili "does not have time
to clarify the legal situation", Hutten Street
Realty Corporation is hiring an attorney Mr.
Robert Meyer. Que Company's questions concern the
tax exemption in Switzerland, the whereabouts of
mortgage bonds and the most important problem of
all: will it be possible to install Eduard for
life in a psychiatric hospital? [272] The work as
well as cooperation between the two lawyers Meili
and Meyer quickly prove fruitful.
[272] Legal
guardian Meili to Otto Nathan, Oct.20,
1948; Otto Nathan to AE, Oct.11m, 1948; AE
to Robert Meyer, Nov.15, 1948; Otto Nathan
to legal guardian Meili, Nov.22, 1948;
Otto Nathan to Robert Meyer, Dec.31, 1948.
[Mid Jan. 1949: Mileva is detected: She has
sold 2 mortgage letters in Dec. 1947 - Einstein
has no more basic claims - the Corporation
now has the primary claim]
In the middle of January 1949, an excerpt from the
land register proves that Mileva sold the two
missing mortgage letters before mid-December 1947.
So it's fix, writes Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan,
"that Mr. Prof. Einstein ha sno claims any more
being secured by a mortgege, but he he can only
claim a replacement in respect to the estate of
Ms. Einstein, but this claim is in not privileged
in no way." [273]
[273]
Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan, Jan.14, 1949.
In other words: selling the mortgage bonds -
bearer bonds that identify the person holding the
note as the owner of the mortgage - Mileva had
finally withdrawn the 55,000 SFr. from access by
Albert or the Corporation. Their claim against
Mileva's estate is, from a legal point of view,
forfeited or, at best, justice with individual
judge have to judge about the matter now for the
non-contentious cases at the Zurich District
Court. Thus, a situation has occurred in which,
after deduction of all previously known
liabilities for Eduards supply possibly just
20,000 SFr remained, this is half of the sum that
Albert was promising to pay back to Mileva's
estate, in the case that the claim of the
Corporation on the sale's profit will be
recognized "according to the facts". The proof for
Mileva's action in question - even legal guardian
Milie will describe in his report this action as
an illegal sale - opens to laywer Meyer now the
possibility to apply for the begin with a
screening process for the recognition of
priviliges of claims in respect of the "American"
claims
["USA": The tax office demands the profit tax -
even without sales documents - not even an
inventory exists (!!!)]
At the beginning of 1949, an end to the
inheritance clashes is not yet in sight. The US
Treasury requires payment of profit tax, which, if
no sales documents can be provided, will be based
on the official value of the property - 220,000
Swiss francs or higher. The list of inventory,
d.i. the calculation of the estate value by
guardianship authority and notary [p.70]
will take some time. Guardian Meili still can not
enter into negotiations with the owner of the old
dept letter, who claims nearly half of the money
found at Mileva. But there is another fact: it
seems comforting that at least one other creditor
has missed the registration period.
[February 1949: Eduard shall be handed over to
the welfare office - for 60,000 francs - instead
to live with Einstein in the "USA" (?!)]
In February 1949, legal guardian Meilis efforts to
ensure Eduards supply permanently have reached a
critical point. Neither in the cantonal hospital
Burghölzli, nor in the urban asylum for old people
Pfrundhaus he could "install" his ward. However,
the municipal welfare office is ready, Meili
teaches the father, "to take over the deposit of a
one-time sum befitting the care of your son until
the end of his life."
(original German: „gegen Hinterlegung einer
einmaligen Summe die standesgemässe Fürsorge
für Ihren Sohn bis an dessen Lebensende zu
übernehmen.“)
The legal guardian thinks that an
agreement on the amount to be paid in is quite
possible [274].
[274]
Legal guardian Meili to AE, Feb.1, 1949
Albert's question about the approximate height of
this amount will be answered by Meili only in the
summer of 1949 in a personal conversation with
Otto Nathan: In addition to the approximately
30,000 SFr, which Eduard may expect from the
maternal estate, he will probably need the same
amount again, for a total of 60,000 SFr , [275]
[275]
Otto Nathan to AE, Aug.19, 1949
[Mid-March 1949: Mileva's Inventory: fortune
of 86,248.63 Swiss francs - debt of 147,000
Swiss francs]
Only after mid-March 1949, the inventory is
available. The assets of 86,248.63 SFr, which
consisted of Mileva's cash legacy, deducted from
current expenses, and a small sum, which resulted
in the cleaning of the apartment, are debts by
liabilities of approximately 147,000 SFr, which
include the requirement which Otto Nathan had
filed in October. The minus amounts to more than
60,000 SFr. If this situation persists, then the
legal guardian Meili will file for bankruptcy and
have to turn down the estate in Edward's name,
Hans Albert will have no choice, and creditors
will eventually have to fight for the existing
capital. How much is left to Albert and the
Corporation, which enjoy no privilege over the
other creditors, is uncertain. Albert does not
want to go down the risk that it could be far less
than half of the required 98,000 SFr and for
Eduard in the end scarcely 20,000 SFr. will be
left.
[December 1948: Operation with Einstein with
aneurysm - Einstein wants to prevent that
Zureich is charging Hans Albert because of
Eduard]
In December 1948, the almost seventy-year-old had
undergone an operation. Now the acute danger seems
banned, the aneurysm in his abdomen is intact. But
he feels weak - "the machinery is not good
anymore" - and [p.71] more important than
ever it is for him to organize his future legacy.
"The only thing that matters to me," he writes to
his older son, who once again feels that he has
been over-privileged, is "to create clear
conditions before my death and possibly prevent
Tetel from being a burden on the state of Zurich",
therefore, it has to be hindered that the state of
Zurich could charge Hans Albert for payments one
time in future [276].
[276]
AE to Max Born, January 1949; AE to legal
guardian Meili, Jan.24, 1949, Hans Albert to
AE, Feb.21, 1949, AE to Hans Albert, March 2,
1949.
[Princeton: Einstein will stick to his
demands]
As soon as a few weeks after Mileva's death it was
clear that scarcely so much money would be left as
expected or hoped for, and now Albert Einstein had
hinted that he personally, as well as the
Corporation in favor of the sons, especially in
favor of Eduard, would refrain to their claims
against Mileva's estate. But as long as the "moral
justification" of the claims of third parties is
not clear and can harm the sons' heritage, he
wants to stick to his demands. He confirms this in
February 1949 one more time [277].
[277] AE to
legal guardian Meili, Feb.5, 1949.
[Zureich (Zurich): legal guardian Meili
negotiates with real estate broker Jacques
Widmer: the goal is to reduce the requirement
from 37 mils to 10 mils]
Disputed above all is the claim for more than
37,000 SFr by Jacques Widmer, whi is according to
lawyer Meyer a "reckless property broker" who has
acquired the loss certificate without a doubt for
a smaller amount, and he "certainly does not shy
away from funds, to enrich himself at the expense
of Prof. Einstein and the Corporation." [278]
[278]
Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan, March 28, 1949.
While legal guardian Meili now negotiates as the
heirs' representative with Jacques Widmer - lawyer
Meyer considers the reduction of Widmer's claim to
the sum of 10,000 SFr to be desirable, perhaps
even possible [279] - Albert endeavors to convince
his suspicious elder son of the legitimacy of his
procedure, and convincing him that all these sums
which are now claimed for himself patiently will
fall to the sons at the end: "You (Teddel and you)
would get the remainder of the money in any case."
[280]
[279]
Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan, March 24, 1949.
[280] AE to Hans Albert, March 2, 1949, April
5, 1949
[Berkeley: Hans Albert warns Einstein
to give him money for the own administration]
In 1932 the son, full of envy against the weak
and sick, to whom he saw himself prejudiced, had
accused his father of "not even to be worthy to
receive at least a modest memento of you after
your death". A good fifteen years later, Hans
Albert is choosing careful words and
prudent-sounding compromise proposals. But his old
anger on the still [p.72] almightily
omnipotent father [281] remains palpable:
"If
you put all the money in other people's hands,
and if that money were ever lost, I would
definitely not feel obliged to help Teddy
later on. But if you give me a chance to
manage some of the money myself, then of
course I will take the appropriate
responsibility." [282]
[281] s. R.Ettema / C.Mutel: Hans
Albert Einstein, p.219.
[282] Hans Albert to AE, March 6, 1949.
In April 1949, lawyer Meyer is solicitating the
priviliged position or at least the legality of
the "American" claim for the estate. Meyer
presents for this at the at the Guardianship
Authority and notary a detailed six-page affidavit
declaration and numerous excerpts of
correspondence between Mileva and representatives
of the Corporation [283].
[283]
Robert Meyer to Guardianship Authority, March
28, 1949; Otto Nathan to AE, April 5, 1949;
Otto Nathan to Robert Meyer, April 5, 1949;
Guardianship Authority to notary
Zurich-Fluntern, April 8, 1949; Robert Meyer
at notary of Zurich-Fluntern, April 11, 1949;
Otto Nathan to Robert Meyer, April 12, 1949;
Robert Meyer to Otto Nathan, April 14, 1949.
In the middle of September 1949, legal guardian
Meili has to apply for a second respite for
accepting or rejecting the legacy. Because after
all, Albert does not want to give up hope that the
promissory note holder will reduce his claim "to
an acceptable amount so that the matter can be
settled without judicial intervention during my
lifetime." [284]
[284]
Legal guardian Meili to Otto Nathan, Sep.9,
1949, AE to legal guardian Meili, Sep.16,
1949.
[Zurich, late September 1949: Jacques Widmer
reduces his demand from 37 mils to 15 mils]
Albert's steadfastness bears fruit. At the end of
September, Jacques Widmer agrees to waive further
claims against payment of 15,000 SFr.
"Thankfully," as Meili's final report is
expressing it, both - Hutten Street Realty
Corporation and Prof. Albert Einstein - are now
making an unconditional renunciation of their
claims. Thus, the passive surplus disappears; the
up to that time still "stray good" becomes an
active estate, which the two heirs can accept and
represent [285].
[285]
"Agreement" between the heirs and Jacques
Widmer, before October 20, 1949; Otto Nathan
to AE, Oct.8, 1949; AE to legal guardian
Meili, Oct.10, 1949; s. a. legal
guardian Meili to AE, Sep.23, 1949.
[Zureich: Further maneuvers by lawyer Meyer
for the Corporation and by legal guardian Meili
against creditors]
Lawyer Meyer now has the condition to apply for a
reduction of the tax debt. Guardian Meili,
meanwhile, is trying to persuade the remaining
creditors to reduce even their comparatively
insignificant claims in favor of his ward. He does
not want to exclude the fact that Hans Albert [p.73]
is givin in to the wish of his father and that the
"sums freed up by Prof. [Albert] Einstein's waiver
by a waiver of Dr. [Hans] Albert Einstein could
only pass to Eduard Einstein. "[286]
[286]
Legal guardian Meili to Otto Nathan, Sep. 23,
1949.
[Berkeley near San Francisco: Hans Albert
Einstein says that this Eduard has got enough
already - Einstein raises in his will the sum
for Eduard]
Albert considers his elder son less accommodating.
In the spring Hans Albert had wordily explained to
the father why he did not intend to renounce in
favor of his brother on a part of his inheritance.
Albert had come to the conclusion that he would
increase the amount made available to Eduard in
his own will. In October 1949 - the new version of
the will is in process - this sum is $ 10,000 [[in
those times 42,000 Swiss Francs]], nearly a third
more than guardian Meili had estimated in August.
Albert would be ready to surrender this sum at any
time beforehand, if this, together with his
maternal inheritance, could be used to "pay
Eduard's support" for the rest of his life without
financial state aid. [287]
[287]
Letter AE to legal guardian Meili, no date,
October 1949; s.a. AE to Otto Nathan, no date,
End of October 1949.
[March 20, 1950: legal guardian Meili
presents the liquidation and final billing
partition statement]
Finally, just a few days before the end of 1949,
all departments concerned with inheritance issues
issued the necessary authorizations and, according
to legal guardian Meili, the point was reached
where the money could be received [288]. It takes
two more months of skillful and patient
negotiations with the other creditors - the tax
authority, Mileva's doctor, a lawyer - and the
heir Hans Albert Einstein, before legal guardian
Meili can present his liquidation and divisional
bill on March 20, 1950 [289].
[288]
Legal guardian Meili to Otto Nathan, Dec.27,
1949.
[289] Otto Nathan, Dec.31, 1949; Robert Meyer
to Otto Nathan, Jan.26, 1950, Feb.27, 1950;
Otto Nathan to Robert Meyer, Feb.21, 1950;
Hans Albert to AE, Feb.2, 1950
10. With the distribution of the
money from Mileva's estate in 1950, the last
remnants of the Nobel Prize are shifted to the
hands of his children, as Albert had in project
in 1918
[Eduard ends up in a "family care"]
There is the suspicion but there is no indication
that the Municipal Welfare Office finally rejected
to handle the Eduard's matter ensuring him a
"proper" care until the end of his life against a
deposit of his legal guardian Meili which was
offered. Perhaps Meili did simply [p.74]
make further efforts about it when Eduard could be
released from Burghölzli to a family care and it
seemed not to be excluded that he could work for
example as a gardener's assistant making a part of
his living himself outside a care facility.
[Hans Albert must agree to the partition plan]
But there are data in the documents that Hans
Albert was giving in the partition of the estate
giving his brother an amount which was a little
bit higher - well, Hans Albert will have given in
grudgingly and at the last moment.
[Professor Hans Albert in Berkeley - with
30,000 Swiss francs from Mileva and money gifts
from Father Einstein]
[30,000 Swiss francs in 1949 are only
about 7,000 dollars].
Hans Albert's income as Professor of Hydraulic
Engineering at the University of Berkeley and as a
world-renowned consultant in the field of river
regulation fed his family. The 30,000 Swiss francs
he received from Mileva's estate in 1950 were a
welcome addition, as were the three-digit and
occasionally four-digit sums that Albert continued
to provide from time to time for his
grandchildren's education and vacations.
[Eduard may live on interest and with Einstein
money gifts]
The 40,000 Swiss francs given to Eduard were
invested in Swiss bonds by the Guardianship
Authority resulting in 60 to 80 SFr interest per
month. Together with the 350 SFr. which were given
by his father until his death all months this was
just enough to ensure Eduard's alimentation. Only
little amounts had to be taken from the capital
from time to time. When Albert Einstein died in
1955, Eduard's account hat almost 39,000 SFr. yet
from Mileva's estate. May be this amount can be
considered as a remainder of the Nobel Prize
money?
[1955: death of Einstein - legal guardian Meili
gets the inheritance for Eduard: $ 15,000 = then
$ 64,256.25]
With the death of the father ended the transfers
from Princeton and Eduard received the
testamentary sum defined for him of $ 15,000:
64,256.25 SFr. Legal guardian Meili now had to
organize Eduard's life with the good 100,000 SFr;
significant additional revenues were no longer
expected [290].
[290] In his
last years, Eduard received a tiny
double-digit disability pension; Margot
Einstein sent smaller sums for special
needs once or twice a year.
[1965: death of Eduard Einstein with about
67,000 Swiss francs of assets - Hans Albert in
Berkeley is unique heir]
Hans Albert's fear that he would one day have to
pay for the upkeep of his impoverished brother,
was not true. On the contrary: when he [[Eduard]]
died in the autumn of 1965, Eduard left behind
around SFr. 67,000. Unique heir was his brother.
After deduction of the inheritance tax and the
costs of burial and tombstone, Hans Albert was
awarded a [S.75] sum which generously
compensated him for the amount he paid after the
death of the mother had ceded to the needier
brother.
In this sum may have been included the last
remnants of the Nobel Prize, which Albert wanted
to reserve for his sons half a century earlier [p.76].
[Hans Albert died in 1973 because of a
stroke - web02].
11. Footnotes
Codes
Albert Einstein: AE
Mileva Einstein-Maric: Mileva
Hans Albert Einstein: Hans Albert
Eduard Einstein (Tete, Teddy): Eduard
Otto Nathan: Otto Nathan
Heinrich Zangger: Zangger
Georg Guggenheim: Guggenheim
Hutten Street Realty Corporation: Corporation
HuttRC
[[Dr.
jur Heinrich Meili, legal guardian of
Eduard and Mileva Einstein: HM]]
12. Sources
Almost all documents which are a base for this
work and with quotations are generally accessable
in the following archives:
-- Albert Einstein Archives, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
-- Central Library of Zurich (Zentralbibliothek
Zürich), handwriting department, estate of
Heinrich Zangger
-- Town's Archives of Zurich, documents of the
Guardianship Authority about Mileva
Einstein-Maric;
-- Documents of the Guardianship Authority about
Eduard Einstein
-- University of Iowa’s College of Engineering,
IIHR Hans Albert Einstein Papers
-- Many singular documents are as copies or carbon
copy or written copy in more than on of these
archives. And there are publication of documents
or partial documents here:
-- The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein,
Princeton University Press, 1987ff; vols. 5, 8, 9,
13, 14, 15 (until May 1927 inclusive); online: https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/
-- R. Schulmann (eds.): Congeniality. The
correspondence between Albert Einstein and
Heinrich Zangger. Zurich 2012
(original German: Seelenverwandtschaft. Der
Briefwechsel zwischen Albert Einstein und Heinrich
Zangger. Zürich 2012)
-- R Ettema, C. Mutel: Hans Albert Einstein. His
Life as a Pioneering Engineer. Reston, VA 2014
Therefore I resigned to archive signatures in the
footnotes.
Documents which are in Albert Einstein Archives
and which are the big majority of the sources used
by me, can be identified in the online catalogue http://www.alberteinstein.info/database.html
[p.77].
[S.78]
Max Planck Institute for the
History of Science: Preprints since 2014 (a full
list can be found at our website)
454 Klaus Geus and Mark Geller (eds.) Esoteric
Knowledge in Antiquity (TOPOI - Dahlem Seminar for
the History of Ancient Sciences Vol. II)
455 Carola Sachse Grundlagenforschung. Zur
Historisierung eines wissenschaftspolitischen
Ordnungsprinzips am Beispiel der
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (1945–1970)
456 David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann General
Relativity in the Context of Weimar Culture
457 F. Jamil Ragep From Tūn to Turun: The Twists
and Turns of the Ṭūsī-Couple
458 Pietro Daniel Omodeo Efemeridi e critica
all’astrologia tra filosofia naturale ed etica: La
contesa tra Benedetti e Altavilla nel tardo
Rinascimento torinese
459 Simone Mammola Il problema della grandezza
della terra e dell’acqua negli scritti di
Alessandro Piccolomini, Antonio Berga e G. B.
Benedetti e la progressiva dissoluzione della
cosmologia delle sfere elementari nel secondo ’500
460 Stefano Bordoni Unexpected Convergence between
Science and Philosophy: A debate on determinism in
France around 1880
461 Angelo Baracca Subalternity vs. Hegemony –
Cuba’s Unique Way of Overcoming Subalternity
through the Development of Science
462 Eric Hounshell & Daniel Midena
“Historicizing Big Data” Conference, MPIWG,
October 31 – November 2, 2013 (Report)
463 Dieter Suisky Emilie Du Châtelet und Leonhard
Euler über die Rolle von Hypothesen. Zur
nach-Newtonschen Entwicklung der Methodologie
464 Irina Tupikova Ptolemy’s Circumference of the
Earth (TOPOI - Towards a Historical Epistemology
of Space)
465 Irina Tupikova, Matthias Schemmel, Klaus Geus
Travelling along the Silk Road: A new
interpretation of Ptolemy’s coordinates
466 Fernando Vidal and Nélia Dias The Endangerment
Sensibility
467 Carl H. Meyer & Günter Schwarz The Theory
of Nuclear Explosives That Heisenberg Did not
Present to the German Military
468 William G. Boltz and Matthias Schemmel
Theoretical Reflections on Elementary Actions and
Instrumental Practices: The Example of the Mohist
Canon (TOPOI - Towards a Historical Epistemology
of Space)
469 Dominic Olariu The Misfortune of Philippus de
Lignamine’s Herbal or New Research Perspectives in
Herbal Illustrations From an Iconological Point of
View
470 Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart On the Development of
Nuclear Physics in Cuba
471 Manfred D. Laubichler and Jürgen Renn Extended
Evolution
472 John R. R. Christie Chemistry through the ‘Two
Revolutions’: Chemical Glasgow and its Chemical
Entrepreneurs, 1760-1860
473 Christoph Lehner, Helge Wendt Mechanik in der
Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes
474 N. Bulatovic, B. Saquet, M. Schlender, D.
Wintergrün, F. Sander Digital Scrapbook – can we
enable interlinked and recursive knowledge
equilibrium?
475 Dirk Wintergrün, Jürgen Renn, Roberto Lalli,
Manfred Laubichler, Matteo Valleriani Netzwerke
als Wissensspeicher
476 Wolfgang Lefèvre „Das Ende der
Naturgeschichte“ neu verhandelt
477 Martin Fechner Kommunikation von Wissenschaft
in der Neuzeit: Vom Labor in die Öffentlichkeit
478 Alexander Blum, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel
Experience and Representation in Modern Physics:
The
Reshaping of Space (TOPOI - Towards a Historical
Epistemology of Space)
479 Carola Sachse Die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft und
die Pugwash Conferences on Science and World
Affairs
(1955–1984)
480 Yvonne Fourès-Bruhat Existence theorem for
certain systems of nonlinear partial differential
equations
481 Thomas Morel, Giuditta Parolini, Cesare
Pastorino (eds.) The Making of Useful Knowledge [S.79]
482 Wolfgang Gebhardt Erich Kretschmann. The Life
of a Theoretical Physicist in Difficult Times
483 Elena Serrano Spreading the Revolution:
Guyton’s Fumigating Machine in Spain. Politics,
Technology, and Material Culture (1796–1808)
484 Jenny Bangham, Judith Kaplan (eds.)
Invisibility and Labour in the Human Sciences
485 Dieter Hoffman, Ingo Peschel (eds.) Man möchte
ja zu seinem Fach etwas beitragen
486 Elisabeth Hsu, Chee Han Lim Enskilment into
the Environment: the Yijin jing Worlds of Jin and
Qi
487 Jens Høyrup Archimedes: Knowledge and Lore
from Latin Antiquity to the Outgoing European
Renaissance
488 Jens Høyrup Otto Neugebauer and the
Exploration of Ancient Near Eastern Mathematics
489 Matteo Valleriani, Yifat-Sara Pearl, Liron Ben
Arzi (eds.) Images Don’t Lie(?)
490 Frank W. Stahnisch (ed.) Émigré Psychiatrists,
Psychologists, and Cognitive Scientists in North
America since the Second World War
491 María Sánchez Colina, Angelo Baracca, Carlos
Cabal Mirabal, Arbelio Pentón Madrigal, Jürgen
Renn, Helge Wendt (eds.) Historia de la física en
Cuba (siglo XX)
492 Matthias Schemmel Everyday Language and
Technical Terminology: Reflective Abstractions in
the Long-term History of Spatial Terms
493 Barbara Wolff „Derartige kolossale Opfer ...“
Der Nobelpreis für Physik für das Jahr 1921 – was
geschah mit dem Preisgeld? [S.80]
