Einstein (30 page)

A Russian observer gave this description of the remarkable psychological situation in defeated Germany at that time:

“With the growing social misery there appeared among the intellectuals pessimistic currents of thought, ideas about the decline of Western culture, and, with the violence of a hurricane, religious movements. The extent of these movements must seem remarkable even to one who is acquainted with German intellectual life. The number of independent religious groups in Germany grew endless. World War invalids, merchants, officers, students, artists, all were seized by the desire to create a metaphysical basis for their view of the world.”

This flight from tragic reality into a dream world also increased the enthusiasm for Einstein’s theory, which occupied a special place because it appeared to the public that here a portion of the reality of the universe had been discovered by dreams.

In Soviet Russia people at this time were in the process of constructing a new social order on principles that were consciously opposed to the pessimistic ideas of the “declining” West. They renounced all idealistic dreams or at least believed that they were doing so. They wanted to dissociate themselves as completely as possible from the attitudes prevalent both in the defeated and in the victorious countries. Everywhere they looked for signs of “decline.” It was thought that such symptoms likewise evidenced themselves in the development of physical science. As early as 1922 A. Maximov, a leading exponent of Soviet Russian political philosophy who occupied himself especially with the physical sciences, wrote in the official philosophical journal of Soviet Russia in conjunction with the above description of German life:

“This idealistic atmosphere has surrounded and still surrounds the relativity theory. It is only natural, therefore, that the announcement of ‘general relativity’ by Einstein was received with delight by the
bourgeois intelligentsia. The impossibility within the limits of bourgeois society for the intellectuals to withdraw from these influences led to the circumstance that the relativity principle served exclusively religious and metaphysical tendencies.”

Here we note something of the feeling against Einstein that was to develop in some groups of the Soviet Union.

In this connection, however, it should not be forgotten that at the same time in Germany opinions were expressed characterizing Einstein’s theory as “Bolshevism in physics,” similar to those of the aforementioned American scientist. The rejection of Einstein’s theories by some prominent Soviet spokesmen did nothing to change these opinions. And since the Bolsheviks and the Jews were commonly regarded as somehow related, we are not surprised to find that the relativity theory soon began to be regarded as “Jewish” and capable of harming the German people. This hostile attitude toward Einstein emanated in Germany from those circles which ascribed the loss of the war to the “stab in the back” and not to the failure of the ruling classes.

For Einstein himself this intrusion of politics and nationalism into the judgment of his theories was completely astonishing — indeed, hardly comprehensible. For a long time he had hardly paid any attention to these things and had not even noticed many such attacks. But gradually complete absorption in the regularities of the universe began to be difficult for him. More and more the anarchy of the human world pushed into the foreground. With brutal force it slowly but surely laid claim to a greater or lesser part of his intellectual energy.

With the intense public interest aroused by the confirmation of his theory, Einstein ceased to be a man in whom only scientists were interested. Like a famous statesman, a victorious general, or a popular actor, he became a public figure. Einstein realized that the great fame that he had acquired placed a great responsibility upon him. He considered that it would be egoistic and conceited if he simply accepted the fact of his recognition and continued to work on his researches. He saw that the world was full of suffering, and he thought he knew some causes. He also saw that there were many people who pointed out these causes, but were not heeded because they were not prominent figures. Einstein realized that he himself was now a person whom the world listened, and consequently he felt it his duty to call attention to those sore spots and so help eradicate them. He did not think of working out a definite program, however, he did not feel within himself the calling to become a political, social, or religious reformer. He knew no more about such things than any other educated person. The advantage he possessed was that he could command public attention, and he was a man who was not afraid, if necessary, to stake his great reputation.

It was always clear to him that anyone venturing to express his opinion about political or social questions must emerge from the cloistered halls of science into the turmoil of the market place, and he must expect to be opposed with all the weapons common to the market place. Einstein accepted this situation as self-evident and included in the bargain. He also realized that many of his political opponents would also become his scientific opponents.

In the years immediately following the World War it was only natural that the main problem of all political reformers was the prevention of another such catastrophe. The obvious means to this goal were the cultivation of international conciliation,
struggle against economic need, for disarmament, and the emphatic rejection of all attempts to cultivate the militaristic spirit. The surest and indeed an infallible method of obtaining the desired end seemed to be the refusal of military service by the individual, the organization of “conscientious objectors” on a large scale. All these ideas appeared as obvious to Einstein as they did to so many others. Only he had more courage and more opportunity than others to advocate them. Einstein did not have the self-complacency with which scholars, especially in Germany, liked to retire into the ivory tower of science. But the means toward the goal appeared to him at that time, as to many thousands, much simpler and more certain than was later found to be the case.

Einstein’s political position, like that of all the intellectuals in the world, changed during the twenty years of armistice between the two World Wars, but he was never a member of any political party. Parties made use of his authority where they could do so, but he was never active in any group. This was due fundamentally to the fact that Einstein was never really interested in politics.

Only to very superficial judges does Einstein appear to be a genius so buried in his researches that he finds all his happiness in them without being influenced by the outside world. There are many more unresolved contradictions in Einstein’s character than one would believe at first glance, and these, as I have mentioned already, are due to the contrast between his intense social consciousness on the one hand and the aversion to entering into too intimate relations with his fellow men on the other.

This trait manifests itself above all in his attitude toward political groups, with which he has co-operated at times because he sympathized with some of their aims. There were always moments when it was extremely vexatious for him to be forced into actions and expressions of which he did not approve, and the moment always recurred when he developed antipathies to the representatives of the groups with which he sympathized. Moreover, he did not like to claim any special role for himself and so he sometimes participated in things that were actually not very much to his liking. When something of this sort happened, naturally he did not become any fonder of the people who had caused him to do so. As a result he impressed many people as a vacillatory supporter. He always stood first for what seemed valuable to him, but he was not ready to let himself be
influenced too much by party stereotypes and slogans. This was his attitude in his co-operation with the Zionists, pacifists, and socialists.

Einstein realized very well that everything has several aspects and that by supporting a good cause one must often help one that is less worthy. Many people who are essentially hypocrites seize upon such situations and refuse to participate in any good cause because of “moral scruples.” Such behavior was not Einstein’s way of acting. If the basic cause was good he was occasionally ready to take into the bargain a less worthy, secondary tendency. He was much too realistic and critical a thinker to believe that any movement conducted by human beings to attain human aims could be perfect.

He helped the Zionist movement, for instance, because he believed that it was of value in creating a feeling of self-respect among the Jews as a group and in providing a refuge for homeless Jews. He was well aware, however, that at the same time he was helping occasionally the development of nationalism and religious orthodoxy, both of which he disliked. He saw that at present no other instrument than a kind of nationalism was available to produce a feeling of self-respect in the rank and file of the Jewish community.

There were times, however, when the prospect of having his remarks interpreted falsely appeared so unpleasant to Einstein that he did not permit himself to be placed in a position where such a situation could develop. Einstein received repeated invitations to visit and lecture in Soviet Russia, especially during the early years of the development of her science, but he declined. Einstein realized that any friendly remark he might make to the country would be interpreted by the outside world as a sign that he was a Communist, and any critical remark would be taken by the Communists as a part of a capitalistic crusade against Russia.

After the war, when Germany’s defeat led to a collapse of the rule of the generals and the junkers, who had generally been regarded as the source of all prejudice, many people thought that the period of discrimination against the Jews was
now past. But actually the loss of power aroused a deep-seated feeling of anger in these classes. A human being is inconsolable over a catastrophe only so long as he believes its cause was due to his own inferiority. Consequently he tries to put the blame on someone else. Thus the supporters of the overthrown rulers spread the idea that the defeat had been caused not by military weakness, but by an internal revolt led by the Jews. The spread of this view caused a feeling of extreme hatred against the Jews in Germany. Such sentiments were very widespread even among the educated class, and they were all the more dangerous for the Jews because they were completely irrational. The Jews could not refute them by any arguments or escape the enmity by any change in their conduct.

Many of the Jews in Germany, however, did not understand this situation, and they made efforts to divert attention from themselves through various kinds of mimicry. In the mildest form, they tried to shift the blame for the defeat by putting it on the lack of patriotism among the Socialists Many went even further, emphasized a division among the Jews, and accused the “bad” group. The Jews who had been long resident in Germany ascribed all the inferior characteristics to the Jews who had immigrated from eastern Europe. Among them were included, depending on preference and momentary need, Jews from Poland, Russia, Rumania, Hungary, and sometimes even of Austria. When Hitler, who, as is well known, came from Austria, began his persecutions of the Jews, a Jewish professor at a German university said: “One cannot blame Hitler for his views about the Jews. He comes from Austria and he is right as far as the Jews there are concerned. If he had known the German Jews well, he would never have acquired such a poor opinion of us.” Such statements characterize in drastic fashion the feeling of some German Jews. This feeling was so bitterly resented by the eastern Jews that when Hitler began to persecute the German Jews, the reaction was not a united front of all Jews but often one regional group tried to put the blame for Hitler on other Jewish groups.

This lack of self-respect in the behavior of some German Jews made a mortifying impression on Einstein. Until then he had taken little interest in the condition of the Jews and had hardly realized the grave problems in their situation, but now he developed a deep sympathy for their position. Although Einstein had a certain aversion to Jewish orthodoxy, he looked upon the Jewish community as a group that was the bearer of a very valuable
tradition and that regarded intellectual values very highly. Hence, he saw with bitter feeling the Jewish community not only attacked by external enemies but also disintegrating inwardly. Einstein saw the Jews move deeper and deeper into a distorted psychological situation that could only produce a perverted mentality.

This profound sympathy aroused in him an ever increasing feeling of responsibility. As his fame grew, he gave the entire Jewish community the certainty that it was capable of producing a man with the creative intellectual power to formulate a theory of the universe recognized by the whole world as one of the greatest achievements of our time. Here was a refutation of the widespread opinion that truly creative intellectual powers are restricted to the Nordic-Aryan race.

During the World War, when the British government declared its willingness to support the development of a national home for the Jews in Palestine, the Zionist movement experienced a powerful revival in all countries. Its goal was to establish a Jewish state in the ancient historical homeland of the Jews in order to give the Jews of the entire world a national and cultural center. In the British promise they saw the first step toward this goal. It was hoped that the co-operation of all the Jews in the world would enable them to throw off the humiliating feeling that they alone among all people had no national home and were everywhere tolerated only as guests.

From the beginning Einstein had various doubts about the Zionist aims. He was not sympathetic to the strong nationalistic emphasis, and he saw no advantage in substituting a Jewish for German nationalism. He also realized the difficulties inherent in the Palestine plan. He thought the country was too small to receive all the Jewish immigrants who might want to settle in a national home, and he foresaw the clash between Jewish and Arab nationalism. Zionists often have tried to minimize the magnitude of these problems, but Einstein considered this due to wishful thinking.