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EINSTEIN HELPS AYOUNG PHYSICIST COMETO AMERICA
74
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(SCIENTISTS.) EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Group of 4 letters
Signed,“A. Einstein,” each to Helmut L. Bradt, in German, including an
Autograph Letter Signed, in green ink, and 3 Typed Letters Signed, con-
cerning his emigration from Switzerland to the United States, mostly
brief and enclosing copies of letters he has sent on his behalf [present].
Each
1
/
2
page, 4to, personal stationery except one on onion skin paper;
folds. Most with the original envelope, including one bearing Nazi cen-
sor ink stamps and cancelled on 21 November 1941.
Princeton or Saranac Lake, 1939-40
[10,000/15,000]
ALS, [1939]:“I see from your letter that you are a worthy son of your unforget-
table father.Your letters reveal a genuine love for research and at the same time a
sensible attitude toward life, in that you are preparing yourself for a practical voca-
tion without in the least forsaking your primary interests. So feel free to turn to
me whenever you think that I can do something for you.”
25 March 1939: “Prompted by a letter from your sister in Haifa, I am enclosing
a letter to the Swiss immigration authorities that will hopefully enable you to fin-
ish your studies in Switzerland. I am also sending you my affidavit, so that you
can emigrate to America later, when your turn comes. In the meantime, learn a
practical trade if possible, because it can be very hard . . . to find a teaching job here.”
WITH
—
Three retained or photostatic copies of letters from Einstein, unsigned, in
German, two to the American Consulate in Zürich, urging permission to allow
Bradt to emigrate or sending an affidavit on Bradt’s behalf; another to Dr.Albert
Ehrenstein in New York explaining that his request was denied by the Swiss
police to permit Bradt’s mother to enter Switzerland from Germany. Princeton or
Saranac Lake, 25 May; 26 July 1940; 19 February 1942 * Typed letter from
the American Consulate General to Bradt, in German, denying him a visa.
Zürich, 9 September 1940.
Helmut L. Bradt (1917-1950), born a Jewish German, managed to escape
Nazi Germany in 1934 by enrolling at E.T.H. Zürich, where he obtained a
doctorate in physics in 1939; he remained at E.T.H. until 1946, when he took
up a position at Purdue University in Indiana. In 1947, he secured a visiting
professorship of physics at the University of Rochester where he, with Morton F.
Kaplan, recorded photographic evidence of a new atomic particle: the neutral
meson. His father, Gustav Bradt, was a friend of Albert Einstein.