Albert Einstein TLS Re: Helping Fellow Immigrant, A Female Student: "My friends abroad greatly
Albert Einstein
[Princeton, NJ], June 5, 1940
Albert Einstein TLS Re: Helping Fellow Immigrant, A Female Student: "My friends abroad greatly overestimate my ability to make an impact through influence in this country"
TLS
A 1p typed letter in German signed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), as "A. Einstein" at lower right. [Princeton, New Jersey]. June 5, 1940. On a single leaf of watermarked paper with Einstein's blind-stamped address on the letterhead as, "A. Einstein, / 112, Mercer Street. / Princeton, / New Jersey, U.S.A." Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds and a few extra wrinkles. Light toning along folds, else near fine and with crisp edges. 8.375" x 11." Accompanied by its original transmittal envelope, typed with Einstein's address on the back flap, postmarked from Princeton, New Jersey on June 6, 1940. Bearing a cancelled stamp and letter-opened at top.
Einstein wrote this letter to an unidentified young woman named Kate van Leeuwe, who was likely a university student, and possibly of Dutch heritage. Judging from the content of the letter, van Leeuwe appears to have solicited Einstein's help in obtaining permanent residence in the United States, with a probable view towards naturalization.
Einstein wrote, translated in part:
"June 5, 1940
Miss Kate van Leeuwe
214 Riverside Drive
New York City
Dear Miss van Leeuwe:
My friends abroad greatly overestimate my ability to make an impact through influence in this country. You should, above all, go to the International Student Service (8 West 40. Str.) to find out about the path you should take. In any case, you also need some personal recommendations apart from your certificates. I would be happy to give this, but I feel somewhat embarrassed because I don't know anything about you other than what is written in your letter [not included in this lot.] So if you want a personal recommendation, I ask you to send me any documents on which I can base such a recommendation with a clear conscience.
With best regards,
Yours,
A. Einstein."
In the letter, Einstein shows that he is more than willing to help, but also pointedly directs Miss van Leeuwe to consult with the branch of the International Student Service (I.S.S.) located in midtown Manhattan. The I.S.S. was a pro-democracy, anti-Nazi and anti-Communist organization dedicated to helping young people, specifically students, flee hostile conditions. The I.S.S. was formerly known as the European Student Relief Fund, a philanthropic organization that had helped students and faculty disrupted and displaced in post-World War I Europe. After 1933, the focus of the I.S.S. became student refugees leaving Germany and Nazi-controlled areas.
A February 1941 edition of the "I.S.S. Bulletin," the periodical published by the I.S.S. chapter in New York City, summarized the aims of the organization's Refugee Department thus: "By one central method the refugee department of I.S.S. carries out its two-fold task of serving European and American students. That method is the placing of refugee students in American colleges, a service valuable not only to those who wish to continue their own interrupted educations, but equally so to those American students who wish to share in the education of their European contemporaries. As the Bulletin goes to press, sixteen placements have been made for the second semester of the current academic year, and as many more are in process. The total for both semesters of the year 1940-1941 will probably be sixty students..." (p. 7). The I.S.S. placed hundreds of student refugees in the United States, but also in Holland, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom.
Einstein was somewhat of an expert about the subject of U.S. citizenship. He had lived in the United States continuously since June 1935, and filed his Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen in January 1936. His Petition for Naturalization was authorized just three weeks after writing this letter to Miss van Leeuwe, on June 22, 1940, and Einstein would be granted his U.S. citizenship on October 1, 1940. In addition to his personal knowledge of the process, Einstein was singularly well-placed to lobby for deserving individuals, despite his humble claims to the contrary in this letter. Einstein felt especially motivated to facilitate the immigration of European intellectuals, scientists, and doctors who were threatened by Nazism.
This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.
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8.375" x 11"
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Albert Einstein
[Princeton, NJ], June 5, 1940
Albert Einstein TLS Re: Helping Fellow Immigrant, A Female Student: "My friends abroad greatly overestimate my ability to make an impact through influence in this country"
TLS
A 1p typed letter in German signed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), as "A. Einstein" at lower right. [Princeton, New Jersey]. June 5, 1940. On a single leaf of watermarked paper with Einstein's blind-stamped address on the letterhead as, "A. Einstein, / 112, Mercer Street. / Princeton, / New Jersey, U.S.A." Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds and a few extra wrinkles. Light toning along folds, else near fine and with crisp edges. 8.375" x 11." Accompanied by its original transmittal envelope, typed with Einstein's address on the back flap, postmarked from Princeton, New Jersey on June 6, 1940. Bearing a cancelled stamp and letter-opened at top.
Einstein wrote this letter to an unidentified young woman named Kate van Leeuwe, who was likely a university student, and possibly of Dutch heritage. Judging from the content of the letter, van Leeuwe appears to have solicited Einstein's help in obtaining permanent residence in the United States, with a probable view towards naturalization.
Einstein wrote, translated in part:
"June 5, 1940
Miss Kate van Leeuwe
214 Riverside Drive
New York City
Dear Miss van Leeuwe:
My friends abroad greatly overestimate my ability to make an impact through influence in this country. You should, above all, go to the International Student Service (8 West 40. Str.) to find out about the path you should take. In any case, you also need some personal recommendations apart from your certificates. I would be happy to give this, but I feel somewhat embarrassed because I don't know anything about you other than what is written in your letter [not included in this lot.] So if you want a personal recommendation, I ask you to send me any documents on which I can base such a recommendation with a clear conscience.
With best regards,
Yours,
A. Einstein."
In the letter, Einstein shows that he is more than willing to help, but also pointedly directs Miss van Leeuwe to consult with the branch of the International Student Service (I.S.S.) located in midtown Manhattan. The I.S.S. was a pro-democracy, anti-Nazi and anti-Communist organization dedicated to helping young people, specifically students, flee hostile conditions. The I.S.S. was formerly known as the European Student Relief Fund, a philanthropic organization that had helped students and faculty disrupted and displaced in post-World War I Europe. After 1933, the focus of the I.S.S. became student refugees leaving Germany and Nazi-controlled areas.
A February 1941 edition of the "I.S.S. Bulletin," the periodical published by the I.S.S. chapter in New York City, summarized the aims of the organization's Refugee Department thus: "By one central method the refugee department of I.S.S. carries out its two-fold task of serving European and American students. That method is the placing of refugee students in American colleges, a service valuable not only to those who wish to continue their own interrupted educations, but equally so to those American students who wish to share in the education of their European contemporaries. As the Bulletin goes to press, sixteen placements have been made for the second semester of the current academic year, and as many more are in process. The total for both semesters of the year 1940-1941 will probably be sixty students..." (p. 7). The I.S.S. placed hundreds of student refugees in the United States, but also in Holland, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom.
Einstein was somewhat of an expert about the subject of U.S. citizenship. He had lived in the United States continuously since June 1935, and filed his Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen in January 1936. His Petition for Naturalization was authorized just three weeks after writing this letter to Miss van Leeuwe, on June 22, 1940, and Einstein would be granted his U.S. citizenship on October 1, 1940. In addition to his personal knowledge of the process, Einstein was singularly well-placed to lobby for deserving individuals, despite his humble claims to the contrary in this letter. Einstein felt especially motivated to facilitate the immigration of European intellectuals, scientists, and doctors who were threatened by Nazism.
This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.
WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!
8.375" x 11"
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
