by Donald Hunt
“Tell us about Berlin,” he said quietly.
Most of the scientists at the KWI were not political and Lise was no exception. But virtually all of them were deeply concerned with events occurring in the government. Things seemed to be spiraling, like an out of control fire, bearing the potential to bring great destruction. Yet millions of people were becoming willing participants in the conflagration.
Lise tried to gather her thoughts before she spoke.
“I am afraid for the country,” she finally said. “I am afraid for Einstein. I’m afraid of the Nazis. There is still wide spread unemployment and people are angry. The Nazis have gained strength with every election and now they control the legislature. Hitler has made Hermon Goering the Reichstag parliamentary chairman. Just five years ago this man was in a Swiss mental hospital. Now he’s running the legislature? As if that is not enough, they are sowing seeds of political hatred. They are blatantly showing contempt for the rule of law. Those brown-shirted ‘storm troopers’ are nothing more than street thugs. They fight with the communists almost on a nightly basis.”
“And what of Albert?” asked Margrethe.
“As we all know, Albert is an enigma. He dislikes publicity and yet he cannot help but create it. The Nationalists hate him and shout ‘Jew science’ when they see him in public. A group of right-wing activists rented the Philharmonic Hall to hear lectures against the ‘Einstein hoax’ and he showed up and taunted them! He is almost inviting trouble. Still, I know all of this hurts him. Someone in the crowd actually stood up and shouted “cut the throat of that dirty Jew.” Otto and I continue our work and it is going well. But I can tell you that many people are going to leave the country if the Nazis come to power.”
“So there is serious risk to his life?” asked Neils.
“Very much so. First of all, Albert is an outspoken pacifist. But the German people are in a violent mood. Another thing that concerns me is his involvement in Zionism….this is a subject that only stirs more anti-Semitism. You know he denounced his German citizenship once. And he’ll do it again. He’ll leave Germany.”
Lise paused. “Dear God, he must leave Germany!”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she wiped them away. “I don’t know what is to become of us.”
Neils moved to the sofa where she sat and placed his massive arm around her. He knew they would have to put her on the train back to Germany in the morning. With all of his brilliance, he was at a loss as to how to help her.
The train was almost empty when Lise boarded. It was Christmas Day and few people were traveling. The ‘uncertainty principle’ formulated by Werner Heisenberg, stated that an observer could determine either the position or the velocity of an electron but never both simultaneously. Now she faced her own uncertainty. Although a converted Christian, Lise was Jewish. She knew her position at the KWI would not be secure if the Nazis came to power.
Lise was adept at fragmenting her thoughts. Rather than focusing on her fears, she forced herself to concentrate on her work. She was excited to have Leo Szilard, a Hungarian theoretical physicist, working with her for a year. James Chadwick at Cambridge had just discovered the neutron, another component of the atomic nucleus. It had the same mass as a proton but no electrical charge. Already those in the field of nuclear physics were considering using the neutron to unlock the massive energy of the atomic nucleus. In his mind, Szilard had worked out a scenario in which a neutron could be used to split an atomic nucleus, thus releasing other neutrons. They would in turn, split more nuclei, causing a chain reaction. This could result in a massive release of energy….a bomb; A bomb capable of causing mass destruction.
The leading physicists of the day were skeptical. Rutherford described harnessing nuclear energy as ‘moonshine,’ and Einstein compared it to shooting in the dark at scarce birds. Szilard, who was Jewish, also worried about the changing political landscape in Germany. He had discussed the problem with an old friend from Hungary, chemist Michail Polanyi. “The Germans are too civilized to let the Nazis do anything really stupid,” said Polanyi.
But Szilard was not so sure.
Since the eclipse of 1919, when Einstein’s theory of General Relativity was proven true, he had been catapulted into an orbit of fame experienced by few other men in history. At the time, Arthur Eddington was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. Along with E.T.Cottingham, he made eclipse observations on Principe Island. The veracity of the complex theory hinged on proof that light was “bent” by gravity. In this case the gravity of the sun. Following his return to England at a dinner of the Royal Society, Eddington shared his eclipse experience with a parody of the Rubaiyat, using the final verse.
The Clock no question makes of Fasts or Slows, But steadily and with a constant Rate it goes. And Lo! The clouds are parting and the Sun
A crescent glimmering on the screen- It shows! It shows!
Five minutes, not a moment left to waste, Five minutes, for the picture to be traced – The stars are shinning, and coronal light
Streams from the Orb of Darkness – Oh make haste!
For in and out, above, about, below
‘Tis nothing but a magic Shadow show Played in a Box, whose Candle is the Sun Round which we phantom figures come and go.
Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate.
One thing at least is certain, LIGHT has WEIGHT One thing is certain, and the rest debate –
Light rays, when near the Sun, DO NOT GO STRAIGHT.
In the fall of 1932, Lise Meitner began seeing a crescendo of anti-Semitism and jealousy of Einstein. She was anxious to see him protected in some way and made an appointment to talk with him in his office. It was only a few days before he was to go to America’s Cal-Tech for a visiting professorship. All of the professional staff in the department referred to him as ‘prof.’ He was not only their leader and one of the great minds of modern science, but he was their mentor and friend. Lise pleaded her case.
“Prof…you know the Nazis are gaining strength. There is already so much jealousy of you. You surely understand that for some, you are a hated symbol and it is impossible for you to be above this battle.”
While she was pouring her heart out to him, he stood up and began to search his pockets for something. First he tried the side pockets of his jacket, then his trousers. They were the pockets of a school boy, containing bits of string, wads of paper, and a pen knife, cookie crumbs, bits of tobacco dropped from his pipe, an old train ticket and finally a card with shredded edges. Written on the card was a verse of a poem by Bert Leston Taylor which had been given him by a friend. He read it aloud.
“When men are calling one another names and making faces, and all the world’s a jangle and a jar, I meditate on interstellar space, and smoke a mild segar.’”
She buried her face in her hands and began to laugh. “You are impossible!”
He smiled at her.
“When do you think you and Otto will be ready to attempt bombarding a nucleus with neutrons?”
On his 50th birthday, in 1929, the Einsteins were presented a city-owned villa on the Havel River. It was to be known as the ‘Einstein house’ but the transfer of title never happened. Then he was promised a beautiful lakeside plot in the suburb of Caputh, near Potsdam, but that gift was also never received. There were clearly political factions working against anything that would bring honor to Germany’s most famous citizen. Finally, Einstein bought the property himself and built a villa using his own savings. This was especially pleasing to his wife Elsa, because it gave her a sense of security. Now in the fall of 1932, the world travelers were off to his teaching fellowship at Cal-tech in Pasadena. Privately he was devastated by the 1932 election results showing the Nazis gaining power. Several months earlier, Elsa had been given information that he had been targeted for assassination, much like his friend Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau, 10 years earlier. Without the
professor’s knowledge, she hired private bodyguards for him. As their taxi pulled away from their villa, he told Elsa to turn around.
“Take a good look at our villa before we leave this time,” he said. “Why?”
“Because it will be the last time you will see it!”
* * *
January is not the coldest winter month in Berlin, but it is usually the wettest. Anna Eichenwald knew this and always went out prepared with rain gear. Late Saturday afternoon, the first one in the new year, she found herself walking down Unter den Linden from her apartment to the main University campus. The street was crowded with trolley cars and traffic lights. In spite of this, Unter den Linden was a beautiful tree lined boulevard and Anna always enjoyed her walks. A cold mist was falling and she picked up her pace. She welcomed the break from the confinement of the hospital.
Anna was on her way to meet her friend, Lise Meitner. Despite the 20-year age difference, they had much in common. Both were exceptionally intelligent, loved music and believed politicians were fallacious. The two had met years earlier because Lise and Anna’s father Hanz were colleagues at the physics institute. Every few months they managed to carve out time from their busy schedules to have dinner together. Tonight was special because both were invited to Anna’s parents’ home. Lise had taken a taxi from her apartment at the KWI to the University. Then they would walk together down Neue Friedrich Strasse, past the stock exchange to the townhouse of Hanz and Marlene Eichenwald.
Lise’s taxi pulled up to the University administration building at almost the same time Anna was crossing the street to meet her.
“Anna!” Lise called out, in an uncharacteristically loud voice. After smiles and hugs, Anna took Lise’s hand.
“How have you been? It’s so good to see you.”
“I’m well,” said Lise. “And very rested! I spent Christmas with the Bohrs in Copenhagen and it was delightful. They are such wonderful people. What about you? How is the world of surgery?”
“Well, pretty much the same. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted!”
The two were happy to be spending time together again; Anna because she had great admiration for this woman of science, and Lise because being with Anna seemed to take her back in time. With Anna, Lise could forget that she was 52-years old.
They slowed their pace as the cold mist put a refreshing coat of moisture on their faces. They needed this time to catch-up and break away from the tedium in their lives. It had been more than three months since their last visit.
The Eichenwald’s townhouse was an old structure with character. It was a grey stone building with an elevated first floor. The stairway up from the street was framed with large Doric columns. A family crest carved from the same grey stone rested above the massive oak front doors. The building had been constructed in 1848 and the original owners had occupied it for almost 60 years. The Eichenwalds were the third owners of record. A three story home with a basement, the main living area was on the first floor with a bedroom and sitting room on the second floor. The top floor held a third bedroom and study. Each floor was built with a dark, rich oak, as was the massive stairway leading to the second level. The ceilings of the first level were 12 feet in height, giving the home a palatial feel.
Marlene was anxious to see her guests and opened the door before they had reached the top stair. Hanz was right behind her, entering the front room just as the two women did. There were warm greetings and a convivial atmosphere matched by the glow of a blazing fire in the large, front room. Hanz handed each woman a glass of brandy and received via Lise, greetings from their friend Niels Bohr. Hanz had always found it interesting that in the European physics ‘club’ there was indeed, competition - but no professional jealousy. The conversation remained light hearted throughout the evening. And even though it was still three months away, the upcoming concert of Arthur Schnabel, to repeat his cycle of thirty-two Beethoven Sonatas, was discussed at length. This was to be the first nation-wide radio broadcast of a concert. Radio was new and had become wide spread in Germany. With the gradual improvement of the economy, there were hopes the Berlin Theater could be revived, although many stars like Greta Garbo had left Germany for the U. S. or England. The Theater offered great escape from pressures of work and life. These four would welcome it back to society.
In time, the mood of the evening became more somber. Hanz had little interest in politics, but he did have a deep devotion to his country and paid close attention to political news. After the dinner plates were cleared he moved his chair away from the table.
“The most recent moves by Chancellor Papen may prove to be disastrous,” he said. Papen had dissolved the Reichstag and lifted the ban on the Nazi storm troopers. Hanz continued.
“I think it is possible the Nazis might try to take the government by force. They are desperate for power, and I do not believe they will be able to gain control democratically.” He looked directly at the women.
“Hitler hates us. And he hates us only because we are Jews. In Mein Kampf, he wrote ‘the personification of Satan as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of a Jew.’”
The weight of those words hung in the air. The group, gathered around the table, sat quietly and tried to absorb the impact of what it would mean for this maniac to be running their country. And yet thousands, possibly millions of Germans saw him as the person who would bring Germany back to prominence or even dominance in the world.
Lise asked a rhetorical question intended for Hanz. But she looked at Anna when she spoke.
“Would we all lose our appointments at the Institute?” Hanz’ response was both sensible and laconic.
“All of the leading physicists at the KWI are Jews.”
Hanz, now becoming a world leader in the field of quantum mechanics was unaware that the world’s most original physicist had decided to leave German soil and would not return. Indeed, two months after this dinner at the Eichenwalds, Einstein renounced his German citizenship for a second and final time.
Beryl Nussbaum was a distinguished 80-year old Rabbi who had immigrated to Germany in 1901, the year Anna was born. Over the years she had spent at least a dozen afternoons with him after Synagogue discussing Jewish history. On several occasions she had asked about his understanding of the problem of anti-Semitism. Most of her life Anna had been sparred overt hostility, but she was well aware of what was lying just beneath the surface. She recalled with ease the stories the Rabbi had shared with her, beginning with the Torah and the Prophets.
“Rabbi Nussbaum always explained that the stories of our forefathers in the Torah center on our covenant relationship with God. Initially it was unconditional, between Yahweh (Jehovah) and our patriarch Abraham. God promised to make Abraham and his descendants a great nation. God directed Abraham to the land of Canaan, which today is modern Palestine, and said ‘to your offspring I will give this land.’ After our people were delivered from bondage in Egypt, they traveled to Canaan and remained there until 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Hundreds of years earlier, Moses was assured by God that if our people remained faithful to him, we would be his ‘treasured possession.’ But we have not remained faithful and I fear that once again God will abandon us.
In the middle ages, through the influence of the Church, the Jews were expelled - first from England, then Normandy and finally France. But they flourished in Eastern Europe. This was especially true in Germany, a region of multiple sovereignties and one from which they could not be expelled. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Jews began once again to flourish. They became merchants, bankers, university graduates and leaders in academic society. Now it seems they could be, once again, subjects of extreme persecution.”
Anna paused a moment, wondering if she should continue. But she was unable to do anything but pursue her thoughts.
“Rabbi Nussbaum stressed that in ancient Israel it was indisputa
ble that God was almighty, perfectly just, and that no human was completely innocent in his sight. But there were many upright. Nonetheless some of the upright underwent suffering. Their suffering was not pleasing to God. In time, the people returned to their covenant relationship with God. So in a sense he used the suffering for the good of his people.
There were times when those who were governing the Jews attempted to destroy all copies of the Torah and the Prophets. Multiple times our people were taken into captivity and cut off from the Temple. During those times we turned back to God and Synagogue worship. During one of those times the prophet Jeremiah spoke for the Lord saying, ‘I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and give you a future. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, and I will bring you back to the land which I promised you.’”
Lise looked intently at Anna, her brow furroughed. Being a Christian, she saw the problem from a different perspective. She believed God was pursuing the Jewish people - not persecuting them; that God desired them to know him and trust him. She knew there were times when many of her people had turned their backs on Jehovah. She knew this because she was a Jew.
“These times may be difficult, extremely difficult. There is no way to predict what might happen. In the end our scholarship and positions of influence, important to this country, may not save us.”
Marlene searched for the hand of her husband. She was thinking of their lives together, their exceptional daughter, and Hanz’s academic influence in Europe. Their world could come crashing down simply because they were Jews. The room remained still. The only sound was the crackling of flames from the fireplace in the next room.
* * *
The intellectual giants of the universities, institutes and the arts had little or no understanding of the dark side of Berlin. Salka Jenschke was a Polish girl of 22, who had come to Berlin hoping to land a job in theater. She had come with enough money to live for a few weeks and was sure she could get some bit parts and hopefully be noticed by a producer or director. She was pretty in an ordinary sort of way. When she auditioned, she was noticed more for her figure than her acting abilities. As a result, by the end of her first two months she had no job, no money and no prospects. In desperation she became a topless waitress in a cabaret a block from the famous Aldon Hotel on Unter den Linden. It didn’t take her long to overcome her anxiety over being bare breasted in front of leering strangers. She even began to realize she was being admired by both the men and some of the women escorting the men. Soon she realized she could earn much more than her wages in tips – so she registered as a prostitute. Salka was intelligent and made herself available at only certain times of the month, and only with men staying at the Hotel Aldon. Occasionally she would accompany a man and his female companion, but of course for more money.