The Journey of Anna Eichenwald

by Donald Hunt

  The plan was to leave on a Friday evening after rehearsal and take only clothing they could pack. Erin had arranged to see Anna at her apartment the evening before their departure. The next evening they would board the train for France, catch a ferry and cross the English Channel. Anna knew this. For their last evening together, she prepared sandwiches and a pot of tea and waited for her friend to arrive for what could be their last visit together for some time.

  Erin showed up with her usual smile and an appetite. The conversation was light hearted and filled with laugher as they recalled their early years together - playing ‘dress-up’ and devising pranks to play on Erin’s older brother, Peter. One memorable day during high school biology class they chased a hamster in the school hallway for half an hour.

  “Erin, you would never touch your frog! I had to do all of your dissection.” “And that’s when I decided you were going to become a frog doctor,” Erin laughed.

  They lost track of time as good friends do. Finally, it was time for Erin to go. They two wrapped their arms around each other and could not stifle their tears.

  “Anna, God will take care of you. I have prayed that he will keep you safe.” Anna couldn’t speak. She knew the bond they had formed was a tightly wound mix of history, friendship, trust and deep love. Time and separation would never break it.

  Erin’s taxi pulled up.

  “I love you, Anna” she said quickly. “And I love you.”

  Anna watched from the window as the taxi pulled away. From the back of the vehicle, Erin stared up at the building searching for her friend. The silhouette of Anna’s face disappeared into the night.

  The following Saturday, Anna joined her parents for lunch at their home after Synagogue. She hoped to speak with her father about any plans he might have to deal with the political situation. She knew that many prominent members of his department had left, but he had decided to stay. Most Jewish lawyers had already been disbarred and many Jewish physicians had been dismissed from their hospital appointments. So far, no one had approached Anna about her position at the University. She had learned of the sad case of Heinz Moral, a Professor at the School of Dentistry. When he was dismissed from his teaching position, he committed suicide.

  Anna’s mother brought her a cup of tea. She thanked her and looked back at her father. She wanted to tell him about her experience after the surgery on the SS officer. “Do you remember the soldier who had the gunshot wound to the heart?” “Yes. Wasn’t that in January or February?”

  Anna nodded.

  “He had a critical injury with bleeding into the pericardial sac around his heart. He was near death but came through the surgery and had an uneventful recovery. The day he was discharged something odd happened. I got a call that afternoon to come to his floor. When I got there, two men in uniform were standing over by the nurse’s station. Dad, one of them was Hitler. I was stunned. He didn’t extend his hand but he said he wanted to thank me for saving his comrade’s life. He didn’t have any expression on his face…it was like he was looking through me. Then he just said, ‘you may go’ as if I was one of his officers. The whole thing was bizarre.” “What do you make of it?” her father asked.

  “I don’t really know. I think he wanted to see me…to see if I was a real person. But it was frightening…he was frightening…just staring at me.”

  Her father said nothing.

  “So you have not been contacted by anyone about your teaching and research position?” she asked. “I know that Lise was told she could no longer lecture but could continue her research with Dr. Hahn.”

  “I have not been contacted by anyone, nor has Otto Hahn. It’s almost as if I have been singled out as the one Jewish physicist they want to keep.”

  Hanz, like every Jewish professional, was deeply troubled by what was happening. But he felt relief that Lise was being allowed to stay and that he was able to continue his association with his friend and mentor, Max Planck. His decision was courageous given the fact that so many Jewish people were being excluded from the fabric of German society. This government position was codified with the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, also known as the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor. Under this statute, Jews fortified their citizenship, becoming ‘state subjects’ and were prohibited from marrying or having sexual relations with non-Jews. In spite of these egregious laws, Hanz felt that Jews had no future anywhere in Europe. He also did not believe the ancient Hebrew concept that a person’s suffering reflected his guilt in the eyes of God. This made no sense to him.

  One thing Hanz did appreciate was that there seemed to be no racial machination within the physics community. It was true that most, but not all of the members in the ‘physics club’ were Jewish. The subject of race had never come up and he could not remember ever having thought about it. Social issues were simply not discussed. Their focus was on science, such as the atomic nucleus and neutron bombardment of that nucleus. Bohr’s concept was that neutrons and protons were so closely packed that the nucleus would simply absorb any energy from bombardment. So he had no enthusiasm for tapping into that potentially enormous source of nuclear energy. Bohr’s close friend and colleague, Ernest Rutherford agreed and had called the idea “moonshine.” Hanz was not so certain. He was closely watching the progress of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn, who were delving into the complexities of uranium, the heaviest of all naturally occurring elements. It had been discovered late in the 18th century by a German chemist and was named after the then newly discovered planet, Uranus. Most uranium existed in the isotope form U-238, but a very small amount occurred as the isotope U-235, which seemed to be the form of uranium that could most likely be used in energy production. Hanz and other physicists were intrigued with the concept because of Einstein’s formula E = mc2, which stated that a very small mass could be converted to an enormous amount of energy.

  During the course of the pursuit of uranium bombardment, Lise Meitner’s status changed. In July, 1936, an agreement was reached between Austria and Germany. Germany would not interfere in Austrian affairs and in return, Austria would acknowledge being a ‘German State.’ Using backdoor diplomacy, Hitler gained assurances from Britain and Italy that they also would not oppose peaceful alternatives to the status of Austria. Then on February 12, 1938, a face to face meeting between Hitler and Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg provided the fireworks and intimidation that led to Germany’s total annexation of Austria. After exchanging pleasantries, Hitler began screaming at the Chancellor.

  “I have a historic mission and I am going to fulfill it because Providence has appointed me to do so,” he cried. “You certainly aren’t going to believe that you can delay me by so much as half an hour. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll turn up in Vienna overnight like a spring storm. Then you’ll see something.”

  The next day as the Chancellor was considering his position, Hitler began to mobilize troops along the Austrian border and the annexation was accomplished. This meant that like every Austrian, Lise Meitner was no longer considered an Austrian citizen. She was now German and the German anti-Semitic laws applied to her. She was trapped.

  Max von Laue, a theoretical physicist and friend of Lise’s, had heard that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, had issued a decree forbidding any further emigration of academic faculty. Von Laue contacted Lise who quickly concluded that she would soon lose her research position at the KWI and be vulnerable to the Nazis. She contacted colleagues in Holland for help. Her Austrian passport was now just a souvenir. If she left, it would be with no valid visa or passport. Her Dutch colleagues were able to persuade the government of Holland to accept her without documents.

  On July 16th, Dirk Coster, a Dutch colleague, traveled to Berlin to help her. She told friends she was going on holiday. Only Otto Hahn knew the truth. The two men spent that night helping her pack. Hahn gave her a very valuable diamond ring he had inherited from his mother for her to use in the event she
would need it. On Saturday morning she boarded the train with Coster. She was beginning to feel more comfortable until the train approached the border. At that point, Nazi military officials began checking all travel documents. Her invalid Austrian passport was taken. For 20 terrifying minutes, Lise sat frozen in her seat, her heart pounding in her chest. She was certain she would be arrested. Then suddenly an official approached her and handed the passport to her without a word. A few minutes later, the train passed into Holland and safety.

  Lise traveled to Copenhagen the following day for an emotional reunion with the Bohrs. Niels Bohr had found her a position in Stockholm and a Nobel foundation grant to support her.

  Three years before Lise left, a young German chemist named Fritz Strassmann had joined their team at the KWI. Now it was left to the two men to sort out all of the substances which might come from the bombardment of uranium. Hanz Eichenwald would also be involved as a technical consultant. Hahn tried to keep in touch with Lise about the work. She was safe, but in a strange country with a strange language. She had become depressed. A marvelous scientist who had spent more than 20 years working with Hahn, Lise was now alone.

  In his letter, dated December 19, 1938, Hahn related that he and Strassmann were spending sixteen-hour days in the lab. They were seeing something ‘very strange’ in the way of results. The substances from the uranium bombardment were expected to be isotopes of radium but had the characteristics of barium.

  Lise spent Christmas with her nephew, Otto Frisch, in the Swedish village of Kurgalv. He was working with Bohr in Copenhagen and took the ferry to Sweden. He was close to his aunt, especially since they both worked in the same field of nuclear physics. They discussed at length, the unusual results being reported by Hahn. On the day before Christmas, she and Frisch continued to discuss the ‘problem’ even though they were on holiday. If the large uranium nucleus were split into two smaller nuclei, combined, they would weigh less than the original one uranium nucleus. The ‘lost mass’ would be changed to energy. Lise had the packing fractions in her head and calculated the expected amount of released energy. They also determined that for every neutron absorbed, at least two neutrons were released.

  Lise turned to her nephew suddenly.

  “Otto, they have split the atom! Hahn and Strassmann have split the uranium nucleus and they don’t know it!”

  This incredible breakthrough in nuclear physics was not the only thing to celebrate. Two months previously, a German diplomat in Paris was killed by a Jewish teen and violent rioting in Germany had resulted. Thousands of Jewish men were arrested, and among them was Otto Frisch’s father. After returning to Copenhagen the first week in January, Frisch received a cablegram that his father had been released unharmed.

  Lise Meitner – theoretical physicist who worked with

  Otto Hahn on nuclear fission. – sketch by Delia Hunt

  Chapter 10

  Kristallnacht

  In March of 1935, the dominos would begin to fall for Europe and its millions of Jewish citizens. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forbidden to build a military of more than 100,000 men and also prohibited from having a General Staff. Joseph Gobbels, head of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, had been admonished never to allow the term “General Staff” to appear in print. But Germany was building a substantial Army as well as a Navy and an Air Force. Hitler gambled that Britain and France would not interfere. On March 16th, he announced a law establishing universal military service that would build a peacetime force of roughly half a million men. His gamble paid off. Britain and France protested with diplomatic posturing but took no action. The Versailles Treaty was dead. The following day, Sunday, there was great rejoicing across the country. Most Germans felt their honor had been restored. Two months later the Fuehrer followed up with a speech to the Reichstag assuring the world that the German people wanted only peace and understanding based on justice for all.

  At the end of World War I, a segment of German territory on the French border had been set up as a neutral demilitarized zone. This was done under an agreement called the Locarno Treaty. Now, twenty years later, France was divided by internal strife. Hitler deemed the French government to be impotent and seized the moment, brazenly moving troops into the neutral zone. Simultaneously, he made new proposals for peace. After this,he calmly declared that the Locarno Treaty was now invalid. By international law the French had every right to retaliate against the Germans, and Britain was obligated by treaty to support her. But both countries shied away from the risk of hostilities.

  It was a bold move by Hitler to parade three German battalions across the Rhine River bridges, and one that changed the strategic situation in Europe. But Hitler and Winston Churchill seemed to be the only two paying attention. For France, this was the beginning of the end. France possessed military superiority but would not stand up to German aggression. Later in the year, Hitler invited the Italians to join him, declaring privately to Mussolini that together they would conquer Europe, including England. In a speech in Milan in October, 1936, The Duce, as he was known, declared that Italy and Germany were the “Axis” around which the other European countries would revolve. England, France, nor the German people realized that Hitler’s singular goal was to prepare for yet another war.

  November 5, 1937, was a watershed moment for the Nazi Third Reich. A meeting was held in the nerve center of the Reich in the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin. Attending were six important individuals: Field Marshal von Blumberg, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; General Baron von Fritsch, Commander-in-Chief of the Army; Admiral Dr. Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; General Hermann Goering, Commander- in-Chief of the Air Force; Baron von Neurath, Foreign Minister, and Colonel Hessbach, adjutant to the Fuehrer. The meeting lasted just over four hours. As that fateful day darkened, Hitler made it clear to those in attendance that he had made an irrevocable decision. His goal - to persevere, make secure, and enlarge the German Aryan Race. It would be done in the heart of Europe, and it would be done with violent military aggression.

  There was dissent from three of the commanders, but their objections were unrelated to the immorality of the plan. Their concern was that the military was unprepared. Within three months the three commanders were replaced. Early in 1938, the bloodless annexation of Austria occurred, an event viewed as a ‘family affair’ by its neighboring countries. Austria was strategic to the Hitler war plan. Now the German military flanked Czechoslovakia on three sides, and Vienna, the communication and trading center for Central Europe, was in German hands – all without a shot being fired. Perhaps more important to Hitler was the demonstration once again that Britain and France did not have the will to oppose him.

  * * *

  On the first of January 1939, most notables in the world of physics were trying to grasp what Otto Hahn had accomplished, including Hahn himself. Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch had calculated the energy release from splitting a uranium atom to be about 200 million electron volts. They now had a better understanding of the energies involved, but the physics were still murky. Then on January 3rd, Frisch returned to Copenhagen. He explained the findings to Bohr, who struck his forehead.

  “What idiots we have all been! This is wonderful. This is as it should be!”

  A few days later, Frisch was describing his findings to an American biologist named William Arnold who was visiting Copenhagen for a year on a Rockefeller Fellowship.

  “What do you call the process of one bacterium dividing into two?” Frisch asked Arnold.

  “Binary fission,” Arnold replied.

  “Could you call this process of dividing uranium nucleus fission?” “Of course!” Arnold said, smiling.

  Later that month Meitner and her nephew published two papers in Nature on the disintegration of uranium by nuclear bombardment. The term “fission” was used in both articles.

  Amid the excitement of this discovery, a number of the w
orld’s most gifted physicists were leaving Europe because of the political unrest. Two of the most gifted were Szilard, the Hungarian who had worked in Berlin, and Enrico Fermi of Italy, whose wife Laura was Jewish. Both men were concerned that the potential for a nuclear weapon should be kept secret from the Germans. However, Fermi’s concern did not rise to the level of Szilard’s.

  At this time, many of the scientists were headed to the Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics, a conference patterned after Bohr’s annual meeting in Copenhagen. Szilard, Fermi, Teller and a number of others were preparing to take new jobs in the U.S. Fermi’s 1938 Nobel prize money had provided financial security for their move.

  “We have founded the American branch of the Fermi family,” he laughingly told his wife.

  Initially, there was elation within the world of physics. They had discovered what might be an endless source of energy. But the elation was short-lived. The dominos were falling in Germany. For the millions of Jewish citizens of Europe, it began with the sound of breaking glass – Kristallnacht.

  On November 7, a 17-year old German Jewish refugee in Paris shot and killed Ernst von Rath, the third secretary of the German Embassy. The teen’s father had been among the 10,000 Jews deported to Poland in box cars the previous week. Two days after the shooting, Goebbels issued instructions for “spontaneous demonstrations” to be carried out in the night. And it was indeed, a night of horror. Throughout Germany, 119 synagogues were set on fire along with Jewish homes and businesses. Men, women and children were shot trying to escape the flames. Thousands were arrested. There were cases of rape, crimes considered more egregious than murder, as they violated the Nuremberg racial laws forbidding sexual relations between German Aryans and Jews. By the time the sun came up, 800 Jewish businesses were destroyed and several thousand damaged. The cataclysm of November 9th was further multiplied when Hermann Goering met with a dozen cabinet ministers and determined that the State would confiscate all the insurance monies owed to the Jews for damages, and levy a collective fine of one billion marks for “the abominable crimes.”