The BBC revealed this week that Albert Einstein's immigration documents from 1933 when he fled Nazi Germany were discovered. They are now on display for the first time at the Liverpool Museum
The BBC revealed this week that Albert Einstein's immigration documents from 1933 when he fled Nazi Germany were discovered. They are now on display for the first time at the Liverpool Museum.
The Jewish scientist fled Germany after Hitler labeled him an enemy of the regime. Einstein was a professor at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin starting in 1914. When Hitler came to power in Germany he began to oppress the Jews and Einstein resigned from his post. Einstein came to the United States after spending some time under security in England.
Einstein's immigration card, which he received when he arrived by ship to Dover in England, was discovered at the airport. It is now on display at the Merseyside Martyrs Museum in Liverpool.
The card, signed by Einstein himself records his arrival from Ostend in Belgium on May 26, 1933. It states his profession, "Professor" and his nationality "Swiss".
Dover's immigration official's stamp on Einstein's disembarkation card. Here
At the time when Einstein arrived in England, the boarding passes from the ship were filled out by the passenger himself who arrived on English soil. And so Einstein filled his nationality himself.
The other side of the immigration card states that Einstein's destination was Oxford. On June 10, 1933, Einstein gave his famous Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford University, "On the Methods of Theoretical Physics." It was the first time he lectured in English, when he read from the page, which was a ready translation from German to English. Until then he mostly lectured in German and sometimes in French.
Lucy Gardner, Assistant Curator of the Borders and Customs Gallery at the Merseyside Martyrs Museum tells how the card was discovered: "We didn't know this arrival card even existed until we visited the offices of the English Border Agency with the permit. We were looking for documents related to immigration, but we were amazed to discover papers related to such an important figure as Albert Einstein."
Gardner added that Einstein's immigration card reveals his feelings about his country's government. "What is amazing is that the drop-off card bears his signature, has his profession 'Professor' on it and indicates his nationality 'Swiss'. It shows how Einstein renounced his German citizenship only weeks earlier as a reaction and anger to the Nazi policies."
The famous playwright Bertolt Brecht wrote a short poem in response to the Germans who persecuted the theory of relativity and the Jewish Einstein:
Here come the gentlemen researchers
Bearded Fake Teutons
Full of looks of fear under the glass
They do not strive for the truth
Only after Harry they chase
After original German physics
On the same topic on the science website:
On the same subject:
- The Hebrew University's royalties from Einstein's intellectual property rights - 10 million dollars in 8 years
- Diaries from Einstein's early days have been discovered
- The Hebrew University reveals all of Einstein's writings on the Internet
- 1905: Einstein's wonderful year
- Save Einstein
5 תגובות
This is what the Liverpool Museum and the BBC reported about their country at the time and I wrote what they reported.
Apparently today everything is computerized... and they wanted to say (to Obama of course) that they are more advanced.
And that's because today when you arrive in Britain you still pay in bills with the Queen of Great Britain and not in euros... 😉
I don't understand what the wonder is about in the article "At the time when Einstein arrived in England, the boarding passes from the ship were filled out by the passenger himself who arrived on English soil. "
Even today, when you fly to the USA, you fill out the immigration card by hand... well, 70 years have passed.
Most entertaining! 🙂
But you didn't understand the idea of the article!
The idea is that the immigration card contains historical information. It's not from Einstein's handkerchief, which is found and sold at auction, like Elvis Presley's chewing gum is sold.
On the card, Einstein wrote in his handwriting his profession and his nationality, and he wrote only Swiss and not German. Until then he held two dual citizenships, German and Swiss. When he received the Nobel Prize in Physics about a decade earlier, he was on a trip to the East and he could not come and receive the prize. The ambassador of his country had to come to collect the award. So the German and Swiss ambassadors argued among themselves who would come to take the prize. And in the end the German ambassador took the prize.
But actually according to what Einstein filled in the card the Swiss ambassador should have come and receive the award and also according to the Nobel Prize he should have come and received the award, because the photovoltaic effect was discovered in Bern!
Paparazzi:
This is a scientific tabloid, there is no room for news about Justin Bieber.
(When you have news about Einstein's handkerchief, then you will have room for a cover story)
The handkerchief Justin Bieber used to blow his nose when he came to Israel was discovered!!!