Einstein (Albert)

Autograph letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Sir W.D. Ross, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from 1929 to1947 and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1941 to 1944, in German, translation reading " Prof. Zangger, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Zurich, asked me to make you aware of Prof. Stenzel in Kiel, who lost his position. He researches the history of science in ancient Greece and he is not in the position to contact you from Germany. The question is if there is a possibility to invite this gentleman to England or America as a guest lecturer. Professor Zangger writes that you are aware of Prof. Stenzel's research. You do not need to send an answer to me, as I can only act as a messenger in this matter. If there is a possibility, it is best to inform Prof. Zangger, especially as I will be soon travelling to America (Princeton)", one page, mild folding marks, light foxing, 4to, Cromer, 1 October 1933.

***Einstein fled from his native Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. The scientist, who was Jewish, arrived in England while a bounty had been put on his head by the Nazis who named him an enemy of the regime. Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, an MP and naval officer, had become politically anti-fascist in the lead up to the Second World War. Hearing that the world-famous scientist had received death threats from Nazi sympathisers in Belgium, Commander Locker-Lampson reached out to Einstein and offered him refuge at a camp on Roughton Heath near his home, Newhaven Court, in Cromer, North Norfolk. On October 17, 1933 Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa moved to the US and Albert took up a position at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey.

***Professor Julius Stenzel was a German classical philologist and philosopher. He l was a member of a disciplinary committee that expelled some Nazi students from the university in 1930 who had disturbed the service of the liberal theologian Otto Baumgarten . After the seizure of power of the National Socialists, Stenzel was denounced by a student and given a temporary leave of absence. Despite political rehabilitation, he was transferred to the University of Halle on November 1, 1933, on the basis of Section 5 of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service . Here he died two years later after a short, serious illness.