Berlin, 13 May 1917

Bewilderment at the behaviour of scientists during the war.

Einstein reports that the chemist Walther Nernst has lost two sons in the war: thinking no doubt of Nernst's contribution to research into poisonous gases, Einstein comments bitterly 'Is old Jehovah still alive? The mentality of these people is strange. I have had to unlearn how to hate'. Such is the conclusion of a letter on a number of personal subjects, including Einstein's determination to send his son Hans Albert to live with his sister, Maja, and a reference to the Austrian physicist and socialist politician Friedrich Adler (then being tried for the assassination of the Austrian prime minister, Stürgk), and their shared relations with Ernst Mach.

Einstein's doctor is absolutely insisting that he go for a water-cure in Tarasp (in the Engadine): 'I still can't get used to the idea that I must let my holidays be spoiled in this way'. Perhaps his friend Heinrich Zangger will save him, for which Einstein promises to 'do, avoid, quaff, etc. everything else that is unbelievable, in short to behave in a medically loyal and resigned way'. Zangger's worries bother Einstein very much: 'If he had my light-heartedness ['Wurstigkeit'] about human affairs, it would be less bad. What I like the least is the periostitis [an inflammation of the bone lining], compared to which colleagues etc are much more pleasant'. He cannot come to see Besso before July, because of professional obligations, and also because of 'a toe which I was clever enough to break'.