Jews had no other means of self defense other than their solidarity, Albert Einstein wrote in a 1939 letter to the owner of a New York button company.
In his letter, he warned of the persecution of Jews by the Nazi party of Germany.
“We have no other means of self-defense than our solidarity and our knowledge that the cause for which we are suffering is a momentous and sacred cause,” Mr. Einstein wrote to Hyman Zinn on June 10, 1939, about 3 months prior to the commencement of hostilities in Europe.
The Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
A native German, Mr. Einstein renounced his citizenship in 1933 when Adolph Hitler seized power. He then moved to the United States.
He praised Mr. Zinn's “splendid work” on behalf of refugees who escaped the Nazi's intentions to take their lives, calling the threat a “calamitous peril.” He thanked the merchant for “leading them toward a better future.”
A California auction house sold the letter to an anonymous purchaser who paid $14,000 for the typewritten document, which Mr. Einstein signed by hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment