"Albert Einstein. The world as I see it (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

put the intellectuals of all the nations, who were isolated by the war, into
touch with each other. It is a difficult task; for it has, alas, to be
admitted that-at least in the countries with which I am most closely
acquainted-the artists and men of learning are governed by narrowly
nationalist feelings to a far greater extent than the men of affairs.

Hitherto this Commission has met twice a year. To make its efforts more
effective, the French Government has decided to create and maintain a
permanent Institute for intellectual co-operation, which is just now to be
opened. It is a generous act on the part of the French nation and deserves
the thanks of all.

It is an easy and grateful task to rejoice and praise and say nothing
about the things one regrets or disapproves of. But honesty alone can help
our work forward, so I will not shrink from combining criticism with this
greeting to the new-born child.

I have daily occasion for observing that the greatest obstacle which
the work of our Commission has to encounter is the lack of confidence in its
political impartiality. Everything must be done to strengthen that
confidence and everything avoided that might harm it.

When, therefore, the French Government sets up and maintains an
Institute out of public funds in Paris as a permanent organ of the
Commission, with a Frenchman as its Director, the outside observer can
hardly avoid the impression that French influence predominates in the
Commission. This impression is further strengthened by the fact that so far
a Frenchman has also been chairman of the Commission itself. Although the
individuals in question are men of the highest reputation, liked and
respected everywhere, nevertheless the impression remains.

Dixi et salvavi animam naeam. I hope with all my heart that the new
Institute, by constant interaction with the Commission, will succeed in
promoting their common ends and winning the confidence and recognition of
intellectual workers all over the world.


A Farewell

A letter to the German Secretary of the League of Nations

Dear Herr Dufour-Feronce,

Your kind letter must not go unanswered, otherwise you may get
a mistaken notion of my attitude. The grounds for my resolve to
go to Geneva no more are as follows: Experience has,
unhappily, taught me that the Commission, taken as a whole,
stands for no serious determination to make real progress with
the task of improving international relations. It looks to me far
more like an embodiment of the principle ut aliquid fieri