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

was enough for a man to have freed himself to some extent from personal
egotism to make him a valuable member of society, to-day he must also be
required to overcome national and class egotism. Only if he reaches those
heights can he contribute towards improving the lot of humanity.

As regards this most important need of the age the inhabitants of a
small State are better placed than those of a great Power, since the latter
are exposed, both in politics and economics, to the temptation to gain their
ends by brute force. The agreement between Holland and Belgium, which is the
only bright spot in European affairs during the last few years, encourages
one to hope that the small nations will play a leading part in the attempt
to liberate the world from the degrading yoke of militarism through the
renunciation of the individual country's unlimited right of
self-determination.

III


Germany 1933

Manifesto

As long as I have any choice, I will only stay in a country where
political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law
are the rule. Political liberty implies liberty to express one's political
views orally and in writing, toleration, respect for any and every
individual opinion.

These conditions do not obtain in Germany at the present time. Those
who have done most for the cause of international understanding, among them
some of the leading artists, are being persecuted there.

Any social organism can become psychically distempered just as any
individual can, especially in times of difficulty. Nations usually survive
these distempers. I hope that healthy conditions will soon supervene in
Germany, and that in future her great men like Kant and Goethe will not
merely be commemorated from time to time, but that the principles which they
inculcated will also prevail in public life and in the general
consciousness.

March, 1933.

Correspondence with the Prussian Academy of Sciences

The following correspondence is here published for the first time in
its authentic and complete form. The version published in German newspapers
was for the most part incorrect, important sentences being omitted.

The Academy's declaration of April I, 1933, against Einstein.