Albert Einstein Advises a Young Refugee From Germany, Then Controlled By What He Called "The Hitler Gang"

At first the problem was difficult, then daunting, then insoluble: Hitler wanted the Jews out of Germany, but he would not let them leave. By 1933, those Jews wishing to emigrate had to pay an exorbitant exit fee, and if lucky, could take half their money with them. By 1939, they were lucky if they could take 4% of their savings – their property already having been confiscated, and their right to earn a living forbidden, by the Nazis. Those who could afford to leave, had next to gather affidavits, sponsors, certificates, and visas, that they might meet foreign quota requirements of age, skills, health, and relatives abroad. It was at this point that luck, for many, ran out: for even with the endless paperwork and bureaucracy, it was difficult, daunting and then almost impossible, to find a country which would allow a Jew to enter. This, then, was the refugee problem Einstein set out to solve when, after the advent of Hitler in ‘33, he declared he would not set foot on German soil again. Anyone who asked for his help in escaping Nazism, got it – and more, as this letter to a young German émigré to Los Angeles, reveals…
 
Here Einstein, like a fond uncle, encourages “Miss Inge” – whom he apparently had known in Germany – to have faith that her economic condition will improve, that her badly-behaving relatives aren’t really so bad and that California, where she now lives, is a wonderful place to be: a lot more opportunity for her than in Palestine – or Europe, from which little good is likely. Distance, Einstein reminds her, is always rosy – so long, that is, as it doesn’t involve anything as repulsive as “The Hitler Gang.” And finally, if there is anything more he can do for her… a reference from him every now and then… just let him know, right away…

Typed Letter Signed (“A. Einstein”), in German, 1 page, quarto, Princeton, New Jersey, March 18, 1935. To Miss Inge Stern in Los Angeles.