Einstein, Albert. (1879 - 1955)

"Mein Weltbild" ["The World As I See It"] - Signed "Two Years After The Fall Of The German Goyim"

Amsterdam: Querdio Verlag. 1934. First Edition.

German edition of "Mein Weltbild" or "The World As I See It," signed and inscribed by Einstein on the front free endpaper, in German (translated): "Two years after the Fall of the German Goyim. Kindly granted  / Albert Einstein 1935." The recipient's name has been clipped out. Several diagrams and tables throughout. Black cloth-covered boards with gilt titling on the front cover. Printed in German. With light wear and dampstaining to the covers. Slightly cocked. Light toning and foxing throughout internal pages and edges. Boldly signed.

Einstein's inscription being dated 1935 is a patent reference to Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, and his use of the term "Sündenfall" meaning "the Fall of Adam" or the "Fall of man", referencing Genesis, chapters 1-3 in which Adam and Eve went from innocence to guilty disobedience, supports this. "Goyim" is technically a disparaging Yiddish and Hebrew term for non-Jews, though in some cases may be used in a non-pejorative sense. Still, the inscription is a charged one, and perhaps for this reason, the recipient at some point chose to remove their name from the book.

Albert Einstein had been on a visit to the United States when he learned that in February and March of 1933 the Gestapo had conducted numerous raids on his apartment in Berlin. He realized that he would be unable to return to Germany due to the rise of the Nazism and formally renounced his German citizenship on March 28, 1933. He and his wife Elsa sought asylum in Belgium and England before ultimately settling in the United States.  Composed of assorted articles, addresses, letters, interviews and pronouncements, "Mein Weltbild" includes Einstein's opinions on the meaning of life, ethics, science, society, religion, and politics. According to the preface of the first English edition, "Albert Einstein believes in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutual helpfulness, and in the high mission of science. This book is intended as a plea for this belief at a time which compels every one of us to overhaul his mental attitude and his ideas."

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