504 APPENDICES'the hope that also Switzerland, which during many years provided the scholar a
home and opportunities to work, will participate in this joy' [L2].
Nadolny's report to the Foreign Office in Berlin, sent two days later, shows that
he had conscientiously coped with a problem in international relations. In Novem-
ber he had been asked by the Swedish Academy to represent Einstein. Next the
Swiss ambassador had asked for clarification since, to his knowledge, Einstein was
a Swiss citizen. On December 1, Nadolny cabled the University of Berlin for
information. On December 4 he received a telegram from the Prussian Academy:
'Antwort: Einstein ist Reichsdeutscher.' On December 11 the Foreign Office
informed him that Einstein was Swiss. On January 13, 1923, the Prussian Acad-
emy informed the Kultusministerium in Berlin that on May 4,1920, Einstein had
taken the oath as a state official and was therefore German, since only Germans
can be state officials. The protocol of the Prussian Academy of January 18 quotes
the legal opinion that Einstein was a German citizen but that his Swiss citizenship
was not thereby invalidated. On February 15 the Prussian Academy informed
Einstein of this ruling. On March 24 Einstein wrote to the Prussian Academy
that he had made no change in citizenship status as a condition for his position in
Berlin. On June 19 Einstein called in person on Ministerialrat Rottenburg and
reiterated his position, noting that he traveled on a Swiss passport. A note on this
visit, prepared by Einstein on February 7, 1924, for inclusion in the Acta of the
Prussian Academy reads in part, '[R.] was of the decided opinion that my appoint-
ment to the Akademie implies that I have acquired Prussian citizenship, since the
opposite opinion cannot be maintained on the basis of the Acta. I have no objec-
tions to this view.'* Meanwhile, on April 6, 1923 Use Einstein had written to the
Nobel Foundation in Stockholm that Professsor Einstein would appreciate it if the
medal and diploma could be sent to him in Berlin, adding that if this were to be
done via diplomatic channels 'The Swiss Embassy should be considered, since Pro-
fessor Einstein is a Swiss citizen' [El]. The end of the affair came when Baron
Ramel, the Swedish ambassador to Germany, called on Einstein in Berlin and
handed him his insignia.
In March 1923 Svante Arrhenius, one of the Committee members, wrote to
Einstein suggesting that the latter not wait until December for his visit to Sweden
but that he come in July. He could then attend a meeting of the Scandinavian
Society of Science in Goteborg on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the
founding of that city. Arrhenius left to Einstein the choice of topic for a general
lecture, 'but it is certain that one would be most grateful for a lecture about your
relativity theory' [A2]. Einstein replied that he was agreeable to this suggestion,
though he would have preferred to speak on unified field theory [E2]. On a very
hot day in July, Einstein, dressed in black redingote, addressed an audience of
about two thousand in the Jubilee Hall in Goteborg on 'basic ideas and problems
of the theory of relativity' [E3]. King Gustav V, who was present, had a pleasant
*A11 official documents pertaining to this affair are reproduced in [Kl].