314 THE LATER JOURNEYan intellectual theory [N8]. In the early years, one of his main ideals was the
establishment of a United States of Europe. For that reason, he had become an
active member of the Bund Neues Vaterland (later renamed the German League
for Human Rights), an organization that had advocated European union since its
founding in 1914; in 1928 he joined its board of directors. In 1923 he helped found
the Freunde des Neuen Russland [K6]. Though mainly interested in cultural
exchanges, this group did not fail to interest the police [K7]. In the late 1920s, his
pacifism became more drastic as he began expressing himself in favor of the prin-
ciple of unconditionally refusing to bear arms. Among the numerous manifestos
he signed were several that demanded universal and total disarmament. In a mes-
sage to a meeting of War Resisters' International in 1931, he expressed the opin-
ion that the people should take the issue of disarmament out of the hands of pol-
iticians and diplomats [N9].
Writing to Hadamard, Einstein remarked that he would not dare to preach his
creed of war resistance to a native African tribe, 'for the patient would have died
long before the cure could have been of any help to him' [E40]. It took him rather
a long time to diagnose the seriousness of Europe's ailments. (In this regard, he
was no rare exception.) It is true that in 1932 he signed an appeal to the Socialist
and Communist parties in Germany, urging them to join forces in order to stave
off Germany's 'terrible danger of becoming Fascist' [K8], but as late as May 1933,
three months after Hitler came to power, Einstein still held to an unqualified
antimilitarist position. Thereafter he changed his mind, as will be described in
Section 25b.
Einstein's active interest in the fate of the Jews also began in the Berlin period.
To him this concern was never at variance with his supranational ideals. In
October 1919 he wrote to the physicist Paul Epstein, 'One can be internationally
minded without lacking concern for the members of the tribe' [E41]. In December
he wrote to Ehrenfest, 'Anti-Semitism is strong here and political reaction is vio-
lent' [E42]. He was particularly incensed about the German reaction to Jews who
had recently escaped worse fates in Poland and Russia.* 'Incitement against these
unfortunate fugitives... has become an effective political weapon, employed with
success by every demagogue' [E42a]. Einstein knew of their plight especially well,
since a number of these refugees literally came knocking at his door for help. To
him supranationalism could wait so far as the hunted Jew was concerned. It was
another case where the patient would have been dead (and often was) before the
cure.
There was another irritant. 'I have always been annoyed by the undignified
assimilationist cravings and strivings which I have observed in so many of my
[Jewish] friends.. .. These and similar happenings have awakened in me the
Jewish national sentiment' [E43]. I am sure that Einstein's strongest source of
"Their influx was particularly noticeable in Berlin. In 1900, 11 000 out of the 92 000 Berlin Jews
were 'Ostjuden.' In 1925 these numbers were 43 000 out of 172 000 [Gl].