In 1933, Albert Einstein’s movements were significantly influenced by the political upheavals in Germany, the rise of the Nazi regime. Here’s a chronological overview of his travels and residences during that year:
- December 1932 – March 1933: Einstein was in the United States for a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. During this period, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 (a coup d’état inside a democratic framework). Einstein decided not to return to Germany due to the escalating dangers for Jewish citizens and opponents of the Nazi regime.
- March 28, 1933: Einstein and his wife, Elsa, returned to Europe, arriving in Antwerp (Belgium), aboard the SS Belgenland. Upon learning that their home in Germany had been raided and their possessions confiscated, Einstein renounced his German citizenship at the German consulate in Belgium, and also quit the Prussian Academy of Sciences on arrival (both letters dated 28 III 1933). Click on the links for the respective originals and translations.
- [1 April 1933: One-day boycott against Jewish businesses. (ein Deutscher kauft nicht beim Juden)
- [7 april 1933: a new Law (Reichsgesetz) removes Jews from the civil service and bans Jewish teachers from public schools. De facto the first racial law]
- [10 May 1933: In Berlin books written by Jews (looted from private houses, but also from libraries) were tossed into a huge bonfire.]
- April – September 1933: The Einsteins took residence in the Belgian coastal town of De Haan, staying at Villa Savoyarde (rented by his friend Prof. Arthur De Groodt). He was under the protection of Belgian authorities due to threats from Nazi sympathizers. Notably, Einstein had connections with the Belgian royal family; he shared a passion for the violin with Queen Elisabeth.
- August 1933: The assassination of Einstein’s friend, Theodor Lessing, by Nazi agents in Czechoslovakia underscored the imminent danger he faced in Europe.1 This event accelerated his plans to leave the continent permanently.
- October 1933: Einstein departed Europe for the United States (after a famous speech in the Royal Albert Hall on October the 3rd). He traveled from Southampton aboard the SS Westernland2, arriving in the U.S. on October 17, 1933. He accepted a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, initially agreeing to a six-month tenure. Einstein ultimately decided to make the United States his permanent home, becoming an American citizen in 1940.
- Theodor Lessing was a critical german philosopher and zionist. He had already fled Germany, but the Nazi press spread rumours of a high reward on Lessing’s head. A similar rumour was circulating with regard to Einstein. On August 30, 1933, Lessing was shot dead in his Marienbad apartment by two National Socialists (Sudeten-germans). This was the first political murder of an opponent to the Nazi regime outside of Germany, and caused worldwide indignation.
- Elsa had stayed in De Haan, and embarked on the Westernland in Antwerp, picking up Albert in Southampton