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Albert Einstein as Pacifist and Democrat during World War I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Hubert Goenner
Affiliation:
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Göttingen (H. G.) Max Planck Institute, Berlin (G. C.)
Giuseppe Castagnetti
Affiliation:
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Göttingen (H. G.) Max Planck Institute, Berlin (G. C.)

Abstract

In this article we throw more light on Einstein's position as a pacifist and democrat during World War I than was possible up to now. This results from a systematical search for and evaluation of published and unpublished documents. Among others, it was possible to give evidence of Einstein's radicalization and to clear up the circumstances of his public appearance during the troublesome days of the Revolution in November 1918. Einstein's role in the Bund Neues Vaterland and other pacifist organizations and his interaction with other pacifists in Germany and abroad is exposed in detail and interpreted. In contrast to the generally accepted view, we give a reappraisal of Einstein's activity and show that his pacifism was always of a humanitarian nature. He only rarely applied social and political categories to the happenings during the war. Due to his main focus on physics Einstein's pacifism remained one more of creed than of deed.

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Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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