Einstein's Emigration to America (1932)

Colourized photographs of Einstein and his wife Elsa aboard the S.S. Belgenland on his way to America (1930)

In May of 1932, a viciously anti-Semetic illustrated brochure entitled Juden Sehen Dich An (“Jews are Watching You”) featured Einstein in its prologue alongside some sixty other prominent (alleged and actual) Jewish intellectuals (Robinson, 2019a p. 225). Written by a close collaborator of Joseph Goebbels, the author of the brochure included a photograph of Einstein featuring the caption:

“Discovered a much-contested theory of relativity. Was greatly honoured by the Jewish press and the unsuspecting German people. Showed his gratitude by lying atrocity propaganda against Adolf Hitler. Not yet hanged.”

Following the publication of the brochure a German magazine printed a list of co-called “enemies of the German regime” with an accompanying picture of Albert Einstein marked “not yet hanged” with a $5,000 bounty (Jerome & Taylor, 2006).

Already in 1930, Einstein had begun feeling the …