Einstein letters to Hugo Iltis, courageous defier of the Nazi regime, featured in Dallas Manuscripts Auction

June 9 Heritage Auction features rare Einstein correspondence with author of "The Myth of Blood and Race," urging his emigration to the U.S.

DALLAS, TX – Three letters from Albert Einstein to Dr. Hugo Iltis – famed author of the Nazi-defying mid-1930s treatise “The Myth of Blood of Race” – invoking the dramatic story of Iltis’s escape from Czechoslovakia in order to evade capture by the Nazis will be offered as part of Heritage Auctions’ June 9 Signature® Historical Manuscripts Auction. The letters carry individual estimates that range from $2,500+ to $10,000+.

The letters are markedly poignant being that, having fled Germany in 1933, Einstein is especially empathetic to Iltis' plight. In his last letter to Iltis, Einstein urges Iltis to leave his wife and child behind in order to expedite their escape. Einstein even offers to use his celebrity in order to solicit the help of others to find a position for Iltis.

“We’re very proud to offer these letters on behalf of Dr. Hugh Iltis,” said Sandra Palomino, Director of Historical Manuscripts Auctions at Heritage, “the son of Dr. Hugo Iltis. Dr. Hugh Iltis served in WWII, and was one of the first soldiers to unearth, and bear witness to, the horrors committed by the Nazi regime.”

Dr. Hugo Iltis (1882-1952) was a Czech-born Jewish professor of botany, genetics, and biology who had lived most of his life in Brünn, Czechoslovakia. He founded the Msaryk People's University in Brünn, was its director until he fled the country in 1938, and was a respected geneticist and author before he took up the protest mantle against the rising tide in Europe.

“Despite the growing danger, Iltis remained an outspoken opponent of the German Nazi Party,” said Palomino, “especially its use of science to bolster a poisonous agenda on eugenics.”

Throughout the 1930s Iltis lectured against Nazi race theories, eventually publishing three books which denounced Nazi genetics. The most controversial of the three, The Myth of Blood and Race (1935), brought Iltis under the scrutiny of the Nazi Party, but the book also caught the attention of Albert Einstein.

The first of Einstein's letters to Iltis is a handwritten letter praising his courage. From Princeton and dated December 5, 1936, Einstein writes:

"I read your booklet 'The Myth of Blood and Race' with great interest and approval. If the majority of the German intellectuals would have shown as much courage and respect for the truth and such a vivid social conscience as the author of this book, the whole nation would have been saved from plunging into such an abyss."

The letter ends with a lengthy postscript with a second full signature, "Prof. Albert Einstein, Princeton," advising Iltis to use his "letter in any way which seems appropriate…"

Einstein developed an immediate respect for Iltis for his courage in writing such a controversial work in the face of the rising Nazi regime. The value of Iltis' work was so apparent to Einstein that, in 1937, he sent a copy of the booklet to the W. W. Norton publishing house in hopes that they would publish it in English. He informs Dr. Iltis of his efforts in a letter dated April 20, 1937:

"I thank you kindly for sending a second copy of your excellent little book,” he wrote. “I shall forward it at once to the publisher Norton who already had published a book of yours."

The third letter in this series is dated April 4, 1938, and is a lengthy plea to lltis to leave Czechoslovakia immediately. Einstein makes the argument that it would be best for Iltis to emigrate before his family.

"I think you should come first yourself instead of sending your wife in advance,” write Einstein, “for it certainly would not be of any help should she get a job in a household. You should use your scientific connections to obtain a temporary invitation as a paid lecturer, and then use your presence in this country to attain a permanent appointment."

Einstein immediately uses his connections – influential anthropologist Franz Boas, also a political activist as well as a German-born Jewish intellectual émigré – to help secure Iltis a teaching position in the biology department at Mary Washington College, aiding his escape from the impending Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia.

In December 1938, Iltis flew to England and worked to gain entrance for his family, who followed him there one month later. Safely in England, they watched as Hitler and the Nazis arrived in Prague on March 15, 1939, announcing by radio that they were in control of Czechoslovakia. That same day, the Gestapo fanned out throughout the cities of Prague and Brünn with lists of people to round up. On their list was Hugo Iltis, who was safely far away.

An interesting complement to the Iltis letters in the Manuscripts auction is a letter from Einstein, written on April 14, 1944, in which Einstein reveals the fate of his original manuscript on the Theory of Relativity and acknowledges his satisfaction "with the progress of the war." It is estimated at $60,000+.

On Einstein's personal blind-stamped Princeton stationery, writing less than two months before D-Day (June 6, 1944) to David Rothman of Southold, Long Island, Einstein reveals that his "first manuscript about relativity was not burned by the Nazis. I myself threw it into the waste-basket," and later that he feels “quite satisfied with the progress of the war and especially with the strength of the Russians.”

“Einstein letters are always sought after,” said Palomino, “but any that mention his Theory of Relativity are especially prized. This particular letter exemplifies his humility with regards to his work. Five months earlier Einstein had voluntarily re-created the handwritten manuscript which sold at auction for $6.5 million dollars all of which was donated to benefit the World War II War Bond drive”

Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $600 million, and 500,000+ registered online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com. Want to get the up-to-the-minute updates and breaking news stories about Heritage Auctions? Get them as they happen at: Twitter.com/HeritagePress; Twitter.com/JimHalperin; Facebook: Heritage Auction Galleries. To view a compete archive of Heritage press releases go to: HA.com/PR. To link to this press release on your blog or Website: HA.com/PR-1834.