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Einstein offered no false comfort, instead providing practical advice about the harsh realities awaiting immigrants.
As darkness descended across Europe with the rise of the Nazis, a young German-Jewish woman placed her hopes in a letter to the world’s most famous scientist at the time.
From her temporary refuge in France, Mignon Lion reached out to Albert Einstein, seeking guidance for escape from Nazi persecution.
Lion wasn’t just any correspondent either. Her mother’s maiden name was Einstein, suggesting a potential family connection to the famed physicist, however distant.
Einstein knew firsthand the terror Lion was facing. While visiting America in 1933, Einstein had abandoned plans to return to Germany after Hitler’s rise to power.
His journey to safety took him through Belgium and Britain before reaching Princeton, where the university provided him both position and sanctuary.
By the time Lion wrote to him, Einstein had established himself in America but remained deeply concerned for Jews still trapped in Europe. His reply to Lion came on his personal Princeton stationery, dated May 26, 1938.
However, Einstein offered no false comfort, instead providing practical advice about the harsh realities awaiting immigrants. He suggested possibilities such as domestic service, nursery school teaching, nursing, and handicrafts.
For Lion’s fiancé, Einstein stressed the importance of learning a practical trade before arrival.
But his most painful words came in response to Lion’s request for an affidavit, which were often the only path to American visas for Jews trapped in Europe.
Einstein regretfully declined, explaining he had already written too many such letters.
Thankfully, Lion and her fiancé managed to escape to Brazil. Her father also survived the Holocaust, later living out his final years in New York City until 1964. But for her mother there would be no escape.
She died at Auschwitz in 1945, just months before the camp’s liberation, one of millions whose rescue came too late.
Einstein’s single-page letter, written in German, accompanied by its original envelope, will be auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Auctions on February 27. Bidding starts at $5,000.
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