Albert Einstein playing the violin around 1931PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy / CORDON PRESS
Albert Einstein must have been seriously disturbed when he learned that a group of scientists had gathered in the large foyer of the Berlin Philharmonic Hall who were ready to “purify German physics” of relativity believers. It's 1920, he's a year away from winning the Nobel Prize, and the most bizarre insults are already being hurled at him: plagiarist, Moscow agent, Dadaist scientist. The most sympathetic recognize his rabbinic gift for explaining complex issues, as when a journalist asked him to explain the theory of relativity: “Matter tells space how to curve. That's all”.
In his impressive essay Genius and Anxiety. How the Jews Changed the World (2019), Norman Lebrecht asks the – no less Jewish – question: “To what extent is Einstein Jewish” after rescuing the German scientist’s notes in which he expresses his belief that “im Judaism exclusively …” the moral attitude to the life of every person, which is sacred, the highest value to which all values are subordinated and which is part of the whole that we have called the universe.” They are asking him to give him funds to collect for a Hebrew university in Jerusalem. There he is welcomed like a celebrity, plays the violin in millionaires' mansions and explains to the congressmen in Washington “why the feeling of time passing is faster when you are next to a beautiful girl, but when you are sitting hot by the fire.” , a minute seems like hours to me.” He describes himself as a Zionist, but on a trip to Palestine he observed how the Hasidim swayed in prayer in front of the Western Wall: “A sad picture of men with a past but no future,” he writes . Hitler becomes chancellor when the philosopher and scientific genius is already adopted by the United States, where he accepts a professorship at Princeton.
The figure of Einstein is the metaphor of a library because it dissolves all dominance. It is appropriate to remember this in a historical moment of “political relativity”, marked by the war in Gaza after 75 years of conflict, massacres and deportations, but also the period in which the Hamas pogrom of September 7th “It seems like an eternity when we consider the quagmire that has engulfed the cultural organizations and institutions of Germany and the United States and the brutal impact of the war in Gaza with pulverized neighborhoods and supply blockades.” to “total destruction” and “kill Hamas” (Netanyahu).
The millionaires of the same Jewish capital who recruited Einstein, so crucial to elite North American universities, are now threatening to withdraw their financial support unless their rectors take a clear and unequivocal stance against the “barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists.” “ and prevent demonstrations by pro-Palestinian student groups that accuse Israel of genocide. At the University of Pennsylvania, Chancellor Liz Margill resigned after refusing to tell Congress that such a call for genocide would violate the university's code of conduct (which includes free speech). Harvard President Caudine Gay asserted in similar terms that “when anti-Semitic speech develops into behavior that constitutes harassment, harassment, intimidation, it is criminal behavior and we take action”: “So the answer is yes , Call. “Because the genocide of the Jews violates the Harvard Code of Conduct, right?” insists Republican Elise Stefanik. “Again, context matters,” Gay concludes.
Weeks earlier, Artforum director David Velasco was fired for publishing an open letter from the international artistic community in support of the Palestinian people, in which 8,000 signatures called for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid for Gaza. The magazine is owned by Penske Media Corporation, which, like other donors to prominent institutions and far-right pro-Israel lobbies, condemns open letters of support for Palestine and uses the signatories' repertoire as blacklists to denigrate names and careers.
The privileged Documenta Kassel has to restart its search for an artistic director after the en bloc resignation of the selection committee for the 16th edition (2027).
In Germany the situation is even worse: cultural centers are closed, biennials and exhibitions by artists who do not reject Hamas terror vehemently enough are canceled. The privileged Documenta Kassel has to restart its search for an artistic director after the en bloc resignation of the selection committee for the 16th edition (2027). They argue in their letter that they “do not see adequate conditions for different perspectives, perceptions and discourses in Germany” after Ranjit Hoskoté, who left the panel under pressure from the German media and the government to make a statement, was forced ” anti-Semitic,” which he signed in 2019, which qualifies him as a “BDS sympathizer” and alludes to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Israeli products.
“I will not let you make me angry again,” Einstein vowed after the rally against him in the Philharmonic Hall. “If my theory of relativity turns out to be correct, Germany will consider me a German and France a global citizen. If it turns out to be false, France will say that I am German and Germany will declare me a Jew.” The most brilliant demonstration of (political) relativity.
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