The Man Who Stalked Einstein (26 page)

Annie had told her that poor Werner had been the subject of a very unfavorable article
in the SS weekly publication,
Das Schwarze Korps
. At first, Annie had dismissed it as nothing, but the more she thought about it,
the more afraid she became. After all, there had been an earlier attack. She thought
it had been written by a man named Menzel. Yes. She was almost certain that his name
was Menzel. Would Heinrich please humor her and see what he could do to help her friend’s
son?

Himmler was well aware that Werner Heisenberg was under fire. He had met the Nobel
Prize–winning physicist on several occasions and found him to be a typical academic
with his head in the clouds. Still, he was considered to be the most prominent scientist
remaining in Germany now that the law reforming the civil service and the Nuremberg
laws had flushed the Jews from the universities. With the Jews out of the way, Lenard
and Stark had turned their attention to the “white Jews,” theoretical physicists like
Heisenberg whom they viewed as improperly influenced by Albert Einstein.

Himmler refocused his attention on his mother’s voice. She had moved on to other
topics, but it was this visit by Heisenberg’s mother that had been the reason for
her decision to stop by and speak with her son. Several minutes later, after once
again admonishing her Heinrich to take care of his health, she voiced the traditional
Bavarian benediction,
Gruess Gott
, and left.

Himmler had his secretary bring him the SS’s files on Werner Heisenberg. What a mess
this fellow had gotten himself into. For someone generally acknowledged to be a genius,
he was not very smart at all. He had been swimming against the tide for years, flaunting
his admiration of Einstein, Bohr, and other discredited theoreticians in the face
of the Nazis’ new dialectic.

Himmler opened a packet of newspaper clippings. Johannes Stark had set his cat’s
paw, a student named Willi Menzel, to author a propaganda piece for a January 1936
edition of
Voelkischer Beobachter
. Skimming quickly, several items caught Himmler’s attention: “theoreticians like
Einstein . . . propagated their ideas in the manner characteristic of Jews and forced
them upon physicists . . . ridicule men who criticized this new type of ‘science’
. . . the lofty spheres of the Einsteinian intellect.”

Further down, Menzel cited Lenard’s
Deutsche Physik
and lauded Lenard for “single-handedly” having held the proper name “German” above
the adjective “Jewish.” The article closed with a battle cry: “We, the younger generation
want to continue the fight today for German physics; and we will succeed in elevating
its name to the same heights that German technology and science has already been enjoying
for a long time.”

It was the usual propaganda, Himmler thought. Acceptance of the principles of
Deutsche Physik
had been a good litmus test for scientists’ allegiance to the Reich. Although Stark
had proven a terrible administrator, full of grandiose plans that he would never be
able to implement, Himmler couldn’t fault either Lenard or Stark for their enthusiasm.
Nonetheless, watching the two scientists buffalo their colleagues into their way of
thinking had made him cynical of their actual motives.

Heisenberg had played the fool. He should have known better than to respond to this
pap. Publishing Menzel’s article had been an obvious trap, baited by Lenard and Stark
to irk Heisenberg into publicly airing his impolitic views. Amazingly, Heisenberg
had failed to recognize the danger. Just look at what he had written!

Ignoring Menzel, whom he considered merely a ghost writer, Heisenberg directed his
readers to the true perpetrators: “On the authority of Ph. Lenard and J. Stark, two
of the most senior and meritorious German physicists, W. Menzel offers arguments against
theoretical physics . . . that appear erroneous and misleading to the majority of
younger scientists.” Heisenberg adopted a paternalistic style, writing, “A serious
analysis of this changed situation leads the exact sciences away from the naïve materialistic
conception of the world.” In concluding, Heisenberg responded to Menzel’s challenge
with one of his own. “The continuation of this research, which may well exert the
greatest influence on the structure of our intellectual life as a whole, is one of
the noblest missions of German youth in science.”

The newspaper had preceded Heisenberg’s words with a disclaimer: “Since we can by
no means agree with the views expressed in this [Heisenberg’s] reply, we have turned
to Professor Stark as an authority in the field of physics, asking him his opinion,
which is printed subsequently.”

Doubtlessly, this had been the plan all along. Once Heisenberg had displayed his
true stripes, Stark would get the last word. Himmler knew without looking what Stark
must have written. He knew what he would’ve done; he wasn’t disappointed.

“For clarity’s sake,” Stark began, “It is essential that the preceding article by
Heisenberg be rectified immediately. It is designed to give the impression to readers
who are not physics experts that the great discoveries in physics of recent decades
were an achievement of theory, and wherever possible even of Jewish theory.”

Stark depicted the whole of theoretical physics as a Jewish lie. It had not been
theory but “careful observation and measurement by experimental physicists” that had
led Germany to supremacy in the natural sciences. True Germans had discovered, for
example, X-rays, radioactivity, and the effect of magnetic fields on spectral lines.
“No productive experimental physicist,” he wrote, “uses Einstein’s relativity theories
as a point of departure for research.” In the end, Stark took advantage of the opportunity
Heisenberg had afforded him to paint the talented young physicist with the tarred
brush of Judaism:

In his article, Heisenberg continues to advocate the fundamental attitude of Jewish
physics even today. Indeed, he even expects that young Germans should adopt this basic
attitude and take Einstein and his comrades as their models in science. . . . The
article by the student Menzel is a welcome sign that young Germans are shunning the
influence of Jewish physics and that they want to study physics in the same spirit
that pervades Lenard’s recently published textbook,
Deutsche Physik
, which reflects physical reality without “the new systems of concepts.”

If only Heisenberg hadn’t stuck his neck out, Himmler thought as he turned to the
last newspaper article in the file, the recent article in
Das Schwarze Korps
that Mutti had mentioned, the one entitled “White Jews in Science.” He noticed immediately
that there was no byline; Stark had hidden behind a cloak of anonymity. No matter.
Stark’s rhetoric was unmistakable. Again, he skimmed the text, retaining snapshots
of the content:

. . . primitive type of anti-Semitism that limits itself to fighting against Jews
alone. . . .

. . . not dealing with Jews per se, but rather with the mentality, or rather bad mentality,
they spread. . . .

When the carrier of this mentality is not a Jew but a German. . . .

. . . could also speak of Jews in spirit, of Jews by mentality.

. . . intellectual ties of white Jews to Jewish role models and masters.

All of this was well-worn, vintage Lenard. Stark in full rant. The pair of them had
an insatiable appetite for Jew-baiting. But there was something new. This article
named names. He slowed down and read more carefully:

The Jews Einstein, Haber, and their mind mates, Sommerfeld and Planck. Had they been
allowed to have their way, in a few decades, the type of scientist that is productive
and close to reality would have died out. National Socialism’s seizure of power has
staved off this danger.

Himmler knew as well as Stark that Sommerfeld and Planck were both old and revered.
They were untouchable. Their mention was merely Stark’s way of getting to his true
target, Heisenberg.

How secure ‘white Jews’ feel in their positions is evidenced by the actions of the
professor for theoretical physics in Leipzig, Professor Werner Heisenberg, who . .
. declared Einstein’s relativity theory to be the obvious ‘basis for further research’
and saw ‘one of the noblest missions of German youth in science as the continued development
of theoretical systems of concepts.

Nor had Stark forgotten an old slight that had made him look impotent to the Nazi
leadership:

Heisenberg returned his thanks in August 1934 by refusing to sign a proclamation by
the German Nobel Laureates for his support of the Fuehrer and Chancellor. His response
then was, ‘Although I personally vote ‘yes,’ political declarations by scientists
seem to me improper, since this was never a normal practice even formerly. Therefore,
I do not sign’. . . . This response exemplifies the Jewish mentality of its author.
. . . Heisenberg is only one example among several others. All of them are puppets
of Jewry in German intellectual life and must disappear, just as the Jews themselves.

The last paragraph called upon Johannes Stark to comment on its contents, as though
he’d had nothing to do with instigating the article to begin with. In his commentary,
Stark acknowledged the wisdom of the
Das Schwarze Korps
article in his opening sentences: “The preceding article is basically so appropriate
and complete that further additions would really be superfluous.” However, his approval
did not stop him from inscribing another five hundred words on his favorite themes.

Himmler had read enough to know that things had gotten out of hand. Left to their
own devices, Lenard and Stark’s rhetoric might get Heisenberg killed by some crazed
storm trooper or, worse, run him out of Germany where another country might pick him
up. He would have to call off Stark and his aged mentor, Philipp Lenard, at least
until he decided how to handle this affair. He would be in a bind no matter how things
turned out. War was coming, and they would need Heisenberg’s brain, but if his office
simply ignored the situation, he’d have Stark at his door. Not to mention Mutti. As
though he didn’t already have enough to do without inserting himself into the petty
squabbles of scientists!

The heat on Himmler turned up a notch when, just five days after the original article
was published in
Das Schwarze Korps
, a letter dated July 20, 1937, from a University of Leipzig colleague of Heisenberg’s,
Friedrich Hund, turned up at the offices of Reichminister for Science, Education,
and National Culture Bernhard Rust. The letter complained of Stark’s “abusive statements”
about Heisenberg “that exceeded all bounds of decency.” The author closed his letter
with “I have confidence that you, Mister Reichminister, will prevent the President
of the Reich Physical and Technical Institute from injuring the honor of our science
any further in this matter.”

Luckily, much of the decision concerning what to do about Heisenberg was taken out
of Himmler’s hands by Heisenberg himself. On July 21, 1937, Heisenberg wrote directly
to Himmler demanding either Himmler’s approval of Stark’s attacks or that he lodge
an objection with Stark and warn him not to engage in future attacks. He further requested
that he undergo a formal investigation of the charges made in the sequence of articles
appearing in
Das Schwarze Korps
.

Himmler thought Heisenberg’s suggestion an excellent idea and conducted his investigation
with a vengeance. He had three members of his personal staff—all former students of
physics—install microphones in Heisenberg’s home and attend his lectures at Leipzig
University. On several occasions, Heisenberg was brought to Gestapo headquarters to
undergo daylong interrogations that left him shaken. The investigators spent an inordinate
amount of time on Heisenberg’s sexuality. It was rumored that the married scientist
was a homosexual, a crime under Nazi law, punishable by imprisonment in a concentration
camp.

Exactly one year to the day, July 21, 1938, Himmler wrote two letters that settled
the issue. One letter he sent to SS Gruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, essentially
saying that Germany could not afford to lose or silence Heisenberg, as he was necessary
to the education of a generation of scientists. The other letter was a personal note
to Heisenberg:

I have had your case examined with particular care and scrutiny, since you are recommended
to me by my family. I am happy to be able to inform you today that I do not approve
of the offensive article by Das Schwarze Korps and that I have put a stop to any further
attacks on you. I hope that I can see you at my office in Berlin someday in the autumn—though
only very late, in November or December—so that we can have a man-to-man talk about
this.

Himmler signed the letter “With friendly greetings and Heil Hitler!” and added a postscript:
“I do find it appropriate, though, that in the future you separate clearly for your
students acknowledgment of scientific research results from the scientist’s personal
and political views.” Going forward, Heisenberg was to make a point about the source
of the information he’d imparted and advise his students of the source’s standing
from the perspective of the Third Reich.

It was ironic that Stark had gone after Heisenberg based on the younger man’s relationship
with Einstein. Although Heisenberg’s work owed much to Einstein’s, the two were somewhat
distant with each other and never resolved fundamental differences in key conceptions
of theoretical physics. Heisenberg later recalled a conversation he’d had with Einstein
concerning the role that theory played in the progress of science. In a conversation
about the structure of the atom following Einstein’s attendance at a lecture that
Heisenberg delivered in 1926 at the University of Berlin, Einstein invited Heisenberg
to walk with him. Years later, Heisenberg remembered what they’d discussed: