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[Translate to English:] © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Dortmund University Library

Library Staff Discovers Dedication by Albert Einstein

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The photo shows Albert Einstein's dedication from 1952. © Martina Hengesbach​/​TU Dortmund
Dedication by Albert Einstein to Otto Nathan from 1952.
You don’t come across something like this every day: In the extensive literary collection of Professor Walter Grünzweig, which the American studies scholar has entrusted to the University Library (UB) in Dortmund, library staff have discovered a previously unknown dedication penned by Albert Einstein in 1952. The autograph was presented at Emil Figge Library on 18 June, accompanied by readings from some of the works in the collection.

Over forty years, Professor Walter Grünzweig amassed a collection of more than 4,000 volumes of North American literature, which he recently entrusted to his university’s library. While sifting through the collection, staff stumbled upon a very special autograph: a dedication by Albert Einstein to Otto Nathan, his friend and later testamentary executor. The four lines (in German) read: To dear Otto Nathan / Friend and saint / This book about the aimless wanderings / of his colleagues. A. Einstein 1952. He wrote the dedication on the flyleaf of the first volume of “Socialism and American Life”.

Bought for 35 Dollars in 1993

From his diary entries, Professor Walter Grünzweig can retrace exactly when and where he bought the book: “On each of three days in July 1993, I spent several hours in ‘Strand’, the famous second-hand bookstore in New York. While I was there, I browsed around the extensive section on American literature and culture and bought numerous books.” Among them was the two-volume academic work “Socialism and American Life”, published in 1952 by Princeton University Press. Due to the sheer volume of second-hand books he purchased there for several hundred dollars, he hadn’t noticed the handwritten note by the world-famous physicist – nor, it seems, had the bookshop staff, who would have demanded more for such a book than the 35 dollars shown on the price tag, which is still stuck on the inside cover.

“We have compared ‘our’ dedication with various other dedications, entries and autographs by Einstein that are available in digital form. We have concluded that we can consider it to be an original,” says Dr. Stephanie Marra, Head of TU Dortmund University Archive. Professor Grünzweig’s collection also contains other dedications, such as by Norman Mailer (1923–2007), an American writer and director who won the Pulitzer Prize twice, and by Gore Vidal (1925–2012), another American author and intellectual. 

Einstein’s dedication is addressed to Professor Otto Nathan (1893–1987), the German-American economist who emigrated to the USA after 1933 and taught at Princeton until 1935, where he met Albert Einstein. The bond between the two men remained close even after Nathan left Princeton. It grew particularly strong in the 1950s, such that Nathan later became the second executor of Einstein’s estate, alongside his secretary.

In the foreground of the photo, you can see various books and the TU logo. In the background, you can see the library.
The book with the dedication is now at the University Library.

Most of Einstein’s estate is held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Seventeen autographs were discovered in Otto Nathan’s private library, which was transferred to Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB), but none of them are by Einstein. This indicates that Otto Nathan did not keep ‘our’ volume in his private library and means it is the only book – known to date – he received from Albert Einstein that contains a dedication,” explains Dr. Joachim Kreische, Director of Dortmund University Library.

As far as the content is concerned, the dedication can be positioned within the left-liberal milieu of Jewish intellectual exiles in the USA during the McCarthy era, a period marked by intense anti-communism. As a left-wing pacifist, Nathan also suffered political reprisals. “The autograph in ‘Socialism and American Life’ is worded rather cryptically and perhaps also meant to be understood ironically, as it was dangerous at that time to publicly hold socialist views,” explains Professor Walter Grünzweig.

Event Showcasing the Historical Context

On Thursday, 18 June, the collection was presented at Emil Figge Library, together with readings from selected classics. In addition, Dr. Stephanie Marra discussed the research conducted in conjunction with Einstein’s dedication to Otto Nathan, and Professor Walter Grünzweig positioned it within the paths and fates of Jewish intellectuals in the USA during the post-war period. The event was part of the USA@250 program.

About USA@250

On 4 July 2026, the USA will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence. To mark this occasion, the City of Dortmund and TU Dortmund University, together with partners from academia, culture and society, are sending out a strong signal for democratic values and transatlantic friendship. With over 80 events – including concerts, exhibitions and panel debates – they will highlight the many links between Dortmund and the USA during this anniversary year.

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