London: Albert Einstein's immigration
papers have turned up 80 years after he dramatically fled to
Britain from Nazi Germany, a media report said.
UK border chiefs at Heathrow airport were left stunned
by the discovery of the landing card which marks the legendary
German-born scientist's arrival at Dover in Britain on May 26,
1933, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Einstein was Jewish and escaped to England with a
bounty on his head as an enemy of Adolf Hitler's regime.
According to the smudged document, the "Father
of Modern Physics" arrived at Dover from Ostende in Belgium.
He describes his occupation as a professor and being of Swiss
nationality. On the reverse, he states to immigration officers
he is bound for Oxford.
And now the major historical find will go on display
later this month in Liverpool's Merseyside Maritime Museum
after it was snapped up by curators.
Assistant curator Lucy Gardner said: "We didn't know
this landing card ever existed until we visited UK Border
Agency officers at Heathrow. We were keen on acquiring any
documents relating to immigration but were stunned to find
paperwork relating to such a prominent figure as Einstein.
"What's remarkable is that the landing card bears his
signature, has his profession as 'professor' and lists his
nationality at Swiss. This shows how Einstein had renounced
his German citizenship only weeks earlier in angry reaction to
Nazi policies."
The Nobel Prize winner held the esteemed position of
professor at the Prussian Academy of Science in Berlin from
1914. But when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933
Jewish people were persecuted.
Einstein was kept under armed protection while
in England in 1933, but eventually settled in America.
PTI
First Published: Monday, May 09, 2011, 22:30