Fischer, 06 May 1914 he describes their new home in the countryside about
45 miles from London
60 ;
We have about two acres of ground, partly garden, partly meadow and
partly beech wood … my laboratory is nearly ready and it looks nice … My
wife loves the garden …
Robert and Emily too were town dwellers, but unlike Ramsay whose retirement was to be all too short,
61 they were to spend some 25 years at St. Helier
in comfort and peace after a life battered by tragedy and two world wars.
Here, gardeners were employed to keep the grounds in order, maids helped
with the ‘domestics’, Robert built himself a small workshop—in a shed in the
garden—and the couple engaged with the local community, especially it
seems with Holy Trinity Church, Penn. But as the post-war years brought a
new life, there were also echoes of Germany as Haber’s son Hermann, whom
the couple knew from both Karlsruhe and Berlin, wrote another tragic
chapter in the story of ‘Fixation’.
At the end of his life, Fritz Haber was close to his eldest son even though
Fritz had forced him into a career in chemistry when the young man clearly
wanted to study law. Hermann had little interest in the science and over the
years he struggled to hold down a job. Desperately unhappy, he drifted from
employer to employer and from country to country. He worked in
Czechoslovakia, the United States and finally in France after a period in the
French Foreign Legion.
62 The beginning of the second world war saw him at
the Société des Produits Chimiques. He was unable to obtain French citizenship however, and when the Germans invaded France, he and his family
fled to the Dordogne
63 to avoid internment. In constant danger as Jews, they
left for Marseilles and from there travelled to the Caribbean on a French ship.
Interned by the British for several months, Hermann applied for a visa to
allow the family to enter the United States. Their case was supported by
Einstein, and the whole family eventually arrived in New York City as
‘friendly aliens’. Hermann then worked as an independent patent attorney
and the family lived in Long Island. As the war progressed, Hermann and
Marga received full residency permits which allowed them to become
financially more comfortable. But soon after the war, Marga developed leukemia and died. After her death, Hermann became increasingly isolated and
lonely. He took to drinking heavily, became depressed, and towards the end
of November 1946, like his mother, he too committed suicide.
64 The ‘fathers
of fixation’ both lost sons in this way, but unlike Robert, Haber did not have
to bear witness his son’s agony. And tragedy continued to stalk the family.
17 The GEC Laboratories 1939–1949
445
45 miles from London
60 ;
We have about two acres of ground, partly garden, partly meadow and
partly beech wood … my laboratory is nearly ready and it looks nice … My
wife loves the garden …
Robert and Emily too were town dwellers, but unlike Ramsay whose retirement was to be all too short,
61 they were to spend some 25 years at St. Helier
in comfort and peace after a life battered by tragedy and two world wars.
Here, gardeners were employed to keep the grounds in order, maids helped
with the ‘domestics’, Robert built himself a small workshop—in a shed in the
garden—and the couple engaged with the local community, especially it
seems with Holy Trinity Church, Penn. But as the post-war years brought a
new life, there were also echoes of Germany as Haber’s son Hermann, whom
the couple knew from both Karlsruhe and Berlin, wrote another tragic
chapter in the story of ‘Fixation’.
At the end of his life, Fritz Haber was close to his eldest son even though
Fritz had forced him into a career in chemistry when the young man clearly
wanted to study law. Hermann had little interest in the science and over the
years he struggled to hold down a job. Desperately unhappy, he drifted from
employer to employer and from country to country. He worked in
Czechoslovakia, the United States and finally in France after a period in the
French Foreign Legion.
62 The beginning of the second world war saw him at
the Société des Produits Chimiques. He was unable to obtain French citizenship however, and when the Germans invaded France, he and his family
fled to the Dordogne
63 to avoid internment. In constant danger as Jews, they
left for Marseilles and from there travelled to the Caribbean on a French ship.
Interned by the British for several months, Hermann applied for a visa to
allow the family to enter the United States. Their case was supported by
Einstein, and the whole family eventually arrived in New York City as
‘friendly aliens’. Hermann then worked as an independent patent attorney
and the family lived in Long Island. As the war progressed, Hermann and
Marga received full residency permits which allowed them to become
financially more comfortable. But soon after the war, Marga developed leukemia and died. After her death, Hermann became increasingly isolated and
lonely. He took to drinking heavily, became depressed, and towards the end
of November 1946, like his mother, he too committed suicide.
64 The ‘fathers
of fixation’ both lost sons in this way, but unlike Robert, Haber did not have
to bear witness his son’s agony. And tragedy continued to stalk the family.
17 The GEC Laboratories 1939–1949
445