The History of Estate of Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein's Last Will and Testament of 1950 appointed his close associate, Dr. Otto Nathan, as sole Executor of his Estate. Upon Einstein's death in 1955, Dr. Nathan devoted himself tirelessly for more than a quarter of a century to the administration of the Estate of Albert Einstein. In close cooperation with the co-Trustee of the Estate, Ms. Helen Dukas, Dr. Nathan succeeded in tripling the size of the Albert Einstein Archives during the period 1955-1982. As Executor to Einstein's writings, Dr. Nathan cooperated with numerous publishers throughout the world in the publication in a wide variety of languages of many new editions of Einstein's works. Dr. Nathan shared Einstein's leftist views on politics and society - this affinity led to his editing (in collaboration with Heinz Norden) a selection of Einstein's writings on pacifism entitled Einstein on Peace in 1960. Dr. Nathan also laid a substantial part of the groundwork for the historical edition of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. In 1982, the Estate of Albert Einstein transferred all the literary rights to Einstein's writings to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - in accordance with Einstein's Will of 1950. During the period of 1982-1990, the American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) in New York were responsible for dealing with all copyright issues pertaining to Einstein's writings. This work was carried out meticulously and conscientiously by the late Ehud Benamy of the AFHU, under the sagacious guidance of the late Prof. Milton Handler. In 1991, the Executive of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem decided to transfer responsibility for all copyright issues pertaining to Albert Einstein to the office of the Curator of the Albert Einstein Archives in Jerusalem.