Correspondance Born-Einstein: lettres d’Einstein Section section-0075

Then the war really started. After Dunkirk, all Germans in Great Britain were interned, irrespective of whether they were Nazis or victims of Nazi persecution. I escaped this fate, as I had become a British subject a few weeks before the outbreak of the war. But my German collaborators, Klaus Fuchs among them, were interned, and had to spend the next few months in camps, first on the Isle of Man and later in Canada. There their political reliability was investigated, and those who passed the test were sent back to England. Thus, Fuchs returned to my Institute after a few months and took up his work again. But a little later he received a letter from Peierls, a German physicist who had emigrated and had become a professor in Birmingham. He asked Fuchs whether he would like to collaborate on an important, top-secret war project. I knew at once that this could only mean one thing; nuclear fission. As the possible consequences of the development of such a means of destruction filled me with horror, I tried as hard as I could to dissuade Fuchs, but in vain. His hatred of the Nazis was boundless, and he was glad to be able to do something against them. So he went to Peierls in Birmingham, and later accompanied him to the United States; what followed is common knowledge. I myself was never directly invited to take part in the fission project. I had never done any work in nuclear physics; but so many other branches of physics were tied up with it that I could certainly have collaborated if I had offered my services.

Puis la guerre commença véritablement. Après Dunkerque, tous les Allemands de Grande-Bretagne furent internés, qu’ils fussent nazis ou victimes des persécutions nazies. J’échappai à ce sort, car j’étais devenu sujet britannique quelques semaines avant le début de la guerre. Mais mes collaborateurs allemands, parmi lesquels Klaus Fuchs, furent internés et durent passer les mois suivants dans des camps, d’abord sur l’île de Man, puis au Canada. On y examina leur fiabilité politique, et ceux qui réussirent l’épreuve furent renvoyés en Angleterre. Fuchs revint ainsi à mon institut au bout de quelques mois et reprit son travail. Mais, un peu plus tard, il reçut une lettre de Peierls, physicien allemand qui avait émigré et était devenu professeur à Birmingham. Il demandait à Fuchs s’il aimerait collaborer à un projet de guerre important et ultrasecret. Je compris aussitôt que cela ne pouvait signifier qu’une seule chose : la fission nucléaire. Comme les conséquences possibles de la mise au point d’un tel moyen de destruction me remplissaient d’horreur, je fis tout mon possible pour en dissuader Fuchs, mais en vain. Sa haine des nazis était sans bornes, et il était heureux de pouvoir agir contre eux. Il rejoignit donc Peierls à Birmingham, puis l’accompagna aux États-Unis ; la suite est de notoriété publique. Je ne fus moi-même jamais directement invité à prendre part au projet de fission. Je n’avais jamais travaillé en physique nucléaire ; mais tant d’autres branches de la physique y étaient liées que j’aurais certainement pu collaborer si j’avais offert mes services.