Documents relating to 1941 Bohr-Heisenberg meeting

Document 7. Page 3 of 3.

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Incomplete draft of letter(s) from Bohr to Heisenberg, never sent.

In the handwriting of Margrethe Bohr, with corrections by Niels Bohr, added in Aage Bohr's handwriting (<>).

Last page may be continuation of Document 8.

Undated.

Three pages.

Facsimile and text Facsimile only First page | Previous page

hvordan alt dette egentlig hænger sammen, det er jo klart at et saa klogt Menneske, som Du selv under Krigens Gang gradvis maatte tabe Troen paa en tysk Sejr og ende med Overbevisningen om Nederlag og jeg kan derfor forstaa, at Du maaske til Slut ikke kunde huske hvad Du mente og Du sagde under Krigens første Aar, men under et saa dristigt arrangeret Møde, som det i 1941, kan jeg ikke tænke at Du skulde have glemt hvad Arrangement der i den Forbindelse var truffet med de tyske Regeringsmyndigheder og det er paa dette Punkt at hele Interessen fra andre Regeringers Side samler sig. Jeg haaber derfor meget, at Du ved at fortælle mig lidt derom kan bidrage til Opklaringen af den for os alle saa pinlige Sag.

<hele denne sag>

how all this really fits together. It is obvious that during the course of the war such a wise person as yourself must gradually lose faith in a German victory and end with the conviction of defeat, and I can therefore understand that perhaps at the end you may no longer have recalled what you had thought and what you had said during the first years of the war. But I cannot imagine that, during a meeting so boldly arranged as that in 1941, you should have forgotten what arrangements had been made in this regard with the German government authorities, and it is on that point that all the interest of other governments focuses. I therefore very much hope that, by telling me a little about this, you can contribute to the clarification of what is a most awkward matter for us all.

<this whole matter>