Man har i denne forbindelse også spurgt mig om hvordan din rejse til København blev arrangeret, og hvilken bemyndigelse du havde fået til at tale med mig om et spørgsmål, der omgaves med så stor hemmelighedsfuldhed og rummede så store politiske problemer. (1)–(2)

Med hensyn til Jensens besøg i København i 1943, havde krigen jo allerede på det tidspunkt taget et forløb ganske forskelligt fra hvad du og Weizsäcker i 1941 udtrykte som jeres overbevisning. Jensen omtalte bestræbelserne på at forøge fremstillingen af tungt vand i Norge og nævnte i denne forbindelse, at det for ham og andre tyske fysikere kun drejede sig om industriel anvendelse af atomenergi. På dette tidspunkt måtte jeg imidlertid være meget tilbageholdende og skeptisk, dels på baggrund af rygter om nye tyske våben, dels på grund af min egen vanskelige stilling under det tyske politis stadige udspionering.

Det som har bragt den hele forbindelse under krigen så stærkt frem i den offentlige interesse, er jo din i Jungk’s bog optagne fremstilling

Når jeg, især efter fremkomsten af Jungk’s bog, som jeg ikke alene er blevet udspurgt om af kolleger i de mest forskellige lande, men særligt som følge af de indgående undersøgelser af arkiver, som man fra

In that connection I have also been asked how your journey to Copenhagen was arranged and what authorization you had been given to speak to me about a question which was surrounded by such great secrecy and held such great political problems. (1)–(2)

As regards Jensen’s visit to Copenhagen in 1943, the war had already at that time taken a course quite different from what you and Weizsäcker expressed as your conviction in 1941. Jensen described the efforts to increase the production of heavy water in Norway and mentioned in this connection that, for him and other German physicists, it was only a matter of an industrial application of atomic energy. At that time, however, I had to be very cautious and sceptical, partly on the basis of rumours of new German weapons, partly because of my own difficult position due to the constant surveillance of the German police.

Of course, it is your account published in Jungk’s book which has created such keen public interest in all these wartime connections

When I, especially after the publication of Jungk’s book, about which I have been questioned not only by colleagues in many different countries, but especially as a consequence of the thorough investigations of archives, which one from