CHAPTER 18

The meeting went a lot easier than John had anticipated. Professor Blackstone, aware of the confusion felt by his young protégé, reluctantly agreed to let Claudia leave the compound. He cross-examined John about the security precautions, and finally gave the Bern excursion his blessing. Claudia’s state of mind concerned Blackstone. The trip would be a welcome respite.

Blackstone called Claudia into his office. She listened carefully and agreed to keep the GPS device on her at all times, and not leave the sight of John and his two security men. The security team was advised to keep their distance from Claudia, but to never let her out of their sight. And no one on the compound, outside their immediate circle, was to know she was leaving.

John, surprised to see her cooperation, knew the trip meant a lot to her. He picked two of his best men for the detail. No one was told where they were going or the purpose of the trip.

Claudia, John and his two men climbed into the security vehicle and drove to the compound entrance, without Todd or anyone else in John’s group knowing that they were leaving the compound. John put the vehicle in park while a guard opened the gate. John appeared to be driving the SUV alone. A blanket covered Claudia and the two security men, hidden behind the front seat. The guard waved as John passed through the gate and sped onto the street.

After they were several miles down the road and clear of the compound, the trio sat up.

“Happy?” said John.

“As a peach,” said Claudia, reaching over the seat to touch him. “Thank you… Although after my presentation, I’m sure those scientists might be glad to be rid of me.”

“And why is that?” said John.

“I spent a lot of time with the Einstein collection, and decided to test my theories, actually controversies, about my great grandmother Mileva Maric and her lover/husband Einstein. History has a way of looking at things that might not be entirely accurate.”

“‘Test your theories?’ What is that supposed to mean?”

“Mileva Maric, my great grandmother, was a scientist, a female professional just entering the twentieth century, who attended the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with Einstein. The societal function of a woman in those days was to be a male vassal, designed for procreation and enhancing the male ego.” She narrowed her eyes and scanned the faces of the men surrounding her as she spoke. “I questioned whether Mileva Maric might be the real reason behind Einstein’s original discoveries. …One thing is certain: she never got credit for a damn thing.”

John grinned. “Let me guess, my employers were a little upset by your comments. Knowing you, you didn’t exactly sugar coat your ideas about Einstein’s first wife.”

Claudia acknowledged his comment, tried to smile, but just nodded slightly and turned to face the car window, her focus directed at the passing scenery.

They traveled for about an hour on twisted mountain roads, and another hour on the main highway that linked Zurich and Bern, finally reaching the Swiss capital. John pulled into the old section of Bern. He stopped on the side of the road and turned off the ignition.

The old capital captivated Claudia. She pressed her face and hands against the window as she marveled at the medieval architecture, its skeletal stone structures with majestic expanses of glass, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, sharp spires and flying buttresses.

They faced a narrow cobblestone street. Lining the street on both sides were uniform four story adobe colored buildings, the structures visually tied together by matching terra cotta roofs. Although Claudia was raised in Austria and Switzerland, she had never visited the Einstein house. Scanning the area around them, she remembered seeing a television show on Einstein where camera crews followed a tour group into Bern, capturing the sights that surrounded the famous scientist’s apartment.

Graceful arcades linked the narrow streets. Every block or so there were magnificent fountains, many of them reported to have dated back to the sixteenth century. Atop the Bern cathedral was a gothic spire that visitors could climb and reach its highest point. The cathedral was one of the tallest in Switzerland. Claudia looked at the spire and remembered that the television show cameras had followed the group of Einstein tourists inside the church and climbed behind them to the top of the spire. The view from the top was a breathtaking spectacle; a panoramic vista of the city’s tile roofs, its cathedral spires and the ice blue waters of the Aare River.

Before John could speak, Claudia pointed to a building located at the end of the road.

“I’m going to 49 Kramgasse. The Einstein house. It should be safe. It’s filled with tourists this time of year.”

Claudia stepped out of the vehicle, followed by the two security men. John was right behind them. They stood in a circle next to the car.

“Okay,” said John, speaking to his men. “I’ll park this thing and then meet up with you two. Do not take your eyes off her.”

He pointed his finger at Claudia. “And, as agreed, we’ll keep our distance. Just don’t lose these two. I don’t want to end up scouring Bern for you …and then maybe looking for a new job.”

“I promise,” she said, and headed down the narrow street. John jumped back into the vehicle and parked it. He pulled a small electronic device out of his pocket. On the colored screen he carefully observed the GPS device mark Claudia’s progress as she walked toward the Kramgasse apartment.

Claudia was in a trance, gliding along the old streets, imagining what it was like for her great grandfather in the early 1900’s, the period when he had first lived in Bern. In the distance, she spotted the Zytglogge, the thirteenth century clock tower made famous by Einstein’s work. Although now a clock tower, Claudia knew from her research that it had also served as a guard tower, and at some point in history as a prison for women convicted of sleeping with priests. She thought of her great grandmother and stared at the tower, wanting to ask someone what kind of punishment they gave the priests.

Claudia stopped at the entrance to the Einstein house. She looked up at the second floor, the spot where her great grandfather had rented a flat. A crowd of tourists stood at the front entrance. They listened while a tour guide spoke. The guide, a lean woman dressed in slacks and a wool sweater, wore a red beret atop her shoulder length gray hair. In her mid-seventies, the guide was spry and alert as she introduced them to the history behind the building. Her speech was tinged with a slight German accent, and she spoke English to the crowd of British and Australian tourists.

“Dr. Einstein was only twenty two years old when he first came to Bern,” said the soft-spoken lady. “He arrived here with no more than the clothes on his back.”

The guide pointed and the crowd turned in unison. “In the background you can see the famous clock tower that historians say greatly influenced the good Doctor in his thought experiments concerning special relativity and time dilation.” She moved forward and the crowd followed. “Einstein was obsessed with the nature of time. It is ironic that every time he looked out his apartment window, or walked to his job at the patent office, he would have seen this enormous mechanical clock.”

Claudia stepped closer into the crowd of tourists. Her mind was racing, elated, filled with volumes of what she read about Einstein, absorbing every word the gentle woman spoke about her great grandfather.

Her face beamed as the tour guide spoke. “It was here in Bern that Einstein had his first great insights into the physical world, and published his seminal papers in the spring and summer of 1905. Historians call it his ‘annis mirabilis’ or miracle year.”

The guide stepped walked up to the entrance and stopped, putting her hand on the doorway. “Follow me upstairs where we will step back in time and enter the apartment that once housed the greatest mind that ever lived.”

Goosebumps stood at attention, electrifying her limbs as Claudia gathered in every syllable spoken by the guide. A cashier accepted her money and handed an anxious Claudia her ticket. She rushed to catch up with the group, first stopping to view an illustration of the Milky Way. The guide said the drawing was not Einstein’s, but was added by the museum foundation. Claudia closely examined the drawing, looking at where she thought Mercury might be. She smiled, thinking of the hornet’s nest she stirred with her presentation to the Committee scientists concerning Dave Hilbert, the mathematician whose covariant equations had proven General Relativity and the shift in Mercury’s orbit before Einstein announced his General Relativity findings to the world.

She traveled up a spiral staircase that the guide had said was an original, and actually used by Einstein. Claudia closed her eyes and ran her hand along the railing, trying to imagine what it was like for him, to feel what he was thinking in his daily travels up the narrow stairway.

She caught up to the crowd and entered the apartment. The high ceilings and polished wood floors were similar to what she imagined this place would have looked like in 1903. Claudia was a child in a candy store as she scoured the apartment, teeming with photos and other Einstein memorabilia.

A short distance away, John and one of his men watched as Claudia stopped in front of the apartment house. The second man was in front of her, and had mixed with the tourist crowd, carefully scanning the group for any suspicious persons or activity. John and the second man spread themselves around the front and back of the house, as Claudia purchased a ticket and entered the building. John carefully scoured the area around the apartment house, looking along the streets and checking above the rooflines, looking for anything or anyone that appeared out of place.

Claudia wandered the apartment, her mind racing in diverse levels of concentration. She looked at a photograph of Einstein sitting at his desk, facing the window. She tried to imagine how this incredible man in 1903, alone in this apartment, could fathom the existence of different dimensions of time and space that had ultimately led to his early theories. She remembered Mileva and how she had been treated by her great grandfather, imagining what it had been like for a woman during that period to love science as her great grandmother had. Claudia felt torn by her love for what Einstein had done, and angry at how he had treated Mileva after he became a celebrity.

Running her hands across the furniture, she again closed her eyes as she tried to imagine Albert and Mileva’s life in this small apartment. Opening her eyes, she fell behind the tour group, stopping to gaze at the photographs. Time passed as she stood there in a trance. The young scientist reverently cupped her hands around a photograph of Mileva and Einstein. She inhaled every pixel: Mileva dressed in a tan outfit, shining like the new bride she was, next to Einstein with his curly hair and mustache, grinning at the camera.

She pondered their relationship. Was he really a publicity-seeking buffoon who denigrated his wife when he became famous as she had argued to the panel of scientists? Or was he misunderstood by Claudia and the handful of historians who had suggested Mileva’s role in his discoveries?

The thoughts tore her apart, because Claudia now felt a commonality with this historic flat and guilty for how she had vilified her great grandfather to the Committee members, his greatest living admirers. The apartment now seemed familiar to her, as if it were a part of her, a remnant of what she had been, the place of her ancestors. Tears flowed as she focused on the photograph. They were tears not of empathy for Mileva, for what her great grandfather had done to her, but tears of joy for how she felt.

Claudia’s tears turned to sobs, because now she knew why this driving passion for science was in her. She finally understood why she had no other choice in her life. Theoretical physics was part of her, the only path she could ever take. It was her life. She wept because Claudia Kohl, a young woman blessed with abilities inherited from one of the greatest minds to have ever inhabited planet earth, now knew who her family was.

A handkerchief appeared as Claudia raised her hand to wipe the rush of tears from her cheeks.

It was the tour guide.

“I see you are fan of Dr. Einstein.” The elder woman stood next to Claudia and looked at the photograph in her hands.

All the tourists had left the museum.

Claudia accepted the handkerchief and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. Yes. A fan of Mileva, actually.”

The guide pointed to the photo. “They were very much in love.”

“It seems that way,” said Claudia, dabbing her eyes.

“Don’t be embarrassed, young lady. Many people are moved by this place. I have been guiding tours here since we opened in 1979. A quarter million visitors have visited this Einstein apartment. They come from all over the world. I have seen crusty old men with tears in their eyes. And I can understand why. I myself am related to Dr. Einstein, through a second cousin.”

“You are a relative of Einstein?”

“Yes,” said the guide. “It’s a long story. I was orphaned as a young child in Nazi Germany. I only learned of my relationship when I researched my lineage, after the war.”

Claudia immediately felt a bond with the older woman. “And because of that you are now working here?”

“That and other reasons. But I’m not actually employed by the Einstein house. …I am a volunteer.”

The guide examined Claudia carefully.

“You are a student of science?”

“Yes,” said Claudia.

Claudia pointed at the picture of Mileva. “But it is this scientist that I am interested in.”

She put her arm on Claudia’s shoulder. Her touch was gentle. Claudia sensed a kindness, a comfort that emanated from this woman’s hand.

“What is it about the Doctor’s first wife that could bring a young woman to tears?” said the guide.

Claudia thought about her answer and hesitated. The events of the past week had been dangerous, people were after her. But she felt a connection with this tender woman. She too was an orphan, and if the elder guide were to be believed, also a relative of Einstein. No one knew that Claudia would be visiting the Einstein house, not even Todd was told about the visit. She felt safe. There was something about this woman that drew Claudia to her. Claudia felt she could trust her. And she had an overwhelming desire to talk to someone who knew about the Einstein legacy.

“Actually, I just learned that there may be a connection between Mileva and me.”

The tour guide smiled. “A relative? I know the entire lineage of the Einstein family. Are you sure?”

“Yes,” said Claudia. “It’s a long story.”

“Come,” she said. “I have to lock up this place. Do you have time for coffee?”

“Yes, I’d like that,” said Claudia.

“My name is Christina,” said the guide. She offered her hand and Claudia shook it.

“Follow me.”

The tour guide secured the windows and doors, and set the electronic alarm before leaving the apartment house. Claudia noticed one of John’s security men as she and Christina strolled down Kramgasse. He pretended he was looking at a tourist brochure. She looked around to see if she could spot the other man and John, whom she knew was watching her every move.

Claudia and the guide wandered down the streets of the medieval city. They passed one building near the Zytglogge and the guide pointed. “There is the patent office where Einstein worked. You can see that he had a clear view of the clock.

“Yes,” said Claudia, the tears again welling in her eyes.

The older woman noticed her discomfort. She slipped her arm into Claudia’s. “You are troubled.”

“Yes,” said Claudia, dabbing her eyes. “All my life I thought I was an orphan, with no family… and now this.”

“I too lost my parents as a young girl. But now instead of believing you are an orphan, you have come up with this crazy idea that you are a relative of the famous Dr. Albert Einstein?”

“His great granddaughter,” said Claudia.

The guide smiled and gently joined her hands on Claudia’s arm. “You are a nice young woman. You seem troubled. But I must tell you, that is not possible. I know the entire lineage of Dr. Einstein and you cannot be –”

“Lieserl is my grandmother.”

“Impossible.” The guide was shocked at hearing the name of the illegitimate daughter.

“Very possible,” said Claudia. “Lieserl lived; she was kept hidden.”

“As I said, I have been guiding these tours since the museum opened. I have read everything ever written about Einstein. And speaking with his remote relatives, I discovered my own lineage. It is not possible. How can you say such a thing?”

“Tests were done on me at childbirth, overseen by an eminent group of scientists, including one who worked with my great grandfather.” Claudia stopped and focused on her eyes on the woman.

“I am an Einstein.”

“I didn’t think it was possible that –”

“The proof is demonstrable. If anyone knew I had mentioned this to you there would be hell to pay. But I need to talk to someone who knows about the family. Please, my lineage must be kept secret. Promise me. I took a chance telling you. There are dark forces at work and I must be careful. Do you understand?”

“Uh, yes,” said Christina, trying to believe her, but confused by this young woman. She appeared to be sincere, but the guide knew what Claudia said was impossible. All the historians concluded that Lieserl, the illegitimate daughter of Einstein and Maric, born illegitimate before they married, had died at age two of scarlet fever. There was no actual proof that the two year old Lieserl had died, because the records had all been destroyed. But if what this young woman said was true, how could have such a secret been kept for all these years without someone finding out?

“Tell me something,” said Claudia, redirecting the conversation. “When I was looking at the photograph of Albert and Mileva, you said they were ‘very much in love.’ If that is true, why did Einstein treat Mileva so badly? Why didn’t he give her credit for her work? She developed, proofed and edited some of his most important papers. And they were written in such a short period. The proof lies in the fact that his ‘annis mirabilis’ or miracle year, as you call it, only occurred with Mileva by his side. It’s not his miracle year; it’s his ‘Mileva year’ - the most important year of his scientific life. “

The guide smiled, her voice soft. “History has a way of being forgotten. Things are very different for young people these days…especially women. When I was a young girl my parents encouraged me only to marry and have children.” She patted Claudia’s arm. “That was the way things were done.”

“Yes, but –”

“Mileva’s parents were pioneers. It was unheard of for a Serbian woman to study science. Her father encouraged her.”

“But we are talking about Einstein,” said Claudia, “and what his early papers stood for.”

“Yes,” said the guide. “But you must know that Albert and Mileva’s relationship was very complex. She was a Serbian gentile, and he a Jew. She loved him very much and would have walked through fire for him. And he loved her. People in those days would not believe a woman scientist was capable of such an accomplishment. They would have thought he put her name on his papers out of love, not science. Mileva knew that. There was no quid pro quo for her help. She just wanted him to succeed.”

The guide pointed at Claudia. “Things were very difficult for him in those days. Albert Einstein was a Jew in a gentile world, and he was a rebel. But he did love her.”

“So why did he treat her with such contempt?” said Claudia.

“Dr. Einstein was a complex man, not a perfect one. They were very young when they met, and immature. From all accounts she was his first lover. But what he did as a physicist, reinventing the world of science, fighting the philistines who protected the status quo; that is what was important. He was not the first great scientist facing that kind of opposition.”

“That does not excuse his treatment of her.”

“No,” said the guide, “but think of the personal trauma facing an outsider like Einstein, fighting the world because of his brilliance… and his religion. People were after him, they were jealous. All of this on top of the rigors of his work. You know of Galileo?”

“Yes?”

“Think of his trials, what he went though as a scientist. Another great mind in a world of philistines. And Galileo fought the status quo his entire life. He was tried by the Church for heresy and condemned for his beliefs. Some would call him a martyr. But then even martyrs have their dark sides. Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock. Two were girls and because of their illegitimate birth, they were sent to a convent where they remained their entire lives.”

The guide was emphatic. “Should we condemn Galileo for this?”

Claudia began to understand the elder woman’s logic.

“The world was and still is a cruel place,” said the guide. “Why should you castigate Einstein for being self-centered in such a harsh world? He struggled and won against overwhelming odds.”

“I suppose that there is truth in what you say,” said Claudia. “Hard to understand, the way he treated her. And I know well the self-centered nature of science. Nothing else matters but the quest for answers.”

“You are wise beyond your years.”

She clasped hands with the guide. “And you are very kind.”

“As are you,” said the guide.

They walked further, under the hidden surveillance of John and his men, until they reached an outdoor café. A waiter held the guide’s chair before she sat down. Claudia sat facing her. Christina ordered two coffees and reached across the table for Claudia’s hand.

“Now you must tell me all you can about Lieserl. I must say that I find this very hard to believe. I promise: I will cut my tongue out before I disclose a word to anyone.”

Claudia smiled, leaned over and told the woman what Blackstone had told her about Lieserl. She omitted any mention of the Committee, her abduction or any of the other secrets she had learned since coming to Switzerland. Christina was kind and gave Claudia her support as she listened.

Christina told Claudia about her past. She was seven years old when her parents had forced her to leave Germany. Her father, a rabbi, had given money to a close friend in the German resistance to sneak her to their relatives in England. Tears formed in the old woman’s eyes as she spoke of the day her crying father yelled at her, telling her to leave the house when the resistance man came to take her away. She had refused, and her father forced her into this stranger’s arms. The picture of her older brother cuddling her distraught mother in his arms, her teary eyed father forcing her to leave, was etched in her mind. Soon after, she learned, the Nazis came and took her family to the death camps. Her father had paid for information, and he had known they were coming for the family when he gave Christina to the resistance man.

Claudia held the woman tight, and the two orphans cried for their lost families.

They were at the table for over an hour when John finally approached them. John nodded an abrupt ‘hello’ to the tour guide.

“We have to go. Do you remember our deal?”

Claudia and the guide remained seated.

“John, say hello to Christina.” The elderly woman reached up and shook his hand.

“My pleasure,” she said.

“John is my guardian angel,” said Claudia.

“I never knew angels could be so handsome,” said Christina.

John blushed at the comment.

Claudia and Christina stood and hugged one another.

“It was wonderful speaking with you,” said Claudia. “You’ve opened my eyes a bit.”

“Don’t be sad, dear. Things will work out. And I do believe you. You are quite fortunate to be an Einstein,” said the guide.

“I guess I am,” she replied. “Thank you.”

John looked harshly at Claudia when he heard the woman’s comment about her great grandfather.

Claudia responded with a smile. “Don’t worry, John. It’s okay.” She glanced at the old woman. Back at the Einstein house her instincts told her this elder woman would never betray her secret.

“She can be trusted.”

The two women again hugged, as the SUV pulled up and the second security man appeared from nowhere.

“Be well,” said the guide, now impressed by the three burly security men watching over Claudia. She looked at John. “She’s right. You don’t have to worry young man. I, too, am a relative of the great man. I can assure you, my lips are sealed.” She gently reached for Claudia’s arm.

“I will take your secret to the grave.”

John was uneasy with the tour guide’s comments. He was quiet as he held the door open for Claudia. The first security man entered while the second waited for Claudia to step into the vehicle. Claudia paused for a last look at Christina and hopped in. John closed the door and gestured for the last security man to climb in. The three men scanned the area around the SUV. John twisted the ignition key and the engine roared to life.

The tour guide stood waving as Claudia and her entourage sped from the scene.