[196] So now I was a [mulus] (a boy who is to go to university but has not yet started residence). In the summer of 1902 I got my first civilian suit. I felt very funny in a blue with thin white stripes,  collar, necktie, [vorleger, schnallchen und brettchen][?] . I first practiced tieing the necktie on a water pitcher. We spent the summer again in Baten, where the family Eliasberg, with Selly and Gina also lived (193). People wished me "[Russian phrase]", a Russian play on words for coming in and falling in, that is, into university - I should be admitted to the university but not get caught in an anti-government activity. This did not really apply to me, since though I was not at all god believing, through all my school education and company of officers' children I showed myself as loyal to the Czar. [197]

[Letter dated 6 October 1902, from chemical university laboratory, KOENIGSBERG, offering a position in the lab]

In the final exams I had grades of 3 in Russian, 4 in algebra, 5 in physics, geometry, trigonometry, for a total of 27 out of a possible 30. Non-Jews were admitted everywhere with 18. My application to the Riga Polytechnic was rejected, since Jews scoring under 30 were subject to a lottery. What to do? My father let me persuade him to let me apply to KOENIGSBERG, where I was admitted, and left to go there on 30 September 1902. My father bought me a second class ticket. I did not travel second class again until my return from [South] America. I announced myself at the university offices, where I was told that the semester would not start until 15 October. For lunch I bought myself a can of sardines, and a half pound of grapes which I found delightful. [198] That same evening I travelled to Berlin to relatives with whom I spent the 14 days. I walked from the station zoo[?] to Lutherstrasse 4 where uncle Jacob and aunt Mina lived, but they had just gone to KOENIGSBERG, and did not return until the next morning. But aunt Hand was there, with the children Georg, Trude and Else. The same day I also met uncle Dodo, and in the evening, along with aunt Hand he took me to a fantastic wine restaurant, Rheingold or some such. I remember, as if it were today, that there were oysters and [turkenbluth]. I dutifully swallowed the oysters, which I ate only once again in my life with just as little enthusiasm, but the [Turkenbluth], a mixture of red wine and champagne, was very much to my taste. I became very lively, and when we left the place I ran lightheartedly after the streetcar and jumped on. But since aunt Hand and uncle Dodo were not so lively and could not reach it I had to jump off again. [199]

I spent the 14 days in Berlin and also in Magdeburg as if I were delirious. I met the relatives and visited museums and exhibitions daily, and soon was familiar with Berlin. Then it was time to back to Koenigsberg supplied with a giant food-box from aunt Manna. From my first morning in Berlin I ate pork. Aunt Manna and uncle Nathan had so freed themselves from the Koenigsberg tradition that they only observed Rosh-Hashono and Yom Kippur, and I was not inhibited by any religious thoughts.

I was enrolled, rented a room near the lab, and introduced myself to the Lab director, privy councillor  [geheimrat] Losser. That led to difficulties. In the first semester one was not allowed to practice, only to attend lectures. But on my request, and following a brief examination Losser allowed me to engage in a minor practice. [200] This meant I could do analytical work for half the day, but since I also wanted to do something in the lab in the afternoons I kept busy with preparatory work, working out the iodine and silver backlog, etc. At any rate, I was in the lab from early until late. In the morning lecture on inorganic experimental chemistry with Losser, then introduction to analytical chemistry with Blochman, and then until evening in every possible assortment [alles mogliche bunt durcheinander]. My goal was to become professor of chemistry;  nothing else was available [etwas anderes gab es nicht]. Losser was the discoverer of hydroxylamines, one of the great feats of chemistry at the time. He was a pleasant old gentleman and a splendid teacher. Though I would sometimes visit Professor Struve on the starwatch, who showed me the moon through the refractor, I was definitely  addicted [verfallen] to chemistry. [201]

Outside of that, during my first semester, I led a rather strange life. I had no friends. I had no direct command from home to look up mother"s relatives, and never did. After my return from Berlin I went to dinner in a restaurant. I did order something, but the majestic waiter, the whole aristocratic atmosphere, and being alone in a restaurant for the first time, had an overwhelmingly depressing effect on me, so I was very happy when I was able to flee the place. The whole time I was in Koenigsberg I never again went to a restaurant, never ate at a [mittagtisch] lunch table. I received 100 Mark a month from home, which was quite sufficient at the time. However, I kept buying books, chemicals, and glassware for my lab in Libau, and was always short of money. Morning, noon, and night I heated water on an alcohol burner, prepared malt coffee in a pot [sturtzkanne], and at every meal [202] ate slices of black bread with liver sausage until I was satiated. Occasionally Mrs. Bottcher, the landlady, would give me fried potatoes, which was a feast. On Sunday afternoons I went to a confectionery where I loved to eat  cream-puffs [Windbeutel] and bought myself a half pound of cold-cuts. Otherwise I spent every evening at home, nobody was concerned for me, and I did not even know that Koenigsberg had a good theater and opera, and went to no concerts. When I think back on it, I am amazed that I could be so  uncultured [wild], but so it was.

The Christmas holidays of 1902/3 I again spent with aunt Manna in Berlin and aunt Hand in Magdeburg. The high point was a visit to the Stassfurt salt mine, and a descent into the 700 meter deep shaft. Then I returned to the normal lab life in Koenigsberg until Easter, which ended with a semester examination. [203] The evening before the exam I had my greatest experience. The pharmaceutical institute had received a Linde machine for liquid air, and quite a few liters of liquid air were made available for prof. Blochmann's lecture demonstration. I had heard a similar lecture in Libau when I was the slide projectionist at the technical society, and went to Blochmann to ask him whether he would demonstrate the explosive properties. The experiment consisted of pouring a bit of alcohol into a glass cylinder, then pouring some liquid air over it, and putting a glowing match into the resulting fog, whereupon there would be an impressive puff. Blochmann promised to do the demonstration. In the evening, during his lecture, he showed the usual trifles - hardening of flowers, freezing alcohol and bromine, etc. At the end he mentioned that I had told him of an experiment about the explosive properties of liquid air. He poured some liquid air into a beaker, after some search found the alcohol and poured some in, and when he added the glowing match the liquid air had evaporated and the alcohol burned quietly. [204] Yes, yes he said, it burns, obviously embarrassed that he had done the experiment on my advice. He was deeply indignant and offended by my conceit. It was not possible that an experiment that I recommended would not work!

The lecture was over, and the listeners assembled around the demonstration table that held all the Dewar jars and other vessels. In front of me stood an unused, tall, cylindrical Dewar jar. I poured in a few cc of alcohol and added some liquid air. When the expected fog started to form I lit a match, and everyone noticed I had something planned and rushed to me to stop me, but at that moment I sank the match into the fog. There was an awful blast that could be heard in all three stories of the giant lab building. [205] The table had been swept free of all the Dewar jars. The explosion had not only destroyed the experimental vessel, but also all the others. My hands were streaming with blood, but I felt no pain, others were also bleeding, an assistant's head also. I rinsed off the blood and could see no injury, but continued bleeding. I even thought that it might be stirring from the air pressure of the explosion. Anyway, the experiment was successful - no-one present would ever forget that liquid air can be a mean explosive. At home I realized the cause of the bleeding - the skin was full of tiny embedded glass slivers. Months later some of them were still coming out through infections. The well known angel who protects children, drunks, the mad, and chemists must have been present - nobody was more injured that I, even though the splinters could so easily have gone into someone's eye. [206] I had to pay a fine of one mark for broken glass. At night the pain started, as of many mosquito bites. But in spite of the pain I did well on my exam the next day, packed up my flasks, and returned home to Libau. So ended my first semester.
 
INTERMISSION
 
What to do next? The most valuable goal was still to get a Russian diploma, which provided a residence permit. My friend Tauchum Eiduss and I decided to repeat the final school exam as  non-students [externe]. That way we would have the chance of eventually getting a better score. The difficulty was that not only would we have to repeat the current graduation exam, but as non-students had to be tested in various subjects from which students were excused. We sat ourself down and worked frantically. The result was that each of us gained two points. [207] Eiduss went from 28 to 30, I from 27 to 29, by getting 4 instead of 3 in Russian, and 5 instead of 4 in algebra. But in spite of this admission to the Riga Polytechnic was again denied, even for Eiduss with his perfect 30 points!

Document in Russian -   certificate from Koenigsberg? Date 1902/3 is mentioned, all numbers either 4 or 5..

I tried to use the year to fulfill my military service as a  one-year-enlistee [einjaeriger]. At the  artillery fort I was told that Jews could not be admitted to technical troops. The fort battalion also did not work, and I did not want to apply to the infantry. Then Eiduss and I decided to travel to Kiev, and try to get into the polytechnicum by competitive exam. We went to Kiev. turned in the papers, learned of the requirements, and began to work wildly. In the morning there was a pitcher of milk and a corn-cob, at mid-day we met in the [Russian words], Krakau dairy on the Kreschschtschentik [sic] ([Russian word]) [208] where one invariably ate borscht and drank Fialka, a seltzer water that was slightly sweetened, and lightly violet-scented. Then, back to slaving into the night. The exams covered Russian, physics, algebra, and geometry, the last including trigonometry and  projective geometry. The maximum score was 20. For non-Jews the gate opened at 12. I got 17.5, since once again I only got 3.5 in Russian. Eiduss got 20, but got a blank in the lottery. I saw nothing of Kiev, was on the shore of the Dnieper only once; after the exam results became known the police made me leave Kiev on the next train, since as a Jew I had no residence right and was tolerated only till the exams were over.

Document in Russian - Certificate from Kiev exam, showing 3 1/2, 5, 4, 5, adding to 17 1/2.

Once again I was in Libau, and once again the endless discussions about where to go began. [209] Now I was no longer thinking of Koenigsberg, wanted positively to go to Freiberg in Saxony, where the mining academy had long attracted many students from the Baltic. So it was decided. The passport had been obtained, and everything was ready for the trip, when the news came from Riga that the minister, in his goodness and kindness, had accepted a few dozen of minimally qualified non-Jews, and thus a few vacancies for Jews had opened, among which were my friends Eiduss and Mansfeld, and I. The passport was cancelled, and I came to Riga into the polytechnicum, where I was quartered at aunt Therese. That was September 1903, and according to plan I was to graduate in 1908 as chemical engineer, obtain residence rights for all of Russia, and so forth. How differently it all turned out. [209]
 
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