Historic stamp sheet featuring 15 Luxembourg postage stamps honoring refugee workers, 7 x 10.25, signed in the upper left in fountain pen, "Albert Einstein." Issued in 1935 in collaboration with the International Committee to Secure Employment for Refugee Professional Workers and sold in the US under the direction of the Gimbels department store, the stamps honor professors, lawyers, chemists, engineers, doctors, and journalists. Attractively double-matted and framed with a portrait and descriptive plaque to an overall size of 20 x 16. Includes an original newspaper clipping advertising Einstein's presence at Gimbels in association with the sale of the stamps: "Prof. Einstein, returning from Bermuda, will come to Gimbels direct from the pier. If his ship docks at the scheduled hour, he will be at Gimbels at 10 a.m. (and stay for about an hour) to co-operate in the sale of the Luxembourg Semi-ostals, issued to help secure employment for the refugee professional workers. Gimbels is sole agent for these stamps in the United States, and sells them at cost." In very fine condition.
After fleeing Germany himself, Einstein became a tremendous advocate for Jews seeking to escape Hitler's reach and find asylum elsewhere. Joking that he ran an 'immigration office,' he would make visa applications for other German Jews, personally vouch for refugees fleeing Nazi rule, solicit philanthropic support from other celebrities, and aid in securing employment for refugees around the world. Reporting on his Gimbels appearance, the New York Sun noted: 'Prof. Einstein is very much interested in the work of the Refugee Intellectuals and Professional Workers of Europe, for the benefit of whom a part of the proceeds is to be devoted.' Meanwhile, the New York Herald Tribune of June 8, 1935, explained that 'the professor obligingly autographed fifty sets, which were sold as rapidly as he could write his name.' A unique and meaningful souvenir of Einstein's philanthropic work.
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