Maria "Maja" Einstein Winteler (18 November 1881 - 25 June 1951) was a German Romanist and the younger sister of the physicist

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

Early life and education

Einstein was born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Her mother was Pauline Einstein (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Koch) and her father was Hermann Einstein. Einstein attended elementary school in Munich. Through mismanagement the family got into financial difficulties and moved to Italy. In Milan she attended the German-speaking International School from 1887 to 1894. In 1899 she moved to Aarau, where her brother Albert attended the Kantonsschule and joined the family of the school professor Jost Winteler. There she met his youngest son Paul Winteler, her future husband. In Aarau she was a student of the teacher's seminar from 1899 to 1902. After the death of her father she acquired the teacher's patent in 1905. Einstein studied Romance languages and literature in Berlin,

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, and Paris. She received her doctorate from the University of Bern in 1909 with the dissertation ''Feststellung des Handschriftenverhältnises des Chevalier au Cygne und Enfances Godefroy''. On 23 March 1910 she married Paul Winteler and lost her work permit as a result.

Life

Einstein and her husband moved to Lucerne-Bramberg. After the death of Maja Einstein's mother in 1920, they moved to Italy and acquired an estate outside Florence in Colonnata (Sesto Fiorentino). In 1924, her brother Albert gave them 7,000 Reichsmarks to pay off debts that burdened the estate. Their financial problems continued due to unemployment. Following the introduction of anti-Semitic laws by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

in Italy, Maja Einstein relocated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in February 1939. She moved to Princeton to live with her brother Albert on Mercer Street. Her husband Paul was denied entry to enter the U.S. for health reasons, and he stayed with relatives in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Maja Einstein intended to return home after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1946 she suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. She later developed arteriosclerosis and became bedridden, which prevented her from returning to Europe. Einstein maintained a correspondence with Paul until her death. She died on 25 June 1951 of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

as a result of a fracture of the upper arm in Princeton. Her husband died on 15 July 1952 in Geneva.

Early life and education

Life

References

Further reading