Page 28 - DK Life Stories Albert Einstein by AELC

the late 1890s. Albert was afraid that, even

though he was no longer living in Germany,
he would still be called back for military duty.

So, with his parents’ approval, he gave up his
German citizenship. Albert’s pacifism would be

an important feature of his personality throughout
the rest of his life: In later life, Albert would call

himself a “militant pacifist.”
Albert’s main ambition at the Swiss Federal

Polytechnic School was to earn a teaching
degree. He certainly had the brains for it, and

his gentle, humorous nature would undoubtedly
have made him popular with his

DID YOU KNOW? future students. And yet,
Albert made this dream more

difficult by being a somewhat
Albert was stateless
for nearly five years poor student himself!
before he became a For example, Albert
Swiss citizen in 1901.
skipped many classes during

his years at Swiss Federal.

What is pacifism? The belief that war and violence are
never justified. Pacifism argues for
peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

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