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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Thomas Harding

‘Hitler’s hatred of the scientist had intensified. There was a price on his head’: the tragic story of Robert Einstein, Albert’s cousin

Black and white image of Albert Einstein with his secretary, Miss B Howard, and Commander Oliver L Lampson, who had arranged for an armed guard for the scientist at his holiday camp near Cromer
Albert Einstein with his secretary, Miss B Howard, and Commander Oliver L Lampson, who had arranged for an armed guard for the scientist at his holiday camp near Cromer. Photograph: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Early on the morning of 3 August 1944, a unit of heavily armed German soldiers arrived at the Villa Il Focardo outside Florence.

They didn’t knock. They didn’t ring the bell. They simply smashed through the front door, marched in and started shouting for the villa’s owner, Robert Einstein, cousin of the world-famous scientist Albert Einstein.

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