During his years of exile, Konrad Wachsmann always carried this crumpled photograph in his wallet. It shows him next to Albert and Elsa Einstein on the veranda of the summer house he had built for the physicist in Caputh in 1929.

Wachsmann described the idea that brought him the commission to build the house as a “wicked deed”. By chance, Wachsmann discovered the announcement in the newspaper in 1929 stating that the City of Berlin wanted to give the Nobel laureate a house in the country for his fiftieth birthday. Determined, he then looked up Einstein’s address in the Berlin telephone book and took the next train to visit Einstein, who he had never met before. The architect convinced Einstein that he was the right man for the job and completed the house in the same year.

 When Wachsmann received the commission, according to his own statements, his company consisted of nothing but a notebook with a leather cover containing sketches and addresses. Building Einstein’s house brought his architecture office its breakthrough. However, the friendship that developed between him and Einstein while the house was being built proved to be far more important in the following years. When Wachsmann was refused a work permit while living in French exile, Einstein provided him with financial support and helped him gain entry to the USA. Years later, Einstein und Wachsmann saw each other during exile in Princeton again. Later, the architect said that he was impressed by Einstein’s engagement to help emigrants and that this had been a reason why he himself donated money to aid organisations.