 His maternal grandparents were Gustav Landauer, a leading theorist on anarchism, and author Hedwig Lachmann.Nichols was a third cousin twice removed of scientist Albert Einstein, through Nichols' mother.In April 1939, when the Nazis were arresting Jews in Berlin, seven-year-old Mikhail and his three-year-old brother Robert were sent alone to the United States to join their father, who had fled months earlier.