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Tesla dies at the New Yorker Hotel; U.S. authorities seize his papers

On 7 January 1943 Tesla died at the New Yorker Hotel. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Personal-Data Protection.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 7 January 1943 Tesla died at the New Yorker Hotel. His papers were taken into U.S. wartime custody before the surviving personal collection was transferred to Belgrade. The museum history independently traces the estate’s movement to Yugoslavia.

authorities seize his papers (1943-01-07).

Context

Alien-property law in wartime is the legal colour. This is not a GDPR file. It is analog control of a person’s documentary remainder. The 1952 museum is the later access offset.

Nikola Tesla is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

Papers-control path. High confidence on the death date and later Belgrade holding; medium on the completeness of any wartime inventory.

A seizure is not a coil.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Nikola Tesla

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.25 · verified

    Complex: death plus wartime property seizure. He did not order the search. Stored because private scientific papers became a state file.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactTesla dies at the New Yorker Hotel; U.S. authorities seize his papers
    2. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 7 January 1943 · verified

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Nikola Tesla Museum — historyNikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Nikola TeslaEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Britannica dates the death.

Britannica dates death 7 January 1943. The Tesla Museum history independently traces the archive’s transfer after U.S. custody.

Established: death 7 January 1943 and subsequent official handling of papers before Belgrade deposit. Not established: a complete list of ‘secret weapons’ in the seized boxes, or that the seizure proved a working death ray.

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Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorNikola Tesla
  2. contributed toFactTesla dies at the New Yorker Hotel; U.S. authorities seize his papers
  3. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Tesla dies at the New Yorker Hotel; U.S. authorities seize his papers. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-death-papers-1943

https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-death-papers-1943

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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