COMMON SENSE ON THE
GERMAN PROBLEM
WILLIAM EBENSTEIX
THE complete fiasco of U. S. policy on Germany is now a fact.
When the leading German war criminals, Goering,
Streicher, Ley, Kesselring, Von Rundstedt, Von Papen and
others surrendered to United States forces, our allies discovered
in dismay that the top gangsters in Germany considered capture
by the Americans their only hope to escape the relentless glip
of justice and retribution. As the days of Germany's surrender
approached early in May, the toughest German criminals looked
frantically for an asylum, and believed thEW had found it in the
United States army. When Hermann Goering handed himself
over to our troops, he knew perfectly well that the Russians
make no distinction between fat criminals and thin ones. By
his American captors he was treated with soldierly camaraderie,
including newspaper interviews, dozens of pictures and all that
goes with the reception of a celebrity.
A basic motive in appeasing the Nazis and Fascists before
1939 was the fear that resistance to Nazi-Fascist imperialism
would upset too much the existing constellation of power in the
world. The theory of British and American foreign policy in
the years 1933-1939 was that Fascism and Nazism, repUlsive
as they might be in this or that detail, were nevertheless, on the
whole, forces of order and stability. From the business men's
point of view, thiR thesis could also be expressed in the formula
that you could do business with Hitler and his Nordic confreres
in Rome and Tokio. A policy of soft peace toward Germany
is the perfect continuation of our pre-war appeasement policy.
The fundamental thing to remember about the whole German
issue is this: we are now the only people that still need to discuss
and investigate the Germans. By contrast, every European is
now a full -flfl<1ged expert on the German problem. Any peasant
in Yugoslavia, Russia or Poland, any business man in Utrecht
or Brussels, any working man in Athens or Oslo, could qualify
to give graduate seminars on the German problem at Harvard
or Columbia. The Czechs and Poles, the Yugoslavs and Russians, the Dutch and Belgians, the Danes and Norwegians, the
French and Greeks do not need any books or lectures on the
Ro-called German problem. These people know.
COMMON SENSE ON THE GERMAN PROBLEM 285
The British have suffered the honors of war this time as
never before in their history. Every third home in Britain
destroyed or damaged, high casualties of soldiers and civilians,
economic and financial draining of resources built up over more
than three centuries, these are some of the losses that Britain
has experienced in World War II. But despite all these setbacks, Britain was the only European belligerent that was spared
the actual sight of German occupation. The Germans planned
to make another Poland out of England, but missed the boat
from Calais to Dover.
From the last few centuries of dealing with Germans,
Europeans have learned that they are either at your throat or
at your knees. Three hundred million Europeans have had the
Gel'illl:LIU; at their throaLs lor fi va years, and the BriLish were in
the German grip for an uncomfortably long time. In oUT own
case, we have known the Germans only at our knees. Our home
front sufferings in World War II on account of the Germans
can hardly be compared with the experiences of the occupied
nations. Total war brought to American civilians the crushing
dilemma of having to choose between chicken and duck when
steaks became scarce. One wonders what the reaction of a
Greek or Belgian would be on being told that we suffered so much
in World War II that we were forced to eat chicken!
If thirty million Americans had been liq uida ted in American
Lublins and Oswiecims, we should be familiar with an aspect of
the German problem that the Poles have come to understand.
If seven .million American prisoners had been kept in German
concentration camps for five years and treated as the French
prisoners were, we should grasp a facet of the German issue
that the French people will not forget soon. If Pittsburgh,
Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and Philadelphia had been looted,
destroyed and scorched several times, we should probably be in
a better position to penetrate the feelings of the Russian people.
If sixty per cent of our richest farm land had been wilfully made
sterile, not to be retrieved perhaps for centuries, wo could probably comprehend the state of mind of the Dutch. If young
healthy American men and women had been offered for sale as
slaves in public auctions in German towns and villages, we should
be able to appreciate the hatred that fires millions of Europeans
against their German tormentors. If thousands of young American girls had been requisitioned for German brothels to amuse
the master race, we might possibly put ourselves in the place
286
THE DALH OUSI E REVI EW
of Polish , Russia n or Jewish parent s who were forced to sacrifice
their daugh ters to Germ an lust. If, under Germa n occup ation,
a govern ment of Fritz Kuhn, Cough lin, Pelley and Vierec k had
been set up in this countr y, we might better imagin e what a
Frenc hman felt living under Laval and Petain , or what a N orwegia n thoug ht of Premi er Quisling, that pet of the Germa ns.
There is anothe r reason why it is difficult for Ameri cans
to under stand the nature of the Germa n issue. The Germa n
politic al experi ence before and during the Nazi system is so
outsid e the reality of Ameri can life that it requir es the intelle ct
n
of a Newto n, the vision of a Blake and the heart of a Lincol
.
nwald
Buche
in
on
went
what
to under stand in Kansa s City
finally
have
who
ns
Germa
few
Thom as Mann , one of the very
s
seen the light, has warne d the Germa ns that, while other nation
.
crime
n
Germa
of
scope
and
scale
the
s,
too have co:rruilltted wrong
live
again
ever
will
they
how
see
t
are such that one canno
fratern ally with the rest of the world.
In his magnu m opus, "Mein Kamp f", the idol of moder n
Germa ny says that it is much wiser to tell big lies than to tell
little ones, becaus e the ordina ry man, who himse lf occasional1~
tells a little lie, will see throug h it, buL in the case of the big lie
e
he will believe, becaus e he will refuse to admit that anyon
could make up such fantas tic tales. This techni que was used
with astoni shing success not only by Germa n propag anda, but
also by Germa n organi zation of crime. If a few hundr ed or a
few thousa nd had been starve d to death by the Germa ns, such
crimes would have been easily believ ed in the outsid e world,
becaus e they were crimes that were within the realm of known
experi ence. But when the world was told that the Germa ns
were system aticall y slaugh tering millio ns of people in scientifically planne d death factori es, it refuse d to believe.
After our troops penetr ated into the heart of Germa ny
and saw what had happe ned in Belsen, Dacha u and Buche nwald, the Ameri can public "disco vered" these conce ntratio n
camps that had been in operat ion for years. In following- the
reports of many of our soldiers on these camps I have been
struck by the fact that practi cally all start by saying : "I had
alway s thoug ht that these stories about the conce ntratio n camps
were propa ganda ." This was a posthu mous triump h of Dr.
Goebb els.
When ever we shall hear hence forth of the gemuetlich Germa n
H ausfra u, we should remem ber the wife of the Buche nwald
COMMON SENSE ON THE GERMAN PROBLEM 287
camp commandant who had a little hobby: collecting tattoeod
skins of human beings. Whenever prisoners were brought into
the concentration camp, this charming hostess looked for tattooed skins. After due killing of these prisoners, the H ausfrau
made lampshades out of these tattoed skins, for her own use and
pleasure, and also to have little gifts around for friends at Christmas and other festive occasio:us.
What we fail especially to understand is that, biologically,
the Germans have won this war, although decisively defeated in
the field. For over five years the Continent of Europe was
forced to starve while the Germans lived off the fat of the land.
In his New Year's message of 1943 Goering boasted that the
Germans would be the last in Europe to suffer from hunger.
Now that the Germans have lost control over twelve million
foreign slave laborers, they discover that it is harder to work
for one's own living than to steal wine from France, butter from
Holland, cheese from Denmark, fish from Norway, meat from
Yugoslavia and a rare taste of caviar from Russia.
Since Germany lost her war, fighting against democratic
nations, she will not have to suffer in any way commensurate
with her misdeeds. The gangster has always the advantage
over the decent citizenry that he can use any means, fair or foul,
to gain his ends, whereas the police and court who catch and try
him are bound by standards of civilized conduct, have to feed
and clothe him, and are concerned with his moral and material
welfare. Likewise, the Germans did not really risk too much
in their attempt to enslave the world. They knew that, should
they win the war, the people of the world would be turned into
carriers of water and hewers of wood serving the Teutonic
masters. Should they lose the war, the Germans thought, the
democracies would forgive and forget.
In 1941, a Balkan diplomat, who had been staunchly
anti-Nazi before the war, was asked why he had switched sides
and joined the German camp. "It is very simple," he answered.
"If the Germans win, they will kill me if I have been against
them, and favor me if I have been with them. If the Allies win,
and I have been against them, no harm will be done to me,
because democracies, after all, do not believe in violence and
punishment. "
The moral devastation of Germany is another legacy that
cannot be quickly settled by military means. The Germans
have very vague notions of what has happened in the world
288
THE DALH OUSI E REVI EW
in the last twelve years. Nor have they a better concep tion
of what the world thinks of them. Many Germa ns, includ ing
some of the top war crimin als among the genera ls, have sugges ted
that we look upon the war as a footba ll game. Now that it is
all over, why not shake hands and forget about it all?
When Marti n Niemo eller was freed by Ameri can forces,
he immed iately expres sed his concer n about the dange r of
Marxi sm to the new Germa ny. In this he was followed by
leadin g Catho lic priests , such as Bishop von Galen . Niemo eller
was for all practi cal purpo ses a fanati cal Nazi in the years 1922
,
to 1936. When his autobi ograph y, From the U-Boat to the Pulpit
great
a
as
press
was publis hed in 1934, It was hailed by the Nazi
Germa n story. In 1936 he discov ered, after following the Nazi
line for fourte en years, that Nazis m and Christ ianity were not
quite compa tible. In this he showe d greatn ess, as ninety -five
per cent of his colleagues, the Protes tant minist ers, kept on
n
believ ing in the Satani c doctri nes of raciali sm and war. Germa
preach
to
ation,
occup
minist ers have dared, under United States
agains t the San Franci sco Confe rence on the groun d that some
of the delega tes were not "Chris tian", meani ng Russia n or
Jewish .
Where as the Germa n people were shut off, in both world
wars, from free chann els of comm unicat ion, thus remai ning
unawa re of what the world thoug ht of them, the Ameri can
people were flooded, in both world wars, with pro-G erman propagan da. The Reich secret ly subsid ized daily papers in the
s
United States and bough t up propa ganda agents . Even liberal
for
d
pleade
ohn
Lewis
g
Ludwi
and
like Oswal d Garris on Villar d
the fine values of Germa n Kultu r. After 1933, we had, first,
the native Ameri can would -be pallbe arers of democ racy who
tried to persua de us that resista nce agains t invinc ible Germa ny
was hopele ss from a milita ry point of view, and that Fascis m
and Nazis m were in any case the wave of the future . So why
not play ball with histor y, and let the Germa ns take over for
just, a couple of centur ies?
As this intelle ctual fifth-c olumn ism abated after Pearl
Harbo r, the work for the Germa n cause in the United States was
increa singly taken over by anothe r set of propag andist s, the
so-call ed anti-N azi Germa ns. With but few except ions, such as
the noble figures of Friedr ich Wilhe lm Foerst er and Thom as
Mann , ~he Germa n politic ians and public ists reside nt in this
eount ry came out with impas sioned pleas for a soft treaty for
COMM ON SENS E ON THE GERM AN PROB LEM
289
the Father land. If the anti-N azi Germa ns were really fundamenta lly differe nt from the Nazis, as they claim to be, they would
conce ntrate their attent ion and effort on sugges tions as to how
t
Germa ny could make good the ravage s wroug ht by her agains
azi
anti-N
most
three hundr ed millio n people . But becaus e
n
Germa ns share all the essent ial charac teristi cs of the Germa
tire
not
do
they
traditi on that finally culmi nated in Nazism ,
e
telling the Britis h and Ameri can peoples that the Nazi diseas
were
l
genera
is a world disease, and that in any case Germa ns in
fanati cal anti-N azis with the except ion of Hitler , Himm ler and
possib ly three or four more. As to the natlire of the peace settleg
ment, the anti-N azi Germa ns in this countr y keep on warnin
Gerthe
us that Germa ny will not accep t an unjust peace, that
mans must be taugh t the virtue s of democ racy by a soft peace,
and they occasi onally even threat en with a third world war
n
unless the United Nation s make a peace that appeal s to Germa
ns
civilia
nt
innoce
of
pride and intere st. At a time when millio ns
were metho dically killed in the Germa n death factori es of
Lublin and Oswiecim, these so-call ed liberal Germa ns saw fit
to exhum e all the unple asant incide nts in Britis h and Ameri can
history , from the mutinieR in India to the lynchi ngs in Alaba ma.
One conclusion, theref ore, inevit ably impos es itself: the difference betwe en the Nazi Germa ns and anti-N azi Germa ns is not so
signifi cant as has been assert ed by either group.
Now that the main source of Germa n power and influence,
the army, is destro yed, now t;hat there is no Germa n state or
a
govern ment, Germa n intere sts abroad are still repres ented by
access
have
who
men
of
highly articu late a,nn resour ceful group
to all means of direct ly appea ling to public opinio n in the United
Nation s. The so-call ed anti-N azi Germa ns in Britai n and the
n
United States have thus becom e the last line of defence of Germa
interests.
We canno t under stand the first thing about the Germa n
proble m unless we try to grasp the essent ials of the Nazi menta lity throug h the behav ior of the anti-N azis. .Just as the key to an
under standi ng of Germa n milita rism is to be found in the
behav ior of Germa n civilia ns, Nazism can be best 1mderstood
to
through the behavior and menta li ty of the anti-N azis. The key
Nazism
of
es
premis
ed
unstat
and
it
an apprec iation of the implic
will be found less in Treits chke, Hitler and Alfred Rosen berg
than in the flood of anti-N azi books publis hed by Germa ns in
r
the past five years in Britai n and the United States . Max Webe
290
TH E DALHOUSIE RE VIE W
in the las t two gen era tion s.
was Ge rma ny' s gre ate st libe ral
said this to one of his stu den ts:
Bef ore he die d ear ly in 1920, he
ept to con cen trat e all my inte l"I hav e no pol itic al pla ns exc
m, how to get once mo re for
lec tua l stre ngt h on one pro ble
Ge rma ny. a gre at gen era l staf f."
ch the pea k of effr ont ery
Sel f-st yle d ant i-N azi Ger ma ns rea vic tim s of Naz ism . To
:first
wh en the y call the Ger ma ns the
Ger ma ns wer e bot h vic tim s of
the se ant i-N azi s, the Pol es and
y of com mis era tion . In a sense,
Naz ism , and bot h equ ally wo rth
tim , the vic tim of his crim ina l
of cou rse, the ass ass in is a vic
iety sen ds him to jail, alth oug h
pas sio n to kill. Nev erth ele ss, soc
vic tim of the imp uls e to kilL
to his dear frie nds he is jus t the
the firs t vic tim of Na zism
The the ory of Ge rma ny bei ng
t onl y ver y few Ger ma ns wer e
is bas ed on the ass um ptio n tha the ant i-N azi Ger ma ns in this
,
act ual ly gen uin e Naz is. In this
the Ger ma ns in Ger ma ny. A
m
cou ntr y differ in no way fro
ng on in Ge rma ny since V-E
des per ate ma n-h unt has bee n goi but so far our efforts hav e
i,
day to trac k dow n a sing le Naz
er hea rd of suc h a thin g. A
nev
bee n in vai n. Th e Ger ma ns
pro tes ted tha t no one iu his
Ge rma n bur ger -ma ster rec ent ly
poi nte d out to him tha t he mig ht
tow n was Naz i, and wh en it was
sho ute d ang rily : "An yon e wh o
per hap s slig htly exa gge rate , he
my ci ty was a Naz i is infl uen ced
clai ms tha t a single inh abi tan t in
-co mm uni stic pro pag and a."
by J ewi sh- cap ital isti c-p luto cra t.ic
hav e to con side r the non As to the fut ure of Ger ma ny, we sible one for Ge rma ny
onl y pos
dem ocr atic wa y of life as the
ocr acy is, in its tru est me anDem
e.
for qui te som e tim e to com
ple act and thin k volunt aril y in
ing, a wa y of life in wh ich peo
pub lic life . Eve ryt hin g can be
mo st situ atio ns, in pri vat e as in
som eth ing vol unt aril y.
imp ose d exc ept the will to do
ver y ins piri ng per for ma nce
Ge rma n dem ocr acy was not a
cou ld not hav e had suc h an
bef ore 1933, or else Ad olf & Co.
sta yin g the re for twe lve coz y
eas y tim e get ting into pow er and
rs, Ge rma n libe rals die d of a
yea rs. Du rin g tho se twe lve yea
or wer e liqu ida ted by pol itic al
nat ura l dea th, per ish ed in the war er to retu rn. Fur the rmo re,
nev
terr or, and som e we nt abr oad
wa r und er Na zism hav e gre atly
t
nen
ma
per
the req uire me nts of
of the Ge rma n mid dle classes.
red uce d the size and infl uen ce
n pow er wit h the pro mis e to
Asc end ing the thr one of Ge rma
, Na zism has per ma nen tly
sav e Ge rma ny fro m Bol she vism
ctu re by pro leta rian izin g larg e
alte red the Ge rma n class stru
classes.
ma sse s of the Ge rma n mid dle
TH E DA LH OU SIE RE VIE W
291
ns, for the nex t fift y or
Ou r ma in inte res t in the Ger ma
m una ble to wag e war . Wh eth er
sev ent y-fi ve yea rs, is to ma ke the
ocr atic ally , wh eth er the y hav e
Ge rma ns rule the mse lve s dem
l bef ore he lea ds the m into diseno ugh inte llig enc e to see a foo
rau t to app le pie, is for the
aste r, wh eth er the y pre fer sau er-k
Ger ma ns to decide.
cra tic Ge rma ny in the nea r
Do es the pro spe ct of a non -de mo
new war is aro und the cor ner ?
fut ure me an nec ess aril y tha t a
s
tru e tha t non -de mo cra tic nat ion
By no me ans . It sim ply is not
in
Lat
the
of
st
Mo
rld peace.
are ips o facto a thr eat to wo
by dic tato rs. The re are also
ed
rul
are
Am eric an cou ntri es
and Asi a (e.g . Tur key ) tha t are
cou ntri es in Eur ope (e.g. Por tug al) s, yet do not eng age in war s
ime
govern eo by non-de mo cra tic reg
y not ? Fir st, bec aus e the se
Wh
.
ent
em
lav
ens
of con que st and
the ma ste r rac e me gal om ani a.
cou ntri es are not hau nte d by
do not possess the ind ust rial
Second, bec aus e the se peo ple
fare .
reso urc es to wag e mo der n war
l the refo re rep res ent no
A non -de mo cra tic Ge rma ny wil
, pro vid ed the Ger ma ns will
thr eat to wo rld pea ce and freedom
ive ma nia of the H errenvolk
vol unt aril y aba ndo n the col lect
ant , if the Ger ma ns will not
complex, and , eve n mo re imp ort
ke war .
hav e reso urc es wit h wh ich to ma e up the ma ste r rac e ma nia
giv
"Whether the Ge rma ns will
itio n.
dep end s solely on the ir ow n vol
aga in, as in 191 8, in possesWhether the Ger man s wil l be left
on
to wage total war, wil l. dep end
sion of the ind ust ria l resources
the Uni ted Nat ion s.