The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1934. The New Germany

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21121, 23 March 1934, Page 12

The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1934. The New Germany

A correspondent. " Jugend.' : whose j letter was printed yesterday, makes ; a reasoned appeal for a more sym- J pathetic understanding of ihelorecs which arc now remoulding tin* German state and Iho German nation. , Unfortunately, to judge tin.' Nazi < - movement dispassionately requires : a greater eflor! at intellectual tie- j tachmcnt than most of us are will- , . ing or able to make. For when I all exaggerations have been dis- j [ counted, it remains true that the ; ! Nazi leaders have said, done, and ■ condoned many tilings which have | shocked the civilised world. Capi tain Goering's treatment of the | three Bulgarians acquitted of comi plicitv in the Reichstag tire trial, ' to take a recent instance, was an act of peltv sax agcry which nothing can excise. Moreover. it is hardly : 1 possible iu doubt that there has . been revolting t■ riita 111 in some of , :tne content ration camps. It would i help to redress the balance m . favour ol" the National Socialists to ! i i be able to say. as it was posMble ; ■ to sav of the Jacobm.>. that although . they committed appalling crimes; : their ends were admirable. But j 1 : there is more in National Socialism ! ' that is objectionable than the means by which it reached power. To the j ! extent that it denies freedom of i ' thought, appeals to a crude racial ' 1 feeling, goes back on the economic emancipation ot' worm n. and exalts ; the nation state as supreme and omnicompetent. National Soeiaii: tit is rightly disapproved by the overwhelming weight or public opinion outside Germany and Italy. '1 he trouble is that rational disapproval • : has grown into moral indignation • at once the easiest and most gratify - : ing of all emotions. In the press : and at public meetings the Na/.i regime has been immoderately, at times hysterically, abused. It is be--1 side the point to enquire how much of this abuse iias been misdirected. 1 What is important t.< that the atmosphere of moral indignation has for the moment caused even intelligent men to lose their historical scjisc i arid their mental poise. It Can be said at er.ee that. il all j charges made against the Nan regime were true, it would ; not entitle Englishmen. American.-. : or Frenchmen to >ll m uvH'id juciu- ! mcnt upon the Gorman people. I What has happened m Germany is ; as much the product of vicious iuj ternational policies as ol tiie ; blunders of the German people and | their leaders. President \\ ilson, ; with the full approval ol M. Clemi e nee an and Mr Lloyd George. ' foisted upon the German nation a system of government foreign to its ; temperament and riddled '.villi mi consistencies. Anyone who read-; the Weimar Constitution will wonl del', not whv German democracy ; collapsed, but why it survived for j so long. In add il ion to nn impusod cun.sti- : tution, Germany was compelled to • accept in 1918 a peace settlement as ! humiliating and as politically and i economically unsound as any'in lusi lory. The militaristic tone of the . ' ' third Reich "' is r.ow alarming and ' exasperating its neighbours. Yet it * J is well to remember that in the decade after the war the German U : nation showed almost superhuman i patience in tiie face of repeated

i ; humiliations and trials and that it n j strove anxiously and consistently to ' | strengthen the machinery (or the i preservation of the peace. That j this patience and goodwill have „ i given place to a reckless aggressivej' i ness is largely due to niggard 1 and ! fear-ridden statesmanship outside • i Germany. If the vise leadership I uf Dr. Strcscmann had been sccJ landed and encouraged by the lorI mer allied powers. li it had been 5 I frankly recognised that a great I nation cannot be kept in subjecticui ; indefinitely, the subsequent history 1 of Germany and Europe might have ! been vastly different. And H must | further be borne in mind that by I iL!3O the multiplication of political | parties and political armies thrcat- : encd nothing less than the disrupp I lion of th.e German nation. The ■ alternative to a violent suppression ; of political, class, and regional dif- : krences under National Socialism • was the dissolution ol Gcrman\

; into a group of slate*. These art ; t.'.c most impoi u»m special ciriuir i stances which made possible Hon

, Hitler's rise I" power. Il v ould. ' however, be unwise 1<• regard C : National Socialism merely as a local product oi local causes. It ;.ot a coincidence thai party p>vi eminent is either superseded or m : disrepute in almost every oth.ei" country in the world. !t has been 10 said by an English statesman that ~ ; party government is workable only ; it there is agreement on fundamental principles: but in most states that measure of agreement is bcI, , ginning to disappear. At the very •f time when parly differences are be- - coming deeper and more bitter, the ; grow ins complexity of administia- . live tasks U demanding an uufei- ! ci . tered and flexible executive power. - Clearly. proiound modifications ! l:ave become necessary in the tech- ] i nique of government; and from that I point of view the German experi- ;. j ment has a universal interest. These J are not reasons for condoning the 1 1 excesses of National Socialism: tin y 1 1 arc lor watchmg its devei- . j opment mi elligent ly and sympa-I ' t ) 1 he' icallv. . j