COMMUNITY FIRST

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 20, 23 July 1937, Page 10

COMMUNITY FIRST

INDIVIDUAL LAST

THE GERMAN VIEW

TRAINING THE YOUNG

j A powerful plea for a wider toler--2 ance and for a deeper understanding " of the psychology of Germany, and I of other European nations, 100, was J made by Dr. Paul Dengler, of Vienna, 1 in his final lecture in the Town Hall r this morning. The hall was filled. Dr. Dengler's subject was "The New Germany and Her Schools." It was very difficult to judge the pre--3 sent Germany from outside, said Dr. ' Dengler, and it was equally difficult to "■ form an opinion from the inside. Many people m Germany when one talked to them were afraid to express their real opinion; others expressed an extreme dislike of the new regime, while the blind enthusiasts welcomed the new paradise on earth. :'Even my own impressions were contradictory," continued Dr. Dengler, "and I saw much that was good side by side with much that seemed to be bad." To understand Germany, one had to understand the national psychology. The Italians were prone to act without thinking. The French liked to act, too, but to think logically first. The British would think and wait, and did not always like to act, but when they did act they often surprised themselves and the world. With Germany, however, it was different. They were the most romantic nation on earth, and imbued with dogmatic thoroughness. When the Empire gave way to democracy, the, people were not prepared for it. The democracy came on the top of the war, when Germany was resentful at being saddled with the sole guilt for the war. . "Had it not been for this signature to the sole-guilt clause," said Dr. Dengler. "there would have been no Hitler." This democracy was therefore weak and almost doomed to die from the very beginning. Turning his attention to the educational aspect in Germany, Dr. Dengler remarked that Germany was the only nation which in its constitution emphasised the international character of education. But nationalism was now triumphing over internationalism. Germany stressed ' three main things in her educational programme; first, the community before the individual; second, blood and land—a German race on German land; and, third, planned leadership. PLAYING ON THE EMOTIONS. Schools in Germany immediately after the war were filled with experiments, but since 1933 there had been a change, and all the stress was now laid on the emotions. All the stories ■in the textbooks emphasised the value of the community above all' else and the deeds of heroes dying for the good of the community. The blood and land aspect led to' a reiteration of "Germany! Germany! Germany!" The four politics regarded as necessary for leadership were efficiency, devotion to group, physical fitness, and loyalty to party, and Dr. Dengler gave examples of how the youth of Germany is being trained to acquire these qualities. Everything was designed to work on the emotions, to be ready to die for Hitler. "Did you ever hear of anybody wanting to die for the President of the United States?" asked Dr. Dengler, amid laughter. "And I am quite sure that he would not want anybody,to die for him." In order to break down class distinctions, enforced sojourn in labour campb was instituted, where all classes mixed and shared alikß. PHILOSOPHY BORN OF DESPAIR. The elimination from Germany of many fine people through the preaching of this race dogma was to be deplored, continued Dr. Dengler, but the Germans as a whole were a fine-race, and if they went to extremes it had to be remembered that the German philosophy was one born of despair. "You can't have morning tea on the front porch when your backyard is burning," was the way in which one German had put it. One had to look deeply to find the causes of what was going on in Germany and elsewhere, concluded Dr. Dengler. Development along technical lines might have been made at the expense of development along spiritual lines, and the two needed adjustment. Similarly, to preserve democracy, the finest thing in the world, it was necessary to balance the community and the individual. Germany might be going to extremes, yet there was much good in her peoples. If one was tempted to criticise foreign countries somewhat harshly, it was well to remind oneself of the great men they had pro- '} duced—men like Goethe and Marconi, £ for instance, whose influence knew no t national bounds. One's judgment ( might then be more tolerant. (