“J’ACCUSE HITLER REGIME”

Grey River Argus, 6 September 1939, Page 9

“J’ACCUSE HITLER REGIME”

I The following ■ (contributed by I W.f'.K. is condensed from “An Exichange of Letters,’’ eontainci in the I ’i'v 1937 issue of the “ReaiJers . Digest:— :i I For four years after Ht er came I to power Thomas Mann, Nobel Prize i nner and greatest of exiled Gorman I writers, kept silent when questioners I pressed him’for his opinions on Fas- ' chin in Germany. He maintained his '• Fi!e:ire.. even when he was officially 1 deprived of his citizenship, his prof petty 'confiscated, his books.' burned. : But When Dr. Mann, in Switzerland. I received a curt note from a German ; University withdrawing an honorary degree, he struck back with a stinging denunciation of the Nazi regime, which critics have compared with Zola’s classic “J’Accuse.’ —“Time.” The exchange of letters follows:— “The Frederick-William University on the Rhine;' Bonn, December 19, 1936. To Herr Thomas Mann, Wrice; ;. By the request of the Rector of the university of Bonn I must'inform you !tbat as a consequence of your loss oi citizenship the faculty finds itself obliged to strike your naine off its roil of honorary doctors. Your right to use this title is cancelled, (Signature (legible) — Dean; “To the Dean of the. University of Bonn:—I have received your melancholy communications. Permit me to reply. The German universities share a heavy responsibility for their tragic mistake in allowing their soil to nourish the ruthless forces which have! devastated Germany, morally, politically and economically. • This, respon ■ sibfitv of theirs long ago destroyed mv pleasure in my academic honour. I have spent, four years in an exile which it. would be euphemistic to call voluntary, sineb, if I had remained in Germany, I should probably hot be alive to-day. Yet, only a short, time ago it could never have beenp.-'-, phesied that 1 should spend my later years as an emigre, expropriated and outlawed. From the beginning of my ‘ntellectual life ! had felt myself in happiest accord with the intellectual traditions of my nation. I am better suited to represent those traditions

than to become a martyr for them; ar more fitted t o add a little to the gaiety of the world than - to foster conflict and hatred in it. Something very wrong must have happened to make my life take so false and unnatural a turn. When Germany tirsi fell ! nio the hands of despots, I i bought to keep.. silent. But in the face "of the frightful danger to the whole continent presented by this soul-destroying regime, it was not possible to do so. And so these men have deprived me of my German birthright. I. forsooth, am supposed t o have dishonoured Germany, in acknowledging that Lam against them! To what a pass, : -in less than ‘ ro'tf vears, have they ’brought Germany! Ruined, sucked dry -body and soul by armaments .with Which they threaten .he whole world-.'yhihdering hopes of peace loved by. ntfloodyi regarded witn fear and cold aversion by ad, it standon the brink of economic disaster, while its “enemies” stretch- out their h; ,nds ip alarm to snatch back from i'-) civ.'"s so mpprtant a member of •he future fam’lv of nations, to nem it. if only it. will come to its senses Lt nV io understand the real need'of the world at this hour, instead r>i d,.ermine dreams, about mylhica 1 “sacro-i necessities." Yes,.<ar«r a.’l. “ .mist he helped by Iho.se whom it binders and menaces, in order that it may not drag down the rest of theon; ■ ••■■ih it and unleash the war upon which it keeps its eyes ever 'fix t, T b e mature and cultured states —by which I mean those which understand that war is no longer' pemns•’hje - treat this .endangered and- endaenring country', or rather its leaders, as doctors treat a sick man-— w th the utmost -tact and caution, with inexhaustible if not- very flattering patience. But it thinks it must- p*ay polities the politics of. power and.hegemony—with the’ doctors. That is axr unequal game. If one side play politics when the other thinks first of peace then for a time the first side reaps certain advantages. But woe to the people which, hot knowing what, way to turn ,at last actually seeks its way out ‘through the’ abomination of war hated of God and man! Such a people will bo lost. It will be so vanquished that it will never rise again. Themeaning and purpose of the National Socialist state can be only this: to put the German people in readiness f or the- coming war. by ruthless repression of every stirring of opposij tion, to make of them an instrument of war, infinitely compliant without a single critical thought, driven by a blind and fanatical ignorance. Yet even this leading idea defeats itself. No other people on earth is toyaay ?? utterly incapable of war, so little in eondit on to endure one. That Ge , manv would have no allies not a sing f one in the world, is-the -first consideration but the -smallest. German) would be forsaken—terrible of course even in her isolation—but the really frightful |hing: would be the fact tnai «he had forsaken herself. Intellectually reduced and humbled, morally suited, inwardly torn apart by fiei deep mistrust of her leaders, her war after the first inevitable defeat, would turn into a civil war. No, tins

war is impossible;... Germany cannoi wage it: and if its dictators are m <heir senses, they must, perceive the impossibility. But if war ca?notshall not be—then why these aid murderers? Why isolation., ,wot[ld hostility lawlessness, intellectual interdict cultural darkness, and even other evil? Why not rather Germany • f reconciliation with Europe, withi al the inward accompaniments of. fieedom, justice, well-being and Jjkman . decency, and a jubilant welcome from the rest of the world? WIW ; not? Only because a regime which, Jn word am Seed denies the rights of man, which , wants above all else to remain m < power, would stultify itself : and c abolished iff since it .cannot nrake wa 1 il actuallv’made peace!. But is that , a reason. T had forwtten Herr Oran , thnt I was-still addressing you CMtainlv I mav console, myself with t.i) 1 ' reflection that you long since, ceased, tn read this lettem.aghast at languag . which in .long bee.n unj -npken tonified because somebody dares use'. ; Me German, tongue ; with . the ancient I freedom.- I havc \. i - spoken out-of arrogant P hut out of:.a concern and a .diS , ; from Which ■ your usurpers ‘did -not telease me ‘.when they decreed., that was no longei l .’ a' Gerniamya menta and spiritual . distress . from which fm four vears not an hour of my life habeen free. From' the depths Of tha distress let me, close tins letter the brief and-fervent prayer.• GottJ e, opr darkened- 1 and. desecrated,;.cdttntn and teach it to make its-’peaee:,with I the world Mann. , -.S’-■