PIG-HEADED GERMANS.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13275, 2 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

PIG-HEADED GERMANS.

An extraordinary sensation has been aroused throughout Germany and Holland by the publication in "Do Amsterdamer" of an article denouncing the evil iniluence of Prussianism on the German people. The writer is no less a. personage than the famous German novelist, Edward Stilgebauer, author of "Gotz Krafft," a novel which has enjoyed an extraordinary popularity in Germany, and was hailed on its appearance as a masterpiece. The serious effect which the article is bound to produce has provoked the German press to attack Stilgebauer with all the vehemence of which the Teuton journalist is capable. Most alarming to German eyes is the attention paid to the article by the Dutch, especially during this time of crisis, nearly every paper having quoted the article in full or published extracts with appreciative comments. The following translation is taken from a lengthy review of it which was published in the "Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant.

Stilgebauer calls this war a "monstrous crime." Rut it is not to be laid to the charge of the German people. This people, is possessed of a peculiar characteristic which has brought it to the verge of destruction —and all the hurrah-shouting in the world cannot alter the fact. "Salvation for our people and for all Europe is possible only when this bitter truth is realised."

Stilgebauer continues "Even Tacitus, the enlightened Roman,, recognised the peculiarity of our people. In his 'Germania" he writes: 'To such a degree. do this people push their obstinacy; though they themselves prefer to call it resolution.'" They themselves, repeat Stilgebauer, call it "Resolution." It is worth consideration. This characteristic is purposeful when the intent is good, but when evil it leads to destruction. '1 hut also should be noted. There was a time when there was such a thing as German history. That history survived to the manhood of iSchillerand to the old age ol Goethe. It had. up to then, :io connection with Prussian history. The latter began with the advent of the Great. Elector: it glorified the person and deeds of the second Frederic ; it set Bismarck at the hub of the world's axis and has found its so-called artistic expression in the Siegesalles in Berlin. It was a calamity for the whole German people! Doubly deplorable, because this spiritual collapse coincided with a period of brilliant events in technical, material, and philosophical spheres not only in Germany, be it understood, but throughout the world. The men of hate, who would banish every foreign word from the treasury of the German language, only to earn the derisive laughter of Europe, have

produced a strong man. while liberty breeds men of colossal genius. Tile youth who c. lute that uas l-'i ied rich Si hll lei. lie was a pupil ot Kant, a disciple ol idealism, and. as the .\postle ol Liberty, wrote hi< Imm.k <>n lhe 1 1< Ihm of the Netherlands while tea. long tier man not Prussian histoiy. 'I ~,u- up the book and nad it. 'lheie it stands written : "Thousands tlee to toieign hinds, thousands tall victim to the .-caliold. vel thousands pi ess fotward to n place them, for divine must- he that ideal lor which men lay down their lives so gladly 'lliat was German; that was Swaiuan. and not Prussian. Head it ag.vn alio' consider Belgium, then ask yourself tinquestion: Can Belgium be absorbed'. Divine is that ideal for which men gladly lay down their lives! I ask \on now: Who died, who ||ed. when Antwerp fell m those ten :i > • da\.of October. 1914? Who: Who? Wh.V I tell you that those who lie yonder arc the quivering, bidding of your "olefin aey" your pigheadidncss. which you call "Resolution !" What the terrible and inevitable com-e quence must be may be read in the imperishable words of the ileai sighted Roman : "When they (tin; Germans) have lost all their possessions at. dice, they will even stake their liberty on a last throw, thus voluntarily becoming the slaves ol the victor." Must history repeat itself? Read then, in God's name. "Don Carlos": "We interfered in Flanders and Biabaut, two rich and happy provinces. The people there are strong and energetic; tiny are also worthy. I thought it would be gioii ous to be ruler of such a people." You wish to trample on those people until they become a nation of traitors or a horde of franc-tircurs? You are doing it now- but you are not succeeding, you will never succeed! Their "resolution" is more terrible than your "pigheaded ness." '1 he iron decree of necessity? 1 laugh at you. Turn to Schiller once more. You know him, liini to whom you erect monument after monument: nt whose memorial festival Prussia's official representatives had indeed to excuse their absence because they had no time to spare. No time for Goethe or Schiller, because they must devote it to the christening of warships launched against England. But Schiller has his answer: "There 1 recoiled before piles of burnt human remains (was it at Malines. or Louvain or the Yser or at Liege?) Tliev are right. They must prevail. The truth, that you will be compelled to acknowledge, forced itsell upon me to my shuddering admiration." Read the above words in that great scene in the third act of "Don Carlos." I bus wrote Schiller, voicing German sentiment. Swabian sentiment - not Prussian. Like their barbarian ancestors, concludes Stilgebauer, the German people have staked the honour of the batherland. the German Fatherland, the land of Schiller and of Kant, the voice ot which was once heard in the counsels of the nations, on a last desperate throw—and have lost.