Germans Cannot Repent—They Know no God

Camp News, Volume 4, Issue 159, 29 January 1943, Page 4

Germans Cannot Repent— They Know no God

By

in the “Daily Mirror,” London.

The greatest best-seller in Germany —“Mein Kampf,” of course, excluded—is a small book said to have been written by an unknown soldier fighting on the Eastern Front. It is called “GOTT UND VOLK: SOLD AT* ISCHES BEKENNTNIS,” or, in other words, “God and the People: A Sol- , dier’s Profession of Faith.” Up to a few weeks ago, this slim volume had sold the fantastic figure of 200,000 copies. In the army, groups of ten or twelve men share a copy. By now, it is probable that at least 1,000,000 Germans have read it. As it is selling like hot cakes, another million or two are possibly about to read it. Millions of Germans subscribe to its doctrines without having to read it. It is an extremely, important little book for the British people to know aboutnot because it is full of mud-dle-headed gibberishbut because it expresses the faith of the young German soldier. It represents the basis of that fanatical courage which they have certainly shownon the Eastern Front last winter. People in England should know what exactly the young German is taught to believe. It is all in this book. “We are Germans! That is why we cannot be Christians.” This statement, which is a perfect example of the New Logic in the New Order, reveals the author’s state of mind. It is simply that Christianity, before Hitler, was a misconception: or rather, a Jewish swindle which fooled the world. The author tells of his school-days J where, after being deceived by “Jew- • ish fables,” he and his fellows soon

found that Nazism alone answered the aspiration of their Germanic spirit. . Soon they all recognised their duty of “chasing Jesus Christ from our hearts so that Germany might take His place.” The new God has nothing to do with the Jews or with the old Christian God of Love. The new God is the God of Force. Force governs; feebleness is governed. The author shows a particularly hearty dislike of the Old Testament which he describes as “an infamous document.” Turning over its leaves, he finds himself “almost strangled with rage when I think for how long we were nourished on these rascally stories. (“Gaunergeschichten.”) ■ . .. . Take away this book!” he cries; “burn it. in sacred places! Thank your God that He has sent you the Fuehrer! To-day is God day and the chains are broken!” There is only one betrayal of the German cause or pollution of the German blood. The Ten Command-

ments are superfluous because “we have our German conscience. That is enough.” The present movement represents the “religion of the Sword.” Two worlds are in combat. One must go. Both “the Catholics, who are strong, and the Protestants, who are weak,” belong to the world that must die. “We, the German people, are predestined to be the first to break from Christianity. That is our great honour.” ' What has all this got to do with Rommel, von Boch and you? A devil of a lot. Too many people in England have yet to realise that National-Socialism is not so much a political upheaval as an emotional one: that Nazism is far more a faith than a policy. And that people who have a Faith to fight for — even if it happens to be a lousy one—are a much tougher nut to crack than those who have not. # This particular parody of Christianity is being most courageously fought by the German Bishops and priests; but it should never be forgotten that we are supposed to be fighting it, too. The vital truth of the matter is that there has been bred in Germany

a fanaticism that will make a Junkers 87 pilot on the Eastern Front, or a German tank private in Egypt, give just that last extra bi tof himself that can turn the scale..

It doesn’t seem to matter — war purposes—just what you believe in, provided you believe passionately. No Air Force in the world has a higher proportion of irrepressible suicide pilots than the Japanese; no army has resisted with higher courage than the Reds.

But what we must realise is that when another German ■' Division is landed in North Africa, it is armed not merely with Mark IV tanks or. 88 mm. guns.

It is armed with this fanatical faith in itself which gives it an impetus another force might lack.

It is high time we stopped being “surprised at Rommel’s speed.” In Germany, during the years before the war, I watched the youth of the country being moulded like Plasticene into one solid Faith Movement.

The older people in Germany who thought for themselves when young, refuse to fall for this diabolical drive; but the young German does believe it. And it is he who is doing the fighting. The fact that, despite severe book rationing, this absurd work has been encouraged to sell 200,000 copies shows how much importance the Nazis attach to it. Whatever else they may be, they are good psychologists internally. The Faith of the German soldier is such that if there are still people in England who imagine the Reichwehr will mysteriously “crack” they are wrong. It will only collapse when it is beaten by force.