New-York tribune., 1918-01-12
These Hun Geniuses
What Reward Is Possible for Their
Pretty Ways?

Sir: In 1914 the Huns founded the Kultur
Gothic in Rheims. Efficient and Krupp-like,
with marked progress, they began few
days ago, in Padua, new art order which
shall be remembered hcnceforth as the
kutur Renaissance. Gcnuiscs are these
Huns! With what amazing rapidity and
thoroughness they can found style upon
style. What took whole ages of inspired
and gifted people to create they "recreate"
from high in one flight In swift and
Systematic order they proceed from Belgium
to France, from France to Italy, from civili-
cation to civilization, leaving behind them
never healing wounds ndcible scars, by
which the Tcuton hordes and their offspring
shall be remembered for ages to come.
Now, the Allies owe these modern Molochs
a great debt We owe it to civilization to
that this debt shall be paid. We must
strive at any cost of suffering and sacrifice
to reciprocatc in part ut least. We can only
regret that when the Allied armies reach the
cities beyond the Rhine they will find only
modern brewerics Krupp and lcberwurst
factories upon which to base the new order,
even though we shall be compelled to copy
from the originators Of military necessity
Surely no aesthetic inducement is this; never
inhabitants of Berlin, Hamburg and other
pesky Kaiser towns to feel as dogs do when
their bones are snatchcd from them.
AS early as 1922 A. D. Padua was the seat
Of learning in Europe. It's atmosphere OF
beauty and learning was brcathed Of by
scholars and masters throughout Europe.
When the Huns were mere guttons and say
ages Giotto decorated the walls of the Padua
chapel, Mantegna painted the walls of
the Eremitan, Donatcllo built the finest Of
equestrian statues In Padua the very seeds
OF the Renaissance art were planted To-day
the beastly Teutons flying over Padua
sowing bombs of Kultur.
o destroy anything in Germland in retail
iation would be like exchanging candle for
the sun, and the Hun knows it better than
any one; though it might be that destruc-
ton of a hofbrauhaus would be to him
greater calamity than the destruction of an
Italian, Belgian or French cathedral The
modern kultured German is covetous, not
creative What is there in the Kaser's unfort-
unate empire Of native art that if destroyed
would be a loss to civilization? His aping
museums are filled with master works from
foreign lands, stolen or purchased. Their
greatest masters, Durer and Cranach, fine as
they are, are only third rate, if not less, by
comparison with the great masters of other
countries of Europe. Their Lenbachs, their
itukS, thelf BuckllnS OF now are mediOcrities
in painting when compared to their French
contemporaries Manet, Cezanne Renoir,
Redon, etc. In the phases of more recent
art development not one German is distin-
gulshed. Their architecture is not to be
thought of alongside anything they have de-
moshed since they began the war; and in
sculpture they have done little or nothing of
any aesthetic consequence or contrbutive
value in modern sense. Their art criti-
cism amounts to nothing but psychological
and metaphysical twaddle, lacking the true
sense of appreciation and dscernment, and
altogether the German has proven to be poor
of instinct for the creation and love of plas-
tic beauty.
! am that hundreds upon thousands of
laymen as we'll artists tremble these morn
ings before reading the news lest they
should find that the Huns have DESTROYED the
Giotto fresco and other precious works of
art in Padua and in Venice. Any one having
seen and studied Giottos sublime works and
the mosaics of Northern Italy we'll knows
that modern civilization with it's tendencies
cannot replace them in case of their de-
struction. No victory the soulless Teu-
tons, no humiliation or affliction greater than
is theirs to-day will ever sufficiently redeem
their race or console us should Padua suf-
fer any more destruction than it already has
at the bloody hands of the Huns
New York. Jan. ,, 1918. MAX WEBER.