The Denver Jewish news., 1923-08-30
Germany Creating New Bismarck
Busy Making Preparations for the Celebration of Twen-
ty Fifth Anniversary of Bismarck
by S. HIRsCHAN

CNNh 'iut huNt iItA
own God. German God. "Thou shalt
not bow down to strange gods. .Thou
shalt have no gods In common with
other nations"
That is why Mismarck rnthlessly per-
secuted the Roman Catholics in Ger
many. In France, too there were Ro-
man Catholics. In Rome there was
Pope to whom the German Catholics
were subject. Such things could not
he permitted.
Bismarck was. ready always to wage
war for Germany. For her he would
fight not only the Pope i'm Rome, hut
God i'm Heaven himself.
That is the Bismarck which the Ger
man people created for itself before the
var. That was the Bismarck who was
the idol, the hero, the legendary God
of Germany, her lawmaker, her creator.
And suddenly, this Bismarck has dis
Germans speak now of n Bismarck of
whom you have never heard before.
And old man always going about clad
in white. an Oriental sage, quiet in his
manner walking day andnight through
the streets and the marketplaces of Ger
many, teaching his people pity and
compassion. He was not man Of war,
this bismarck. hut preacher of peace
and good will. The old Chancellor. you
are told taught the wariike Germanic
race that its salvation lay not in the
shedding of blood, but in forgiving its
enemy. Archives have been searched,
documents have been discovered, letters
are shown which were written by Bis
mnrck, speeches are reprinted which
were delivered by bismarck, all to
prove his humaneness. his love Of man.
kind. You are told that during the
Franco-Gerlnan War of 1870. Bismarck
to occupy Paris. the heart OF France.
You nre told that bismarck WAS gentle
and tinsitlcr,ite TO the fallen Emperor
of the French. NapOlean III, BisnMr X
would not allow Germany to jubilate
over her victory lest it pain the stricken
French. bismarck was against the use
of the rifle. he opposed the occupation
of foreign territory. He consistently
warned his people against the policy Of
colonial expansion. German interests
in Africa or China, he fOretOld. would
lend to war Bismarck's policy was
European. universal. not nntiOnalistic.
That is why he was always quar-
rclling with the Kaiser. the man who
is now an exile in the little village OF
Doom in Holland.
bismarck is being represented as the
great humanitarian. He was against
the German Catholics only because he
saw in Catholicism the iniquities of the
Inquisition.
And the things we are heing told
about Bismarck's private life. Tolstoi
over again!
Even a bulwnrk of German reaction
like DIR. Helfferich. the close ally of
General LudendOrff and Admiral Tir-
pitz, speaking recently Of Bisma rex.
said that time would come when all
the nations OF the earth would make
n shrine Mt the grave of the great chan
cellor. Pilgrims would bring wrcaths
to place upon 1t in memory of the great
humanist. That is the way in which
the Germans today are speaking about
Bismarck. And they mean it. In their
private conversations among them
selves. they speak exactly in the same
way. 1t is not merely n pose adopted
Is it true that Bismarck was what
is'nOw being claimed for him? Was he
actually the llumanist and not the Iron
Chancellor he has been represented to
be? 1t matters very little. Both views
are probably correct 1t is even more
probable that both are incorrect. Leg
endary figures created cut of the soul
of a people are not photographs of the
people they are supposed to represent.
They are the embodiment of the nation.
The German people has changed. The
Bismarck which was the embodiment
of the German people of the pre- war
doys. is nc. longer the embodiment of
the German people of today. Germany,
for decades the symbol of the soldier,
is today perhaps the most peace-loving
nation in the world. 1t may be true
that Germany's crushing defeat in the
Great War is responsible for this new
love of peace. that it is IL case of MAX
ing n virtue Of necessity. But the facts
of the matter remain.
During his stay in London prior to