Evening star., 1929-06-30
GERMANY RESENTS
WAR GUILT CHARGE
Government Takes Cogni'
zance of Sentiment in
Treaty Day Manifesto.
BY DR. GUSTAV sToLPER,

Special radio disnatch to The star.
BERLIN, June 29.-On the occasion
this week Of the tenth anniversary Of
the day on which the treaty Of Ver-
sailIes was signed, the German govern
ment issued q manifesto recalling that
Germany added her signature to docu-
ment which was q bitter disappoiat-
ment for sIl friends Of justice and true
peace"
But the government also took oc-
casion TO reject again solennnly the
treaty's thesis Of war guilt. The mani
festo said:
Germany signed the treaty with
cut acknowledging thereby that the
German people were the instigators Of
the war. This reproach keeps our peo-
pie in state of unrest and disturbs
confidence among the nations. We
know we speak in the names of all
Germans In rejecting the assertion Of
Ge-many's sole guilt for the war"
Want Stain Removed.
Other peoples seldom realize what q
role the war guilt question still plays.
For Germany the reproach Of sole guilt
Is regarded as defamatory stain on her
eecutcReon which must be removed.
For as long rs It exists Germany is
a nation Of the second class in the
world.
And the reparations debt and one
sided disarmament rest on article 231
guilt.
There are in Germany, TO be sure. as
In all lands, naive persons who stin
cherish the belief that if this article Is
abolished the duty TO pay reparations
and the limitations on Germany's mill
tary sovereignty will disappear. Natu-
rally the government does not share this
naive view. The government and the
majority Of the German people know
that Germany must pay because she
was defeated, and the victorious powers
have exploited their might to the utter
most. But 1t is precisely this that justi-
fled the Left government IN declaring
that the document Of the Versailles
means bitter disappointment for all
the friends Of justice.
The government Is today headed by
the same man who signed the Versailles
treaty. He is an authentic witness to
the sentiment that dominated the Ger
man people 10 years ago. 1t was the
German socialists who in the revolution
were filled with blind confidence in
President Wilson and his principles.
1t was they who In the Autumn of 1918
when hunger and distress overthrew
Germany's army and people, saved the
country's existence as the only existing
organized power, but who were also con-
ylnced that the collapse of the war
front was only the beginning of bet
ter, freer and nobler order In Europe.
Hand Shall Wither."
Hence, bitterness was strongest in
| their ranks and anger was deepest in
I their breasts when the conditions of
! the dictated peace were communicated
by the German negotiators, who we're
kept tncornmunicado in the park at
/ Versailles. 1t was the socialist chan
cellor Scheidemann who declared. 1.-The
| nand shall wither that signs the treaty.
| The compulsion of necessity was
! stronger than moral resistance Hunger
I compelled signing Since then there
have been many changes in the world
Mountains of hatred and distrust have
been removed and the worst excesses of
unreason have been alleviated. But
great questions raised by the Versailles
treaty are still unsolved today
French and English troops still stand
on the Rhine; Germany's obligation to
pay tributes Is still fixed at fantastic
sums. even in the Young plan: disarm-
ament. from which one hoped in 1919
a permanent peace, has not taken a
single step to fulfill that ideal; the most
intolerable errors in the fixing of hNaln-
daries are still as far removed from Cor
| rection as they were decade ago.
tCopyright, ls2e)