Evening star., 1937-06-19
By Mary.C0rfer Roberts.

THE THIRD REICH. BY Henri
Lichtenberser. Translated from
the French and edited by Koppel
s. Pinson. With preface by
Nicholas Murray Butler. New
York: The Greystone Press.
TH1s Is an examination Of Hit
Frenchman. The author is an
4 eminent scholar, professor
at the Sorbonne and director there
of the Institute of Germanic Studies.
His native province is Alsace, which
may perhaps be regarded as signih-
cant. His interest in international
problems has been attested to by his
membership In the European Com
for International Peace. His present
book on Germany is thorough, lucid
and studiously detached-perhaps Just
little too studiously detached. The
reviewer confesses that she found 4
certain element of mild drama in
this scholarly Frenchman's scrupulous
avoidance of emotional terms and
tion to be just to Germany at all
costs
The book is first skeletonic his
tory Of Hitler's rise to power and
then an examination Of the various
phases OF his program-his insistence
on race purity his anti-semitism,
his "Wotanized' Christianity, Spar
tanism, his foreign policy, economic
system and so on. Finally, the book
contains a chapter on French opinion
as to what this new Germany por-
tends for France. 1t should be said
perhaps, that the work was published
In France last year under the title
"L 'Allemagne Nouvelle" The present
edition, however. contains several sec
tions which We're not included in
the original French text.
Prof. Lichtenberger's opinion OF
Hitler's program, as that program
applies to Germany alone, seems to
be in agreement with that OF most
bipartisan observers to date-that Is,
that it is well fitted to the tempera-
ment and needs of the German peo.
pie. That people has ever thrived
under authoritarian rule. Its lack Of
national history OF long duration has,
IN some curious psychological man.
ner affected its national conscious
ness with something akin to in
feriority. The feeding to it of the
race myth gives it 4 substitute for
national history and assuages its un-
happy feeling of newness among its
heiehbors. The German people too,
while accepting rigid authority over
Itself, feels the need for trampling
on still less privileged group; hence
the anti-semitism OF national social
ism fts we'll into the psychological
situation. The German is 4 prac-
tical man; he likes evidence Of eco
nomlc progress. The four years Of
Hitler's regime have produced GER
tain evidences of returning prosper
lty tProf. Lichtenberger considers the
reality of this debatable but takes nc
sides himselO and these evidences,
kept always before the public mind,
result in public satisfaction Ger
mans have little care for individual
liberties but prefer always mass move
ments and mass thinking; therefore
the propagandist organizations on
which the Nazi government so largely
rests are in themselves gratifying to
the German people In SO far as the
German people alone are concerned,
says this author, national socialism
Is suitable system. He also feels
that 1t has permanent quality.
There is," he says "in National So
eialsm revolutionary element by
means Of which it gives satisfaction
to the aspirations OF the masses and
allies itself to communism or to So
Cialism. But there is also tendency
toward social conservatism which
comes nearer to the old conservatives
and the German Nationalists. Hitler's
art has been to harmonic these two
tendencies in such way as to oe
able to rally behind him almost the
entire German nation :"
As to what Nazi Germany portends
Tor the rest of Europe, however, Prof.
Lichtenberger Is not easy in his mind,
and herein he again agrees with many
previous writer's on the subject.
Germany" he says, has recon-
ouered its place among the great free
European powers But is she sated'?
In no way. She has not ceased pro-
claiming that she is the 'Volk ohne
Raum,' that she Is stifled within the
limits which have been assigned to
her and that she is not in any posi-
ton to insure the subsistence of her
population through her own resources.
She claims her place in the sum-
Who can tell how far this vital, ami
mating impulse will lead her?"
He refers, in this connection, to
Hitler's assertions in "Mein Kampf"
that Germany's destiny lies in the
east, and mentions the possibility OF
an attempt to create a vast Germanic
state out Of the present Germany.
Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia and
Yugoslavia
As to what this might mean for
France (and by inference the rest of
the world) he draws the following
comparisons:
German power is surprising French
power every day. Germany numbers
81 million inhabitants, France 40.
Germany has the advantage over us
not only in numbers, but also in many
other respects, such as the energy Of
the tempo of life, the birth rate, the
dynamism, the discipline and apti-
tude for organization, the fanaticism
Of the racialist theology which it ex-
ats, the Spartanism which glorifies
propaganda and the fact that all
power of decision is concentrated in
the hands Of one leader, who can will
and act. The superiority Of arma-
nnents which the Versailles treaty
assured us compensated for these dis
advantages for some time. German
rearmament has already destroyed
that artificial and precarious guar
Antee. The balance OF power was
definitely broken to our disadvan-
taee. This, too. in the face, OF a