Evening star., 1938-02-27

nationalism. There may be nations
which could carry of the concept
with dignity. The German nation,
however, on the basis of Mr.. Roberts
book, does not seem to be one such.
The picture which this work shows
is wildly fantastic, grotesquely funny,
and also-horrifying.
The first two parts of the volume
have the form of history. They tell
OF the rise of Hitler and Hitlerism.
The third part examines the eco
nomics of Hitlerism. So much, of
course, has been written before, and
many times. The merit of the present
account is that it tells the story in a
readable, understandable manner,
without bias, and with many illustra-
tive incidents from fact. The author
is a good writer as we'll as historian
with wealth of knowledge.
1t is the fourth and fifth parts of
the work. however, which seem most
likely to be significant to non-German
readers. They deal respectively with
achievements of HitleriSm to date and
Germany's foreign policies The bal
ance sheet of Hitlerism," as it is
called, is divided into two parts
what the onlooker sees and what the
onlooker does not see That section
which describes the hidden mecha-
nism for "hypnotizing nation" is one
of the most appalling revelations
which the reviewer has come upon
And at the same time, it is most
devastatingly funny. Such bits of in
formation as that children are taught
to count by means of figures repre-
senting Storm Troopers and to sew
crude figures of Black Guards and
that the fairy stories which entertain
the Teutonic innocents are of "Nazi
knights who saved the civilized
maiden from the bad Russian
gnomes" are certainly funny, are they
not? The thing which is not funny,
however, is this-that the book makes
it abundantly clear that the Germans
see nothing ridiculous in the perform
ance. They take it seriously. And
that, aSSuredly, is a serious thing for
civilization generally.
Yet the book cannot but raise a dis
turbing question, and that is this
II the German people are overwhelm-
ingly in approval of Hitler,s system of
brutal, hypocritical tyranny, is it not
proper that they should have that
system to their hearts content? Is it
not then true democracy with them,
being, as the book reiterates ceaseless-
ly, the will Of their majority? How
can democratic peoples honestly OBJ
Ject? If the Germans long for the
whip and the boot, who can say them
nay? 1t surely is not compatible with
the democratic idea to say that a
people must accept freedom and civil
rights when they do not want them.
Such reiteration on the part of the
author as to the Germans absolute
satisfaction with Hitlerism makes the
sympathy poured out in other coun-
tries for the supposedly oppressed
groups meaningless. In the case Of
the women, for example, Mr.. Roberts
says that they are more than content
ed with their lot. that their exclusion
from schools and politics in no way
displeases them and that as long as
they are allowed to applaud the
Fuehrer they are proud and happy.
Why. then, should the women of other
countries attempt to help them?
There is indeed much food for
thought in this book, and when one re-
fleets that the socialist state of Ger
many has its counterpart in state
propaganda in the other modern die
tatorships the field for reflection is
even widened. AS has been said, much
of Mr.. Roberts account has been pub
lished before, but nowhere to the re-