The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-08-01

CHe SHdHCcllOf VI IIc bSIIlldll NSlSii'
If anyone doubts what that future is
to be, let him read Mein Kampf; not
in the expurgated edition prepared
for Anglo-Saxon imbeciles, but in the
original and authentic version. With
all it's ignorance and crudity, it is an
impressive performance. This evil
and unhappy man is the dupe Of his
own wickedness. Though he advocates
lies to deceive the masses, he be-
lieves his own. He endures the ulti-
mate damnation of exulting in the
hell which his heart has conceived.
If anyone replies that words are mere
words, let him glance, if he can bear
it, into the prison-house in which the
wretched German people has been tor
mented for six years. If anyone i'm
agines that the machinery of physical
and moral torture is reserved by the
criminals concerned for slaves speak
ing their own language, let him study
the recent story of Czechoslovakia, Po-
land, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Bel
gium and Northern France.
l have been a soldier, though only
for a short time, and, l fear, bad
one l am not shocked over-much by
brutalities committed in hot blood, un-
der the dreadful strain of battle. The
atrocities which make us feel grim are
of a different order The repeated
massacre from the air of hordes OF
helpless refugees, merely to strike
terror; the bombing and machine
cunning of ambulances, hospitals and
hospital ships, in which German, as
we'll as French and British, wounded
were being cared for; the conduct OF
those German residents in Holland, fol
the credit of human nature one hopes
only handful, who handed over then
hosts to the tender mercies of the
Gestapo-these things are not the
crimes of excitable and nerve -wracket
youths, reeling with fatigue and half
, frantic with fear. They are done un
, der orders-orders drafted by bald
headed men in spectacles, sitting wei
out of danger, in comfortable office:
, fifty miles behind the lines. They are
part of a deliberate and calculated
system, coolly prepared and method
ically applied. l have been visited il
, my home by a German scholar-nov
, valued friend-just released from ;
concentration camp, who tremblet
when | spoke to him, and SHE'D, lik'
frightened horse, when | lifted m!
, hand to put my pipe to my mouth
That is another part of the same
system. In just over two years tina
: system has been imposed by a com
bination Of violence and treachery OF
E seven different peoples with long AM
.. famous histories, which have enriched
mankind; some eminent today in art
science, and learning; all composed o
, ordinary human beings like ourselves
= who desire only to go about thei
daily work, to do their best for thei
, children, to cultivate their gardens
and to live at peace with their neigh
bours. The danger that all Europe
to mention only EprQagp1 ay, succum
:, to it is not, therefore, remote 1t i
:, at our door.
= = We do not think that world i
which that system is the rule of lif
=, will be better place. Whatever othe
. nations may decide, we do not in
;, tend to see it. Our part is chose
- and our lot is cast. Half an hou
!. ago | said goodby to former studen
:, just called up for service. "What,"
:, asked him, "are your friends sayin
= of the report that the French hav
=. been compelled to lay down thei
~ arms ?" He replied, "They are say
!" ing, then it's up to us to fight all tn
= harder" We can lay no claim to an
y special virtue; for though we dislik
', fighting, we dislike it less than the al
;, tentative. We prefer dying on ou
y feet to living on our knees.