Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1940-12-25

tToft tmss.
THERE was a kind Of brilliant
- glamour over Europe in 1882,
although in the back of our minds
we sensed it as euphoria; the
sudden flush of health before death
or the preternatural calm before
the storm.
Something had drawn us back
to Europe. and l had dragged the
family toward Austria. "One last
Winter in Austria before
To be near Vienna and yet In
the country induced us to take a
chalet in the mountains two hours
away-one of those half-timber
Austrian houses, with deep 'over-
hanging caves, carved wooden bal
comics amid a first story of plaster
and stone.
There were the three of us and
my sister and her little girl; quite
family. The place was something
of a Winter resort. and nearly was
a hotel. to which, for overflow
guests. was attached a villa large
enough TO accommodate 20 or
more guests.
WHEN we rented the villa for a
w week and invited that pot
pourri of American and European
friends to spend Christmas with
lis we hardly thought that they
would all accept.
They came from Germany and
Hungary. from England and from
spots in between. They were mar
ried and unmarried and engaged
to he married. There were children
and nurses and every room in the
villa and every bed in the chalet
were taken. Many of them had
never met each other before.
They were all highly individ-
-ualized people. The party might
have been catastrophe. There
were occasional moments when II
seemed il might be-Pof1tical view
points varied from pretty far left
to a very English Tory RICH. Yet
together they represented cross
section of an European and AmeriT
can world which was both repre-.
sentative and selective.
Our guests were modestly rep
resentative ( that civilization
common to Europe and 10 Amer
lea. We all spoke the same Ian
guage. although with varying
accents. We all believed in the
same essential values. When the
party broke up we were all better
friends than we had been before.
THE journalists among us-and
l. there were several. all Ameri-
cans-told us that this would be
the last Christmas before Hitler
Fhis disturbed us. No one thought
-he-was undertaking The drastic
character of such change. Some
Speculated .learnedly about its
nature. Yet, we all felt certain
detachment about it. We talked
about it as though it were due to
happen in history-or had hap
pened a hundred years back or
hundred years ahead. We were in
tellectually concerned. but not
personally.
Only one of the party. Ger
man, a woman and an artist. who
had nothing to do with politics,
interrupted a quite non-political
conversation over lunch in one of
those delightful remote mountain
inns, whether we had betaken our
selves on skis and in sleighs. She
pushed her glass of hot spiced
wine away from her. and looked
round on the gay crowd.
"There'll never be another
Christmas like this one." she
cried. at will never happen
again. Four or Ave years from
now perhaps we shall all hate
each other And we shall be
scattered all over the earth. We
are just the people who are go
ing to be hit-don't you see
il ."
why we:" somebody asked.
people with minds of their
own" she answered.
DY A roundabout route. ] had a
- letter from her the other day.
She is marooned in the south of
France. She wanted TO know
whether there was any way. any
route, by which I could send her a
little money. She lacked money
even for food.
She could not go back TO Ger
many-although she had never
taken any political actieR-in her
life, and her race has never come
into question. She Just happened
to have the wrong friends.
Greetings have reached me from
one of us. He is in a British
prison camp. He is a German,
with a famous family name. He
lived in England, for he couldn't
stand the NaZis. But on the
whole question as il involved Ger
many he couldn't quite make up
his mind. my Hamlet friend. To
he caught between two stools is to
be informed. He writes;
ct hanks for the books.
Thanks that you know I haven't
changed. Don't worry about me.
Millions are worse off. And--a
Merry Christmas"
DUT the other German friend
~ the young one, the handsome