The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-04-05
Concentrations
In.Germ any
BY A. G. BROOKS
BY A. u. 0hOOAA0
Briton, a prisoner of war for three and
.uo hoJ vaarS

No British prisoner of war likes to feel
that he is out of the fight and unable tol
oppose the evil of Naziism. He believes thatl
there. in the heart of Germany, in daily
contact with the ripest products of the Nazi
regime, he is still prosecuting the war, still
defending the values which are his heritage
as EngliShman.
This he is able to do in many ways, but
chiefly by conversation. The guards are
usually ready to talk with you, for like the
| citizens of all countries, they enjoy mat sense
of superiority and friendly condescenslon When
they meet one who is learning their language.
Nothing pleases them better than to be ask
ed the meaning of a phrase read IN Ger
man book or newspaper, and they are de-
lighted when they can correct you In pro-
nunciatior or usage. These questions OF gram
mar and language were the prelude Gas they
were intended to be- to many long converse
tons on tile war, politics, and economics.
After crossing wordy swords with German SOL
diers for three and a half years, one gets
some idea of the causes behind Kaiserism
| and Naziisrn.
The fact WHICH stood out like a mountain
in hundreds Of talks with them was their
political infancy. It never failed to astonish
and dismay me to find that men, otherwise
cultured and intelligent, could be 50 pathet-
1 cally infantile in their talk about govern
nept and politics. Before the war, did not
consider myself an expert in matters politi-
cal, but I soon found that the thoughts and
traditions I had subconsciously absorbed as
an English boy just had no meaning for
them. It was like trying to explain the word
and idea Of democracy to child of three.
There was one guard who used to say every
time we talked together: ''You, Grossbritan-
MEN, own one quarter of the earth why
do you object to US having Europe?" And
always I would 60 over the same weary
ground, hoping that perhaps this time he
would understand. I explained that did
not "own' a quarter of the EARTH that a
large part of the British Empire consisted
| of Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New
Zealand, all Of which were dominions and
sef-governing. It was useless. The idea in
his mind for the word Empire was of
millions of subjugated people and vast tracts
barrel, by Great Britain. He was no nearer
understanding the term ''self governing
when left him than when first met him.
Very few of the Germans I spoke with
realize that there are ethics of government
for which men, if need be, are prepared to
risk DEATH They seem only impressed by
| the power of government and are unaware
that there be spiritual values attached
to it which some men hold very dear. One
day an Under-Offcer of the camp who came
from Saxony joined in conversation and
said with great earnestness to me: 'You-a
Saxon, me-a Saxon; why do we fight?" I
hoped for a moment that here at last was a
| German to build the new Germany on; but
when he followed this with the stock stuff
about only the Jewish plutocrats and the
Bolsheviks wanting the war, my admiration
| abated; and when he ended by caying: Look!
Deutschland, Grossbritainnien and Anerlka,
| together we could rule the world. No more
war!'' I saw that power without principle
was his conception of government, too.
| The third thing I learned-it is an odd
aspect of German mentality, and the reason
for much of their belligerence-is that they
suffer from sense of inferiority. The Ger
man reveals it in little ways, totally unaware
that he is doing so, and shows by his ques-
tons about England that, for all his worship
Of power, he looks up to her as the pos
We would be talking together and then
suddenly voice would ask, naiyely as a
little child might: How big is London'?'' I
replied: "Oh, over eight million population, -
and the guard who had asked protested
with some awe in his ton: "Oh, no. it can
not be, no place can be 50 big; why, Berlin
is only four and a half Million They asked,
also with wonder, what Westminster Abbey
WAS like, and about the Houses of Parliament
and the Tower Of London. Once a guard put
a question which made me happy for days. He
said Tell me about Stratford upon-Avon.''
Some of the less educated have this sense
of inferiority falsely, for they have exag-
gerated ideas of the ordinary Englshman's
income and way of life. I told them on one
occasion what I did in peacetime and how
much week was paid. They were amazed,
J. being apparently under the impression that
every Englishman earned about fifteen
pounds a week. drove his own motorcar,
and lived in luxurious house.
Il Looking back my contact with Ger
mans of all kinds, try to sum up my i'm
II pressions. I would say that the economic
reasons for German aggression are quite sub
sidiary. The first cause is that they worship
that politically they are children, with an
underdeveloped political backbone, making
them incapable Of resisting any evil govern
ment which seizes power; the third is envy
rising from a sense Of inferiority.
i From this the outlook seems hopeless. But
I do not believe the German is incorrigibly
wicked or inevitably aggressive. Having lived
} long years with them In the unfavorable
relationship of captive and captor, I ana no
teacher in the "only good German being a
dead one' school. Europe is house, and
i Germany a small boy in it, violent young
ster carrying dangerous weapons. He will
grow up, but meantime the politically adult
will have to take his weapons away, for the
'(house cannot be rebuilt every twenty years.
But Europe is the house, not Britain, France,
or Russia, and Europeans live there. And
whether we like it or not, geography has
decreed that Germany shall be one Of ~
cornerstonAs - Christian Science Monitor.