Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-01-13

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OFF LIMITS, by Hans Habe.
translated from the German
by Ewald Osers Frederick
Fell; $4.95).
This novel, tremendous in
length. with a score of i'm
portant characters. is, first of
all. a remarkable feat of writ
ing and literary coordination.
The impressions it conveys
are diverse and complex, often
confusing and conflicting. But
perhaps these turbulent. para
doxical effects are the very
essence of how Germany ap-
peared to an informed observer
between l945 and 1913.
Changing Impression
The first impression I got
led inevitably. to anger. be-
cause the author depicts some
deplorable members of the
American military occupation
"a sadistic pervert Of an
MP major who came from
the New York police depart
ment, and two or three other
officers who were either venal
or stupid or both. Not that
there could not be such
soldiers among SO many. but
because of the emphasis on
these men. took it the writer
was anti-American. perhaps
q German of the old school.
Later l got a different i'm
preston. There was an Aneri-
can colonel who was a man Of
integrity and good will. a ma
jor who had been brought up
in Germany, was Jewish and
naturally had no sympathy for
the Nazi regime. The fact that
the majors brother, a captain,
was crooked and eventually
went over to the Russians does
not offset the fine character
of his brother and the colonel
and of other Americans who
treated the German humanely
and wanted to heal the wounds
of war.
An Accusation
And yet the net effect Of
the narrative is to accuse the
American occupation of inept-
ness and lack of understand
Ing. of, at worst, hypocrisy,
profiteering and bullying.
The conquerors had made
laws for themselves which they
could not keep or which they
would not keep. They re-
sorted to secrecy. They spoke
to Germans, they did business
with them. and they slept with
the women. :"
The Nurnberg war guilt
trials in which. of course.
America was Joined by her
allies. was. as the author saw
it. an absurdity. a gesture to
cause laughter in Valhalla.
1.-The lunatic idea Of collective
guilt had turned the stars Of
the Nurnberg show into extras.
judges. prosecutors, MPs and
journalists seemed like con-
spirators. and the courtesy
with which the other judges
treated their Soviet colleagues
deceived no one about the
underlying clashes. 1t was
hardly surprising in the cir
cumstances that the trial
dragged on lamely and hope
lessly." But. then, there are
more than a few Americans
who have a similar idea OF
Nurnberg.
Simply Cleverer
The venal American captain
once remarked to his bewil-
dered brother. the major: Our
fellow countrymen are letting
the Germans twist them around
their fingers. 1t isn't all cor
ruption. The fact is simply
that a German street girl is
cleverer than an American
colonel"
Is the book, then. written in
praise of Hitler. or Of his
grandiose dreams of conquest?
BY no means. The most SYM
pathetic German characters
are a doctor who did what he
could to help victims of Nazi
oppression: a colonel who took
part in the thwarted plot on
Hitler's life. and the wife of a
Nazi governor of France. a
woman who was so disillu-
stoned she enabled some per-
sons slated for execution or
deportation to escape.
of Limits" has a compass
sion for the German people,
and the author is at pains to
explain that there is no simple
answer to the questions Ameri-
cans were constantly asking:
why didn't you resist the
Nazis. why didn't you revolt?"
Authors Background
] assumed that Mr.. Habe
was German. probably a war
veteran, and / conceded his
right to present the picture as
Il looked to the conquered.
Then. suspicious of his init
mate knowledge of the Ameri-
can military Setup, l looked in
back of the book and saw that
he was born in Budapest,
brought up in Vienna and be-
came at 81 the youngest editor
of Vienna newspaper. He was
blicklisted by the Nazis and
fled to Geneva, from which
point he was a rowing cor
respondent for Prague paper.
In 1889 he enlisted in the
FrenchArmy. He was captured
and escaped. In 1910 he came
to America. He enlisted in the
United States Army as a pri-
vate, went through the Italian
campaign. rose to major and
received seven decorations. In
the occupation of Germany he
: directed the ra-pStahliShmant