What Germany Thinks - Thomas F. A. Smith
"Outside the station lay vast quantities of materials for the Flying
Corps, and innumerable motor-cars. A regiment of artillery was just
leaving, while a band was in the centre of the station; the rhythm of
the kettle-drums rolled mightily, and the music clashed in the huge
central hall; thousands of voices joined in, then helmets, hats, caps,
rifles and swords were waved and the train moved off amid shouts: 'Go
for them! Cut them down!' ('Drauf auf die Kerle! Haut sie
zusammen!')"[29]
[Footnote 29: Colonel Frobenius: "Durch Not und Tod" ("Through Distress
and Death"). Leipzig, 1915, p. 12 et seq.]
"If I live to be a hundred I shall never forget these days. They are the
greatest in our history. We never dreamed that anything so overwhelming
could be experienced on earth. Only three weeks ago and we should have
been quite incapable of imagining its like. The feeling that we have
experienced something overpowering, something which we cannot utter,
overwhelms us all. We see it in each other's faces and feel it in the
pressure of a hand. Words are too weak, so each is silent about what he
feels. We are conscious of one thing alone: Germany's heart has appeared
to us!
"At last we see each other as we are, and that is the indescribable
something--the birth of this great time. Never have we been so earnest
and never so glad. Every other thought, every other feeling has gone.
What we have thought and felt before was all unreality, mere ghosts; day
has dawned and they have fled. The whole land bristles with arms and
every German heart is filled with trust. If we were always as we are
to-day--one heart and one voice--then the whole world would have to bow
before us. But we no longer knew ourselves, we had forgotten our real
nature. We were so many and so divided, and each wanted only to be
himself. How was it that such madness could have blinded us, and discord
weakened us?
"Now we realize our strength and see what we can achieve, for in spite
of all we have retained our integrity; we have suffered no injury to the
soul. Germany's soul had slept awhile and now awakes like a giant
refreshed, and we can hardly recollect what it was all like only three
weeks ago, when each lived for himself, when we were at best only
parties, not a people. Each knew not the other, because he knew not
himself. In unholy egoism everyone had forgotten his highest will. Now
each has found his true will again, and that is proved--for we have only
one.
"In all German hearts flames the same holy wrath. A sacred wrath which
sanctifies and heals. Every wound heals; we are again healthy and whole.
Praise be to God for this war which delivered us on the first day from
German quarrelsomeness! When the days of peace return we must prove that
we deserve to have lived through this holy German war. Then no word must
be spoken, no deed done on German soil which would be unworthy of these
sublime days.
"Groups stand at the street corners reading the latest news. One counts
aloud how many enemies we have: there are already six. A silence ensues,
till someone says: 'Many enemies, great honour, and we shall win, for
our cause is just!' Such utterances can be heard every day. That is
German faith; human might does not decide, but God's justice! That is
the Supreme blessing of this great time; we put our trust in the spirit.
Modern Germans have never breathed before so pure an atmosphere, for
Germany's soul has appeared to us.
* * * * *
"I am going to pronounce a blessing on this war, the blessing which is
on all lips, for we Germans, no matter in what part of the world we are,
all bless, bless and bless again this world war. I do not intend to
become lyrical. Lyric is so far from me that in all these three months I
have not composed a single war poem. No, I shall endeavour to count up
quite calmly, unlyrically, what we have seen during these three months:
point for point, the whole list of surprises, for they have all been
surprises, one after the other.
"Only a few days ago a high State official said to me: 'Let us confess
at once that in all Europe nobody believed in this war; everybody had
prepared for it, but nobody thought it possible--not even those who
wanted war.'
"All thinking men considered that the interwoven economic dependence on
each other among the nations, was so strong that none dare commit
suicide by commencing a war. Thus we spoke to each other, and that
seemed an axiom. Further, it seemed to be true that even if a madman let
loose the dogs of war, then it would be all over in a fortnight. The man
in the street imagined that it would be a kind of parade (_Aufmarsch_),
a mobilization test, and the power which succeeded best would be the
victor, for no country in the world was strong enough to stand the
enormous cost for longer than three weeks.
"Now three months have gone, and we have stood the strain, and we can
bear it for another three, six months, a year, or as many years as it
must be. The calculation was wrong, all the calculations were wrong: the
reality of this war surpasses everything which we had imagined, and it
has been glorious to experience on so grand a scale that reality always
surpasses the conception. Even that is not true which we learned in all
the schools and read in all the books--that every war is an awful
misfortune. Even this war is horrible; yes, but our salvation. It seems
so to us, and so it has appeared to us from the very first day onwards.
"That first day will remain in our memories for ever; never in all our
lives had we experienced anything so grand, and we had never believed it
possible to experience anything so magnificent. Word for word Bismarck's
prophecy (1888) has come true: 'It must be a war to which the whole
nation gives its assent; it must be a national war, conducted with an
enthusiasm like that of 1870, when we were ruthlessly attacked. Then all
Germany from the Memel to Lake Constance will blaze up like a
powder-mine and the whole land bristle with bayonets.' The war which
Bismarck prophesied was this war, and what he foretold came to pass, and
we saw it with our eyes. We saw the German mobilization with eyes which
since then have been consecrate.
"All enthusiasm is splendid, even in an individual, be he who he may and
for whatever cause you like. In enthusiasm everything good in a man
appears, while the common and vulgar in him sinks away. Any enthusiasm
either of groups or societies in which the individual ego loses itself
is grand, but the mighty enthusiasm of a powerful people is
overwhelming. This was, however, an enthusiasm of a peculiar sort--it
was well disciplined, an enthusiasm combined with and controlled by the
highest order.
"In this the fundamental secret of German power was revealed: to remain
calm in enthusiasm, cold amidst fire and still obedient to duty in a
tornado of passion. Then we were all inspired by the thought and
feeling: 'Nobody can achieve that, for in order to be able to do it we
have had to perform a huge intellectual and spiritual task. It is not
alone the result of the last century and a half; no, that work has been
going on for nearly a thousand years.'
"What is the spirit of our German mysticism, the spirit of Eckhart and
Tauler, except: Drunkenness of the soul in a waking condition? The
accepted law on which all great German deeds rest, is: to dovetail
enthusiasm with discipline and order. From our Gothic, through German
_barock_ to Frederick the Great and Kant, on to the classical
period--what does all that mean if it is not the architecture of one
huge feeling? The soul runs riot in its imaginings and therewith the
intellect builds. The ravings of the soul provide the materials with
which the mind builds.
"What is German music from Bach to Beethoven and from Beethoven to
Wagner--yes, even to Richard Strauss--but enthusiasm with discipline?
German music has been our mobilization; it has gone on just as in a
_partitur_ by Richard Wagner--absolute rapture with perfect precision!
"Hence when we saw the miracle of this mobilization--all Germany's
military manhood packed in railway trains, rolling through the land, day
by day and night after night, never a minute late and never a question
for which the right answer was not ready and waiting--when we saw all
this, we were not astonished, because it was no miracle; it was nothing
other than a natural result of a thousand years of work and preparation;
it was the net profit of the whole of German history.
"At the German mobilization not only our brave soldiers, reserves and
militia (_Landwehrmaenner und Landstuermler_) entered the field, but the
whole of Germany's historic past marched with them. It was this which
inspired the unshakable confidence which has endured from the first day
of war. In truth, the dear Fatherland has every reason to be calm.
"In the meantime something more has happened: all in a moment we became
Germans! We held our breaths when the Kaiser uttered these words. This
too arose out of the deepest depths of Germany's yearnings; it sounded
like an eagle-cry of our most ancient longings. Germany's soul has long
pined to tear itself from its narrow confines (_verwerden_, as Eckhart,
or _sich entselbsten_, as Goethe put it), to lay aside self-will and
sacrifice itself, to be absorbed in the whole, and yet still to serve
(Wagner). And this eternal German yearning had never reached fulfilment,
but self-interest and egoism have always been stronger; every German has
been at war with all the others. 'For every man to go his own way,' said
Goethe, 'is the peculiar characteristic of the German race. I have never
seen them united except in their hate for Napoleon. I am curious to see
what they will do when he is banished to the other side of the Rhine.'
And Goethe was right: no sooner was the land freed from the oppressor,
than each began again to think and act only for himself. Hence, when we
first learned of the Kaiser's words we felt almost a joyous fear. If it
were only true that now there were only Germans! But on the very next
day our eyes saw and our ears heard that at last there were only
Germans, and with that, all pain and fear was forgotten. If war is
awful, even a just war, a holy war--even for the victor too, we will
endure all that, for it is as nothing; no sacrifice is too great for
this prize--that we are all only Germans.
"Since the Emperor spoke those words three months have passed, and there
have only been Germans in the land. These three months have brought much
sorrow to German hearts, for there is hardly a home which does not
lament a father, a son, or a brother. Nevertheless, one may say that
since our existence as a nation, Germany has never been more joyous, in
the best sense of the word, than in this time of suffering. Through our
tears the noblest joy has shone; not alone at the success of our arms;
it is not from pride at fighting against a world of enemies; it is not
the fact that we are now assured of a future which in July last we could
not have imagined; it is not the feeling of power, of which even we
ourselves did not know. That shining joy springs from deeper reasons. We
are glad because we have found each other; we did not know each other
before. Indeed, no one knew himself. Now we know each other, and above
all, each knows himself.
"It was Bismarck who uttered these terrible words: 'When the unoccupied
German must give up the struggle and strife which has become dear to
him, and offer the hand of reconciliation, then he loses all joy in
life. Civil war is always the most terrible thing which any land can
have. But with us Germans it is still more terrible, because it is
fought out by us with more love for the strife than any other war.'
"Does it not sound truly horrible for the greatest benefactor of a
nation, which has to thank him for having realized its century-old dream
of unity, to say in all calm and as something quite obvious, that his
own nation engages in a civil war 'with more love' than any other war?
And wherever we look in Bismarck's speeches, the same complaint is found
which had been the eternal lamentation of Goethe--the lament over the
lack of faith and will of the Germans.
"How will it be this time? Will it be as after the Seven Years' War,
after the War of Liberation, after 1870? Will it be again all in vain?
As soon as the Fatherland is secure, will every German once again cease
to be a German in order to become some kind of -crat or -ist or -er?
This time it will be more difficult, for from this war he will return no
more into the same Fatherland. It will have expanded; the German
Fatherland will be greater. Arndt's poems must be written over again: no
longer merely 'as far as the German tongue is spoken.' Germany will
stretch beyond that limit, and in it the German will have work to do.
"In his speech Bismarck spoke of the 'unoccupied'; but in all
probability after this war, for years to come, there will be no
'unoccupied' Germans. They will be fully occupied with the new
organization. What the sword has won, we shall keep. 'The pike in the
European carp-pond,' said Bismarck once, 'prevent us from becoming carp.
They compel us to exertions which voluntarily we should hardly be
willing to make. They compel us to hold together, which is in direct
contradiction to our innermost nature.'
"As we cannot change our nature, it will be good if we take over for
good and all a number--a very considerable number,--of these European
pike. That will occupy the German peasant and give an outlet to his
superfluous energies. There will be no leisure-energy to discharge
itself in party strife. Further, we must build Europe up again. It stood
on rotten foundations, and now it has fallen to pieces. We shall erect
it again on a German basis, and there will be work enough."[30]
[Footnote 30: Hermann Bahr: "Kriegssegen" ("The Blessings of War").
Published in Munich, 1915, p. 5 _et seq_.]
CHAPTER V
WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS
It would be more than human if the German nation had actually realized
the lyrical picture painted by two well-known writers in the preceding
chapter. German newspapers, it is true, prove that the national unity so
loudly acclaimed was no empty word; moreover, they show conclusively
that grumblers and half-hearted enthusiasts were not lacking. It would
probably be more correct to describe them as "sober-minded patriots."
These elements had, however, to use a colloquialism, an "exceedingly
rough time."
The author has already contended that the German is innately brutal, and
in proof thereof quoted the awful statistics of brutal crimes published
by the Imperial Statistic Office, Berlin. The present work will contain
a picture of the natural unfolding of this "innate brutality" in Germany
itself during war time, and on the battlefields of Belgium and France.
There is no doubt whatever that a systematic, officially-organized press
campaign was carried on to madden the people and arouse blood-lust,
successively against Russians, Belgians, French and English. One is
almost inclined to exclaim: Providence caused some of the fruits of this
blood-lashing to be reaped in Germany!
"Yesterday evening in the Riebeckbraeu another free fight took place, and
quieter guests who refused to take part in the patriotic screaming of
the students and other mob elements were badly ill-treated.
Beer-glasses, ash-trays, chairs and other missiles were thrown about
freely. One man was struck on the back of the head with a beer-glass,
causing the blood to flow in streams. Helpless women, too, were beaten
and threatened."[31]
[Footnote 31: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 1st, 1914.]
Three days later the same journal contained a public appeal from the
Mayor of Leipzig, begging the inhabitants to preserve public order: "If
the disturbances in the streets, public houses, etc., should--contrary
to our expectations--continue, then we shall be compelled to take severe
steps to suppress them."
On the same page there is another report of similar scenes, in one of
which a workman was "horribly ill-treated" by eight others. The army
authorities were compelled to issue a still more drastic warning on
August 6th.
A victim reported his adventures in another Leipzig paper[32]: "I have
just read your article admonishing the 'hot-heads' to keep cool. The
General commanding Leipzig has also warned members of the public not to
allow excitement to lead them to 'deeds of brutality and crime.' I am a
good German patriot, and yet nearly lost my life at the hands of my own
countrymen."
[Footnote 32: _Leipziger Neuesten Nachrichten_, August 9th.]
The "good patriot" then relates that during the week he had spent an
evening at a concert in a beer-garden. Patriotic music was the order of
the day, and as each national song was sung he stood up with the rest of
the company. Towards the close of the evening he felt unwell and
remained sitting, an indiscretion which he truthfully says "nearly cost
him his life." Three skull wounds several inches long, his body beaten
black and blue, and ruined clothes, was the punishment for not joining
in with the "hurrah-patriots."
Dozens of similar instances might be cited, but for the sake of
impartiality it is preferable to allow a German to generalize: "The rage
of the populace has found vent not only against foreigners, but also
against good German patriots, indeed even against German officers."[33]
[Footnote 33: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 12th.]
Probably one of the most glaring instances of German indifference to
brutality is afforded by the following incident. A commercial traveller
named Luederitz, aged twenty-three, murdered his sweetheart in a Leipzig
hotel by strangling her with his necktie. He alleged that he had killed
the girl at her wish, and the judge sentenced him to three years, six
months' imprisonment--not even penal servitude! The report
concludes[34]: "As the accused has been called up to serve in the army,
he was allowed to go free for the present." Which means that if he
survives the war he may be called upon to undergo his sentence.
[Footnote 34: Ibid., August 28th.]
A South German newspaper[35] advised "German wives and maidens to avoid
wearing striking costumes, dresses and hats. Such restrictions are not
only desirable in the serious time through which our dear Fatherland is
passing, but such precautions are urgently necessary in the interests of
personal safety. For amidst the excitement which has unfortunately taken
possession of our people, ladies are not safe, either from insult or
assault, in spite of the fact that the police do their best to protect
them."
[Footnote 35: _Muenchen-Augsburger Abendzeitung_, August 5th.]
These are the bare facts, in a very limited selection, as regards German
brutality towards Germans. In the light of these events the question
suggests itself: How did foreigners fare in the midst of this
_Kulturvolk_? The answer is simple and expressive: "Not half has ever
been told;" yet the German newspapers contain more than sufficient
materials to prove that the floodgates of barbarism were opened wide.
When martial law was proclaimed the Berlin Government caused official
announcements to be issued throughout the whole country, requesting the
public to assist in preventing tunnels, bridges, railways, etc., from
being destroyed by foreign agents and spies. The whole country at once
became a detective office of madmen!
Ample proof is at hand to show that this lashing of the public mind into
brutal fury was the calculated work of the German authorities. "We are
now absolutely dependent upon reports issued by the authorities; we do
not know whether they are correct or whether they are merely intended to
inflame public opinion. Thus reports have been officially circulated of
Russian patrols crossing our frontiers, and from Nuremberg of French
airmen dropping bombs on the railways in that neighbourhood, whereupon
diplomatic relations with both countries were broken off."[36]
[Footnote 36: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 3rd.]
The whole Press, with the exception of at least some Social Democratic
organs, joined in a chorus of hatred and suspicion against Russians
residing in Germany. In bitterness towards the Russian State the
Socialist journals were solid in their hostility, but the author has
only discovered expressions of abhorrence in their columns concerning
the ill-treatment, even murder, of innocent foreigners in Germany. This
fact must be recorded to their honour.
"Certain circles of Leipzig's population are at present possessed by
patriotic delirium and at the same time by a spy-mania which luxuriates
like tropical vegetation. In reality, love of Fatherland is something
quite other than those feelings which find expression in the present
noisy and disgusting scenes. These mob patriots must remember that in
their mad attacks on 'Serbs' and 'Russians'--that is to say, everybody
who has black hair and a beard, whom they at once conclude must belong
to those nations--they are endangering the lives of hundreds of
thousands of Germans in France and Russia."[37]
[Footnote 37: Ibid., August 4th.]
On the following day the same journal contained another detailed report:
"In spite of official appeals to the public to display self-possession
in these serious times, the nationalist mob continues to behave in the
most scandalous manner, both in the streets and public restaurants, etc.
The wildest outbreaks of brutal passions occur, and no one with black
hair and dark complexion is secure from outbursts of rage on the part of
the fanatics. Shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday a gentleman in the uniform
of a German artillery officer was sitting with a lady in the Cafe
Felsche; apparently somebody 'denounced' him for a Russian officer in
disguise. The police accompanied by army officers arrested and led him
into the street, where they were received by a yelling crowd. The
enraged mob forced its way past the guards and beat the 'spy' with
sticks, umbrellas, etc., till streams of blood ran down his face, his
uniform being torn to shreds. The officers and police guarding him drew
their weapons, but were unable to protect him from further brutal
treatment; indeed, it was with the greatest difficulty that they
succeeded in bringing him to a place of safety."[38]
[Footnote 38: The unfortunate suspect was in truth a German officer.]
On the last page of the same edition there is an advertisement which
helps to explain why the appeals for cool blood were useless.
"APPEAL!"
"Among the foreigners in our country, especially Russians, there are a
large number who, it is to be feared, are guilty of espionage and
attempts to disturb our mobilization. While the Russians engaged in
work on our farms may be allowed to continue their work in peace, it
is necessary to watch carefully those who are studying here, or are
permanent residents.
"I call upon the inhabitants to take part in the task of observation,
and when strong suspicion is aroused to see to it that the suspects
are arrested and handed over to the civil authorities.
"The protection of our railway lines and stations, telegraph wires,
etc., demands the most careful attention during the next few days.
"VON LAFFERT,
"General in Command.
"Leipzig, August 4th."
An interesting contrast to the above is a police order, issued by the
Director of the Stuttgart police.[39]
[Footnote 39: _Leipziger Neuesten Nachrichten_, August 9th.]
"Policemen! The populace is going absolutely mad. The streets are
crowded with old women of both sexes who have nothing else to do but
disgrace themselves. Each sees in his neighbour a Russian or French
spy, and imagines that it is his duty to thrash both him _and_ the
policeman who intervenes, till the blood flows; if not that, then at
least to cause an enormous crowd to gather in giving the alleged spy
over to the police. Clouds become hostile airmen, stars are mistaken
for airships and the cross-bars of bicycles are thought to be bombs;
bridges have been blown up, telegraph and telephone wires cut in the
middle of Stuttgart; spies have been shot and water supplies poisoned!
It is impossible to imagine what will happen when serious events
really come.
"It has been proved that up till now there has not been the slightest
reason for all this alarm; but yet, judging by appearances, we are
living in a huge lunatic asylum. Everyone, if he is not a coward or a
dangerous idler, should be quietly doing his duty, for the times are
already serious enough.
"Policemen! continue to keep your heads cool. Be men as you were
formerly, and not women. Do not allow yourselves to be frightened at
straws; keep your eyes open and do your duty!
"BILLINGER,
"Director of Police.
"Stuttgart."
It is not surprising that this humorous police commander expressed his
indignation in the forceful Swabian manner. Here are a few telegrams
which had been sent to Berlin from Stuttgart, or still more probable,
manufactured by the official Press Bureau in Berlin.