Columbia Misourian, 24.11.1937

 

 

Mr. P. P. Singh who wrote the following reaction to the present Germany way of surmounting iniquities of the Versailles Peace is a graduate of the universities both Allahabad and London, and is at present a graduate student at the University of Missouri.

Editor, the Missourian:
Concerning your Reader McVey’s query about an expended definition of Nazism may I suggest a meaning for the term?
Hitler, once a comparatively destitute house painter and now dictator of Germany, founded the political movement Naziism. His book „Mein Kampf“ is the political gospel of his followers.
Hitler hated Jews. He considered Communists the cause of much misery and looks upon the treaty of Versailles to Germany’s self-respect and a death-sentence to her future. Hitler was no friend of democratic parlamentarism either. His cult waged war against everything he hated.
Naziism aimed to abolish marxian democracy and replace it with German “democracy“ or dictorship which may described as the “free election of the leader who has to assume full responsibility for all he does and for all the refrains from doing. There is no majority vote to settle specific questions, but merely the decision of a single person who has then to stand up for his decision whether it cost him his property or even his life.“
Naziism did not agree with marxian internationalism. It laid emphasis on nationalism to extend of banning everything not of pure German blood and origin. Germany was predominantly Communistic when Hitler launched his movement. He had to win the sympathy and support of the masses, before he could hope to make them staunchnationalists. He decided to advocate socialism.
He floated a program for his party with twenty-five points. The program is the crux of his cult. It demanded the union of all Germans in a greater Germany, denounced the treaty of Versailles and Saint Germain, claimed the colonies, confined German citizenship to persons of German stock, thereby barring all Jews, restricted German jobs to persons of German origin, stressed prevention of immigration of non-Germans, demanded nationalization of trusts, participation in the profits of big concerns and expropriation of land for communal purposes without compensation.
Naziism is a fascist movement. It differs with the fascist cult in so far as it is slightly socialistic in its attidute towards economic questions. Fascists taboo everything that smacks of socialism. Naziism and Fascism are otherwise alike. They are the twin brothers under the influence of evil stars. They may have saved the countries of their birth from disaster, but they are the greatest foes of world peace, today.
Austrian-born dictator of Germany, Herr Hitler, who was refused citizenship of Germany for fourteen years, is now preaching nationalism and racial purity with venegance! He was swept out 500,000, out of a total population of 600,000 Jews from Germnay, including some of the most talented scholars, scientists, artists and philosophers.
The rest have lost their powers and privileges and Nazi sword constantly hangs on their heads. Anti-Semitism was employed by Hitler to excite fanatical tribe-conciousness to unite ninety-nine per cent of German population for his program.
“Talk of purity of German stock is sheer nonesense“, says Everett R. Clinchy, “Eastern Germany is said to be sixty per cent Slavic population, now Germanized, while Southern Germany is forty per cent Celtic.“
“For our liberation,“ Hitler is quoted, campaiging, “We need… spite, hatred, and once mor hatred.“ Hitler has built the modern Germany on spite and hatred.
Hitler may be acclaimed as the saviour of Germany, but his hatred for Jews and their ruthless persecution is monstrous. Balzac, the French writer, rightly said:“Hatred is the vice of narrow souls, they feed it with all their littlenesses and make it the pretext of their base tyrannies.“

                                                       A NAZI VERSION

Wishing to furnish readers with a German version of Nazi rule simultaneously with a contributed disapproval of the Hitler regime, the Missourian asked Miss Elisabeth Noelle, exchange graduate at Missouri from University of Munich to give her views.

Her statement follows:
The term National-Socialism is generally pronounced with a note of antagonism in the United States.* The reason is that only a few people know the meaning of the term. In the following discussion I shall endeavor to describe briefly the essential meaning of National-Socialism.
The origin of National-Socialism lies in the reaction of the German people against the treaty of Versailles** and the conditions arising from this treaty. The movement is a reaction against the loss of the German colonies and about 50,000 square miles of German territory, against the confiscation of the entire private and state property abroad: against constant draining the country of its wealth through reparation payments which brought about the annihalation of the German middle classes.*** It is an organised object of the confiscation of the German merchant fleed and the loss of foreign markets which offered the only opportunity of bringing money and work back to the German industries and laboring classes. It is a reaction against steadly increasing unemployment with its 7 million jobless people to which finally belonged one-third of the total population capable of work – a condition which formed a hot bed for the growing communism.
This political experiment, however, had just killed 80,000 priests, 500,000 peasants and over 1 million „bourgois“ in nearby Russia.
Finally, National-Socialsms, is the reaction to loss of national pride, to complete helplessness of a disarmed Germany admidst feverlably rearming nations, to the disapperance of national self-preservation, to the rapidly decreasing birth rate, to overruling of the cultural and economical life through extending influence of Jews caused by the fact that in Germany after the war about 70-90 per cent of the key positions in medicine, law, the press, the theaters, and a large part of government positions were in the hand of the Jews, although they constituted only one per cent of the population. This situation endangered German cultural life and national unity.
Germany saw only two ways out of this situation: Either to fight off by national ideals and inevitable fate or hopelessly to resign herself and await her own deterioration and extinction.
The German people considered themselves to be too valuable of the world-family to pass out of existence. Yet the thirty-three parties of the German post-war democracy apparently were neither capable agreeing upon a single measure of relief nor of acting. Consequently the German people elected and they actually did elect as their leader Adolf Hitler, who in this time of indecision had laid down the system of national defense in his book: “Mein Kampf“ and in the twenty-five points of the party program of the National-Socialists.
Hitler’s rise to power appears not to be foreign to American practice. In this country even the poorest farm boy may have the opportunity of becoming President. Hitler came neither from a military cast nor from the social elite but he had worked his way up from poor mason to he highest political position.
National-Socialism as developed by Hitler has been described as a reaction. Consequently it is subject to time and place, i. e. it is created for German conditions and it is not to be imported to other contries. Every propositon of the movement springs from the abnormal conditions of post-war Germany. National-Socialism employs the principle of leadership. The conviction is held that present Germany fares better if one man acts than if a hundred hesitate. Better if this one man is responsible with his life than hundreds avoid responsibility.
This principle rests in the confidence that one out-standing man has sounder jugdement than a hundred mediocre ones. National-Socialism has the maxim:“ Public welfare above self-interest“, for it appeared very doubtful that the hopeless situation of Germany could remedied if each individual would continue to act for his own interest only. This maxim demands readiness to sacrifice and restricts individual liberty if the independence of the entire nation is at stake.
National-Socialism does not recognize any classes but only the “people’s community“ based on the equality of rights. It does not acknowledge nobility by birth but only the “nobility of labor“.
In regard to the principle of nationality, National-Socialism stands for equality of rights and independence of all nations and believes in the necessity of mutual respect. For this reason National-Socialism rejects war of aggression but considers a war of defense necessary for national existence.
It is the conviction of the ideology that a nation contributs most to universal cultural progress, if this nation develops and preserves its national character. National-Socialism is opposed to the mixture of races because it sees herein a danger to the maintenance of national character, since history shows sufficient examples that the downfall of great nations has set in with the mixing of races.
National-Socialism regards religion as a private affair of the individual, but demands that state and church mutually respect their separate spheres.
National-Socialism founded on these principles cannot be imported to other countries. It is suitable for Germany only. The German people are only to aware of the fact that every country has to develop ist own system of government based upon its needs and requirements. And this Germany has done.
Editor’s note: * Except by American Jews the present Nazi rule probably is regarded more tolerantly in the United States than in any other democracy. The whole American tradition of course recalls at political executions and autocracy. But many Americans will grant that Hitler and Schacht constituted perhaps the only hope in Germany’s post-war emergency.
** The injustice of the Versailles treaty is pointed out in practically every university of the United States. Americans basic resentments of German National Socialism arises from a fear that the clash of principle between Fascism and democrcy and the militarism sponsered by Berlin and Rome may involve Europe in a war into which American commercial interests might drag us.
*** As we understand it, Germany never actually paid reparations: she borrowed to pay them, then declared herself unable to repay what she borrowed. It was extreme monetary inflation that ruined German middle class

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