OUTLAWED HISTORY

It has always been the prerogative of the historian to present facts as they are known and to interpret them as his opinions and affiliations dictate. The English give to the Iron Duke the credit for Waterloo, the Germans acclaim Bluecher, and the French maintain that the battle was not won, that it was only lost. However much written history displeases a nation that considers itself aggrieved, active measures at suppression are rarely taken.

History dramatized seems to present a different situation, as in the case of the motion picture "Dawn", a British production. The German Government has successfully protested against the release, which deals with the death of Edith Cavell, as an objectionable theme and a misrepresentation. Whether or not the portrayal is incorrect is beside the point, for the reports of the Germans themselves fail to concur. But the fact remains that the subject was banned from England as unfit for reproduction on the screen, since it might be provocative of feeling not in accord with a spirit of pacification.

It is unquestionably a pity that a nation which has erected immutable monuments to its heroine cannot perpetuate her memory in a life-like one. But that is apparently considered beyond the permissable scope of dramatized history, which is more widely reviewed than the written accounts and further gives the effect of actuality. If in the case of "Dawn" England has refused to add to national pride by premature sanction, then to it goes the greater glory of pioneering in international sportsmanship.