GERMAN REBIRTH

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It is with great interest that I read your Brass Tacks on "Nazi-Rebirth" in your Nov. 25th issue. Being an exchange student from Germany, I feel that I should give you some supplementary information so as to correct some of the mistakes in the article which, if not corrected, might leave the innocent reader with a rather distorted picture about present-day Germany.

"'Deutschland Uber Alles', the Nazi Party song, symbolizes a growing spirit of nationalism and a renascence of German Nazism." The origin of Deutschland Uber Alles dates back to a time when Nazism was entirely out of the question. The actual Nazi Party song was "Die Fahne Hoch."

"The Germans should feel no guilt about the war and share no responsibility to rectify the Nazi's wrongs." The truth is that the greater majority of the German people know very well indeed that they share the full responsibility of what happened during the war, even though they have not all actively participated in Nazi atrocities.

"A growing hate for the West, especially for the United States, and Anti-Semitism" is a statement, the severity of which, I think, the author is not quite aware of himself. It cannot be stressed enough that the German people are not only aware of the fact that they have to find a new start in their national as well as in their international relations in order to one again be what might be termed "acceptable" within the community of freedom loving nations, but actually are now in the process of doing so. On Sept. 27, 1952 the Federal Government for the first time officially took action to come to acceptable terms with Israel and Chancellor Dr. Adenauer pointed out that "Germany was willing and prepared" for an adequate restitution. Not only the entire German people, but amongst them especially the German youth realize that this cannot merely remain a matter of restitution in terms of large sums of money, but that in order to achieve a real reconciliation with the Jewish people the practical deed was the foremost to be considered. In other words: what matters is whether there is a sincere change of heart in the attitude of the German people, and I am happy to be able to report that there is, "A growing hate, especially for the United States" is quite out of the question, and apart from the fact that the occupation is probably resented--name any country that would not resent an occupation and the necessary shortcomings in the wake of it-but the German people realize the necessity to cooperate with the western world that, after all, represents the patterns of occidental culture of which we all are in some way or another an integral part.

Another passage in your article implies "that the West cannot deal drastically, with the nationalistic spirit that gives rise to Nazi radicalism, because it is set for a policy that calls for German military cooperation." In other words you assume that the Germans are out for a bargain, namely that they be allowed to relapse into some kind of nationalism, and in turn would be willing to cooperate in military matters. The truth is that almost the entire German people take a rather dim view of the prospect of again having to join some kind of military force and that therefore the basic factor of the bargain does not apply.

Let us now proceed to the problems created by the SRP. May I first take the liberty and correct some of your figures. The SRP does not hold 19 seats in the legislature but 1 (One) as against 4 of the BHE. When Mr. John J. McCloy says that this party together with some other right-wing parties "create a potential danger to all those that value democratic principles" he is undoubtedly correct. However, it would be a gross underestimation of the democratic forces now at work in Germany, and I am convinced that after a successful restoration of the social and economic conditions in both Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein Germany is quite capable of dealing with people that "still look back on the day of Hitler with the stirring military parades." --CLAUS D. MAASS '55