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Political Martyrs
Jhe Sage of Baltimore Discusses Hitlerism and Anti-Semitism
I HAVE asked Mencken a few pertinent ques
tions pertaining to a subject upon which has
been focused the spotlight of popular opinion.
Whether or no you agree with him is not the
issue. Gentlemen, I give you Henry L. Mencken:
Question: To what do you attribute Hitler’s
sudden rise to power in Germany; and his tre
mendous following?
Answer: “Hitler’s rise was not sudden. It
began the day the Treaty of Versailles was signed.
One of the deliberate purposes of the treaty, as
of the war, was to weaken Germany by forcing
a democratic form of government upon it. The
effects of that great moral enterprise were soon
apparent. Practically all men of any decency were
driven out of public life, and German politics, like
American politics, became a sordid struggle for
profit and advantage between unconscionable gangs
of demagogues. For a while the German masses
inclined to succumb to the Socialist outfit, mani
festly in the hope (encouraged by its tall promises)
that it could come to terms with similar outfits
in England and elsewhere, and so obtain some
amelioration of the treaty. When this hope, at
last, was discovered to be in vain there was
a despairing flight in two directions—toward
Communism on the one hand, and towards Fas
cism on the other. The Fascists won simply be
cause they had, in Hitler, a vastly better rabble-
rouser than the Communists could produce. He
never made the mistake of talking sense, even for
an instant. He confined himself to blah, whether
his theme was historical, economic, ethical, aesthe
tic or ethnological. The poor Communists, ranged
beside him, looked like children.
“It is, of course, a mistake to assume that there
is no opposition to him at home. I know’ a great
many Germans, all of them of the upper intellec
tual brackets, and among them 1 am aw’are of none
who favors him unreservedly. They go with him
—if you choose to call it going with him—for
tw’o reasons. The first is that the alternative
would be much worse—that if he went out to
morrow Communism would come in, and under
Communism the stupidities and brutalities of his
followers would be magnified a thousand times. .
The second reason is that opposing such a dema
gogue is ahvays hopeless until the first popular
enthusiasm for him dies down. While he is on
his honeymoon there is nothing to do save grin
and bear it. How long it will take the Germans
to get back any measure of free speech remains to
be seen. Let us be patient. It took the American
press nearly three years to throw off the censor
ship imposed on it in 1917. In Italy the press'has
been helpless since 1922 and in Russia since 1917.”
Question: Do you think that the American
boycott against German made goods is an effec
tive method of fighting the situation ? What other
method would you suggest?
Answer: “I doubt that it will be effective. If
it is confined to Jews it will not reduce the sales
of German goods sufficiently to make any impres
sion, for relatively few Jews buy them anyhow.
And if any attempt is made to extend it to Chris
tians, it w’ill probably develop as much opposition
as support, for people do not like to be told what
they should buy or not buy. The net result, if the
thing is badly managed—as it probably will be—
By H. L. Mencken
(As Told to Maxwell Weinberg)
H. L. MENCKEN
“Einstein . . . a 'dubious’ character '
In this exclusive interview, H. L. Mencken
reveals for the first time his views of the
situation in Germany and makes some char
acteristic and trenchant observations which
are sure to arouse wide comment and ex
tensive controversy.
may be a quiet boycott of Jewish goods, or, at all
events, of Jewish stores. I doubt the efficacy of
all such measures. The Germans are not going to
be dissuaded from their present course of threats
and reprisals. What will fetch them, if they are
ever fetched, is the slow realization that the civil
ized minority in the world regards them as ridicu
lous, just as it w’ould regard them as ridiculous
if they took to burning witches.”
Question: In exiling such men as Einstein,
Emil Ludwig, Feuchtwanger, Erich Maria Re
marque, Max Reinhardt, etc., has not Hitler
shown himself to be more interested in his political
affairs than in the advancement of Germany’s cul
ture? Is it not to be expected, therefore, that
the world should rise against his policies?
Answer: “Your question is rather hard to
answer. It seems to involve the assumption that
‘the W’orld’ is interested in ‘the advancement of
Germany’s culture.’ This is plainly not true.
Only 16 years ago a large part of the w’orld was
trying to destroy it. 1 doubt that Hitler has done
himself any substantial harm by exiling the men
you mention. All of them save Einstein are ob
viously third-raters. As for Einstein, he is a
‘dubious’ character, politically speaking, and the
100% Americans have already published demands
that he be forbidden to settle in the United
States.”
Question: Do you think that Hitler’s auto
biography, “My Battle,” soon to be published,
should be issued at this time?
Answer: “1 see no reason why Hitler’s book
shouldn’t be printed. To deprive him of his right
to be heard w’ould be to do to him precisely what
he is denounced for doing to others. I believe
in free speech, absolutely without qualification.
The book, judging by the extracts from it that
1 have read, is sorry stuff, but if the publishers
want to print it, they have a clear right to do y |
Any effort to interfere with that right can onl,
do damage to those w’ho undertake it, and t
whatever cause they profess to represent.”
Question: Do you think that Arturo Toscanini
w r as justified in refusing to conduct the Warner
Festival at Bayreuth because of the discriminate
shown against artists in Germany?
Answer: “I know nothing about Signor
Toscanini’s motives save as they have been repre
sented in the newspapers. If he acted as he did
for the reasons publicly stated it seems to me that
he carried himself like a self-respecting artist and
an honorable man.”
Question: How’ long do you think the preser*
situation w’ill exist in Germany?
Answer: “God knows. Personally, I am in
hopes that there will be a quick end to it, and
that the monarchy will be restored, but hopes are I
only hopes. Mussolini has lasted nearly eleven
years in Italy, and the Bolsheviki more than 16
years in Russia. At least seven Italians out of
eight, I believe, support Mussolini today, and even
the Bolsheviki probably have a substantial ma
jority behind them, though they have made a
dreadful mess of governing Russia. If Hitler
manages to reduce unemployment in Germany,
or if it is reduced by any other agency, he will
probably hang on for a long time.
“Naturally, his programme will change as time
passes, just as the programmes of Mussolini and
the Bolsheviki have changed. He may even aban
don his anti-Semitism. But I doubt it, for anti-
Semitism is as useful to a German office-seeker a>
the Negro bugaboo is to a Southern office-seeker
in this country. Hitler differs from the rest only
because he is bolder than they are, and has a
greater talent for mob oratory. Think of an
amalgam of Vardaman, Hoke Smith, Tom Wat
son, Cole Blease and Tom Heflin, with Bill'
Sunday and the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klin
Klan thrown in, and you have pretty well
imagined him.
“The Jew’s are easy marks for such profession;'
patriots simply because they are always so ob
viously foreign. To be sure, there are plenty ot
Jews who try to get rid of this foreignness, and
who honestly think of themselves as Germans,
Americans, Englishmen or what not, but they are
seldom heard of by the populace. The Jews who
make all the noise are forever harping on their
Jew’ishness. If they are not taking up a collection
for Jews at home they are demanding that some
thing be done about the troubles of Jews abroad-
Thus the public is encouraged to think of their
as Jews first, and Germans or Americans or wha'
not only aftenvard, and in times of public turino: •
when demagogues are loose and the common f* 0-
pie are all set to be saved from hobgoblins, it : -
perhaps not unnatural that they should be ear y
victims.
“In brief, one of the chief causes of *0°*
Semitism is the professional Jew. He lived l*
exaggerating, not only his own Jewishness, bu
also that of other Jews, and he has a magni; ice* 1
talent for being offensive to Goyim. At the
moment he is having one of his recurrent high
times in the United States for Hitler is unpo uU
among journalists, and so (Please turn to pag< —
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THE SOUTHERN ISRAE IT*