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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< — [4] it THE SOUTHERN ISRAE IT*