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iJ^e Non-Jews Cannot Be Free Unless the
Freedom of the Jews Is Guaranteed
Let the
Speak
Jews
Out
By Pierre Van Paassen
PIERRE VAN PAASSEN
Soted foreign correspondent who is
regarded as the best informed observer
of world Jewish affairs.
E VERY rabbi in the land and in every other
land, I am sure, has been telling his congrega
tion or the local press since Hitler came to
aver that the Jews have stood at the death-bed of
rr\«ne of their oppressors, that the Jewish peo-
r have outlived Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh
•nl Titus and Pobedonostscv, that the Jewish peo-
r have weathered the Crusaders and the Inquisi-
•;<>n and the Czarist pogroms, that they have sur
ged Edouard Drumont and Torquemada and
Simon Petlura.
Survived! Sure
•hev have survived.
But how ? By the
Torah, say the rab-
is, by the Jewish
a ay of life, by
holding on to Je-
ovah, by prefer-
in^ righteousness
»evil. Is this true?
No. It isn’t true.
The Jews have sur
vived by worming
•heir way out of
'he net, by squeez
ing out of the trap,
hv crawling and
ducking, by smirk-
inn. by mimicry
nd all sorts of de-
trnse mechanisms.
I he Jew has gro-
rllrd in the dust
vfore his oppres-
urs. To save him-
'elf he , has been
known to assume
'he hail-fellow-
"ell-met rotarian
attitude which in
his heart he rightly
suspected of often
ring the highest
'xpression of lib
eral international-
'tn in America.
How have they sur-
'ived. By giving up
nearly every ves-
tige of human dignity and their whole national
dignity. By sharpening their wits to the sharpness
r, f a razor’s edge, by being cleverer than the clever
est, by cultivating an inferiority complex or supe-
rioritv.
Harsh words these? \ es, but they are spoken
n loving affection. Say Me: is this a time for
^Karine innocuousness? For "dressing up the
'o r ld prettily?’ as Bernard Shaw says. Over-
ta* ment then? Let the Jews look in their own
hearts. Am I shouting? Let me shout. Let me
shout in the face of Christendom: “Thou art the
man !’ This is what you, the followers of Jesus the
Jew, have made of his physical and spiritual kins
men. It is you who are responsible for this human
degradation. You have made them “1 ntermen-
schen,” untouchables, pariahs, and have damned
them to the role of parasites by denying them the
most elementary human rights. Why are you oth
ers silent now when a people is martyred ?
This writer is as
sailed for not be
ing objective, for
seeing but one side
of the question.
And his answer is:
Beware of those
who make a fetish
of objectivity, be
ware of the men
who are always
ready to strike a
balance, who arc
ever prepared to
give the other side
a hearing. When
civilization is at
stake there is but
one side to stand on
for civilized peo
ple. They have no
choice. They sim
ply cannot be im
partial. When any
one claims impar
tiality in a matter
such as the torment
of the Jews in (ier-
many, he has al
ready begun to
compromise with
truth. It is true:
today I see no other
side. He who will
not blind his eyes,
as Anatole France
once said, for the
love of the faith he
professes, really
knows no love nor
faith. And as to shouting, certainly we will shout
when the marauders of humanity are about, when
wild beasts are let loose in the garden of civilization.
We cannot be silent!
The Jewish people are facing a hard struggle.
I do not wish to be a prophet of gloom. Yet I
must say what I believe to be the truth. Two
\ears ago in an address before the student body
of the Institute of Religion in New York I pre
dicted the early advent of Hitler to power and the
application of the cold pogrom by the Nazis. The
chairman, I)r. Stephen S. Wise took exception with
me declaring my prognosis too gloomy. (Jermany
was still (Jermany, he said. Too gloomy. Would
I had been too gloomy! Even as then I cannot now
join those who seek to lull the Jewish people to
sleep with a false sense of security. It is my con
viction that the Hitlerite attack is but a prelude
of coming disasters, also in America. For the
economic crisis is deepening in spite of the hysteri
cal Tone like incantations of the press which no
longer deceive anybody. The process of radicaliza-
tion of the middle classes, due to their pauperiza
tion, is speeding up constantly and an ever greater
number goes to join the class of propertyless indi
viduals without any hope to rise.
There will come a moment—it is not far distant
—when this radicalization process will have reached
a point where it becomes a danger to the existing
social order. That is also the moment, as we have
seen it in (lermany and in Italy (and in Rumania,
Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, etc.) when the executive
committee of those in control of the means of pro
duction can no longer permit the free functioning
of democratic institutions. They will allow them to
function till the last moment as long as it is possible
without actual danger to their class and in order
to keep alive the myth of democratic control. But
the moment there is real danger that the “de
classed’’ middle class joins itself to the revolution
ary elements, then democratic institutions will he
suspended and the existing social order will set up
a fascist defense apparatus. This apparatus in time
merges with the state and finally becomes the state.
Yet as it cannot change the economic condition of
the masses, because its object is not a social revolu
tion but to the contrary consolidation of the existing
order, it must at all costs seek to divert the growing
discontent of the masses into channels where the
regime cannot be harmed. In (iermany the Hit
lerite organization invented the myth of Jewish
predominance. In Italy and other countries Fas
cism struck out at the labor organizations. Who
will be the victim in America, the scapegoat? Can
you guess?
We need not delude ourselves. Are there not
a few strong souls to look facts in the face? Can
it not be seen that the United States and Canada
still keep their doors and windows hermetically
shut against the great winds of the spirit that arc
blowing through the world? Our intellectual dis
cussions seldom rise above the level of gossip around
the village pump. Xenophobia lies just below the
surface. Ludwig Lewisohn once pointed out, criti
cism is far more necessary to human civilization
than steam or gasoline. If you take our poor press
with its insistence on mechanical values, its military
subordination of all the elements of life to one
coarse and impoverishing (Please turn to page 29)
Behold there comes a time when I will make a new covenant with
the House of Juda, not a covenant as I made with your fathers."
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE *
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