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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 * [9]