Germany and the Germans from an American Point of ViewCollier, Price
History
Germany and the Germans from an American Point of View
Collier, Price
Germany; National characteristics, German
"Ohne zu uebertreiben kann man sagen dass heute nur der allerkleinste
Teil der deutschen Presse geneigt ist, den Englaendern Gerechtigkeit
widerfahren zu lassen, bei Behandlung allgemeiner Fragen sich auch
einmal auf den englischen Standpunkt der Betrachtung wenigstens
zeitweise zu versetzen. England ist fur viele 'der' Feind an sich, und
em Feind dem man keine Ruecksichten schuldet."
("It is no exaggeration to say that nowadays only the tiniest minority
of the German press is inclined to do justice to the English by at
least occasionally looking at questions from the British point of
view. England is for many the enemy of enemies and an enemy to whom no
consideration is due.") Thus writes one of the cooler heads in the
Koelnische Zeitung.
Doctor Herbert von Dirksen, of Bonn, writing of the Monroe Doctrine,
says: "By what right does America attempt to check the strongest
expansion policy of all other nations of the earth?" During the Boer
war Germany was showered with post-cards and caricatures of the
English. British soldiers with donkey heads marched past Queen
Victoria and the Prince of Wales; the venerable Queen Victoria is
pictured plucking the tail feathers from an ostrich which she holds
across her knees; the three generals, Methuen, Buller, and Gatacre,
take off their faces to discover the heads of an ass, a sheep, and a
cow; Chamberlain is depicted as the instigator of the war, with his
pockets and hands full of African shares; a parade of the stock-exchange
volunteers depicts them as all Jews, with the Prince of Wales
as a Jew reviewing them; the Prince of Wales is pictured surrounded by
vulgar women, who ask, "Say, Fatty, you are not going to South
Africa?" to which the Prince replies, "No, I must stay here to take
care of the widows and orphans!" English soldiers are depicted in the
act of hitting and kicking women and children.
In the war with Denmark
in 1864 the Austrian navy met with a disaster at sea. A German
publicist even then wrote: "I was grieved at the demonstrations of joy
about this in the English Parliament. It was not sympathy with the
Danes but petty spite and malice at the defeat of a foreign fleet. But
at the same time it is a consolatory proof that the English are afraid
of the future German navy." This quotation is interesting as showing
how far back the quarrel dates.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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