The Land of Deepening Shadow: Germany-at-WarCurtin, D. Thomas (Daniel Thomas)
History
The Land of Deepening Shadow: Germany-at-War
Curtin, D. Thomas (Daniel Thomas)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
"He has succeeded in finding the classical formula for the German
arrogance, which of necessity demands that Germanism shall be
placed above everything else in the world, and at the same time in
giving this arrogance such an expression that it shall not conflict
with the German demand for moral justification. This has been
achieved in the lines which have been quoted times without number
in the newest German war literature:
Und es mag am deutschen Wesen
Einmal noch die Welt genesen!
(The world may yet again be healed by Germanism.)
"The hope here expressed has become a certainty for modern Germany,
and the Germans see in this the moral basis for all their demands.
Why must Germany be victorious, why must she have her place in the
sun, why must her frontiers be extended, why is all opposition to
Germany shameful, not to say devilish, why must Germany become a
world-empire, why ought Germany and not Great Britain to become the
great Colonial Power? Why, because it is through the medium of
Germanism that the world is to be healed; it is upon Germanism that
the salvation of the world depends. That is why all attacks
against Germanism are against God's plans, in opposition to His
designs for the world; in short, a sin against God. The Germans do
not seem to be able to understand that other nations cannot be
particularly delighted at being described as sickly shoots which
can only be healed by coming under the influence of German
fountains of health. Yet one would think that, if they would only
reflect a little upon what the two lines quoted above imply, they
would be able in some measure to understand the dislike for them,
which they declare to be so incomprehensible.
"He also prophesied about the great master who would arise and
create the unity of Germany. This prophecy was brilliantly
fulfilled in Bismarck. After 1866 he loudly clamours for
Alsace-Lorraine. This he cannot reasonably have expected to obtain
without war; but when the war comes we hear exactly the same tale
as now of the Germans' love of peace and the despicable
deceitfulness of their enemies. 'And the peace shall be a _German
peace_; now tremble before the sword of God and of Germany ye who
are strong in impiety and fruitful in bloodguiltiness.'"
Hate lectures have been both fashionable and popular in Germany
during the war. I was attracted to one in Munich by flaming red
and yellow posters which announced that Professor Werner Sombart of
the University of Berlin would speak at the Vierjahreszeiten Hall
on "Unser Hass gegen England" (Our Hatred of England).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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