Page Four _@ouz= B.C. LUMBER wore@® February 8, 1943 Should We Hate Germans? A correspondent notices that while Stalin in his Nov. has written: “We have stopped replacing the word ‘German’ by the word Soviet writer, Ilya Ehrenburg, The same issue has been debated recently in our literary journals, where projects By MILTON HOWARD many have been solemnly advanced by such writers as Hemingway and Clifton Fadiman. On the other side, there are the people who, fearing quite properly the infections of chauvinist hatre the Germans; we must only hate the Nazis.” I should like to add to this discussion some ideas which I have had as I read the various views. ‘OTHER’ GERMANY Is INDESTRUCTIBLE. First, it is axiomatic, particularly to a Communist, that any hatred of a people or a nation as such is utterly alien and disgusting. All peoples and races are equal. Their only differences are due to differ- ing degrees of historic develop- ment, differences which vary with * history, some advancing more rap- idly at one time, others at another time. That is why Stalin spurned the deceptive nonsense of Nazi propaganda, calculated to bind the German people to the Hitlerite re- gime, that the world hates the Germans, and therefore the Ger- mans are justified in seeking. to conquer Europe and the world. ‘There is the indestructible Ger- many whose historic grandeur we have known in its art and science, and of whose dauntless fighters for freedom we have just read in that noblest of all books to come out of this war—Anna, Segher’s “The Seventh Cross,” ‘There is the “inner Germany” to whom Ernest Fischer, exile in Mos- cow, has just addressed his appeal for struggle against the Nazi re- gime so that the German nation <imay appear before mankind as an equal and not as a brutal con- queror. We can never forget this inde: structible Germany of the people. FAILURE TO STOP NAZIS INEXOUSABLE. But, in my opinion, we cannot stop here, It is not enough to re- peat, without any refernce to spe- cific historic moments and con crete historic situations, that the German people have been “taken in” by Hitler, that they are noth- ing but victims and not in any sense whatsoever the accomplices of the Nazi regime. It has been said that Germany is also an invaded country—invad- ed by the Nazis, But does this ex- plain then why the conquered peo- ples of the of the Ukraine, of Nor- way, of Yugoslavia, of France and Czechoslovakia are waging a more ‘determined struggle against Hitler- Horseshoe Barbers 102 EAST HASTINGS ‘There is more to 4 haircut than cutting off the hair.... Try the Horseshoe Barbers for an up-to- date stylish haircut. UNION SHOP When in VANCOUVER Stop at COLUMBIA HOTEL LICENSED PREMISES 303 Columbia Avenue MAr. 3757 Q.Cl. Spruce Helps Leaders & S for the United Nations. peer Nez | Se ae Z British Columbia lumberjacks last Saturday heard their axes ring on Berlin as a squadron of British Bombers swept across Germany, pouring explosives on the Nazi Capital which delayed for a tumultuous hour the anniversary address of Air-Marshal Goering. Reich-Marshal Goering has never liked the RAF and after his narrow escape last Saturday, he. likes it a lot less. The Mosquitos, not the kind you can keep away with oil of citronella, are recognized as the world’s fastest and most efficient plane. DeHavilland Mosquito bomber has an exceptionally’ long range, is extremely thanoéuvrable, and can be utilized on day or night operations, It can also serve as a reconnaissance craft to great advantage because of its remarkable speed. The photograph shows the first Mosquito built in Canada, These qualities to- gether with their ability to out-manoeuver German fighting planes and’ anti-aircraft fire make them a valuable asset in the struggle to carry this battle to the heart of Berlin. Saturday’s attack, which heartened and cheered people throughout the United Nations, particularly in Britain and the Soviet Union, where the brunt of the battle has been felt, emphasized the important part spruce production plays in the destruction of the fascist menace. Apropo of the great showing these Mosquito bombers made in their attack on Berlin, the International Woodworkers of America this week re-iterates its appeal for joint labor- management co-operation with the Government to boost spruce and lumber production to speed victory The ism than the German victims of the same scourge? A nation has historie responsib- ilities. No people can evade its re- sponsibility to join the struggle agaihst Hitler. This responsibility applies to the German people, to whom we reach forth our hands, to whom we appeal to be true to what is best in their traditions. A nation, wrote Karl Marx, upon another occasion, is not forgiven the unguarded hour in which the first adventurer that came along could violate it. Historic retribution has its laws; it falls upon those peoples who failed to selze historic SEA FOODS are Good for You! and you'll like them at THE “ONLY” FISH They Are Always Fresh! 20 EAST HASTINGS STREET 100% Union House SSE EET Hastings Steam Baths 764 EAST HASTINGS ST. Government Registered Masseurs in Attendance J. WEPSALA, Prop. Also Agent for... Norwegian and Swedish American Steamship Lines High, 6240 opportunities or meet their historic obligations. WAR HAS EXPOSED BESTIALIZED GERMANY. Hitler has ruled the German nation for nearly a decade. He has hurled the German nation against Burope; he has made of its a utensil for. the foulest crimes against other nations. From the Soviet writers at the front we get a picture of a Ger- man Army different from any army the world has ever known. It is not an army with military objec- tives; it is an incredible gang of savages, plunderers, rapists and murderers whose bestiality is not confined to the top cliques, but seems to pervade for the moment, nearly the entire army. The great Soviet writer, Sholok- hoy, has written for the world a serles of articles called “The Sci- “Styles for Young Men and Men who Stay Young” x ALWAYS OPEN 301 West Hastings St. - ence of Hate.” Like Bhrenburg, he is awakening mankind to the pres- ent reality of what Hitler has done to the German nation and its army. Neither Sholokhov nor Ehrenburg could ever hate any people for their “race” or their “blood.” But they are telling us—it seems to me—that they can hate, as the ag- onized and bleeding Soviet people hate, the Germany of a particular historic. moment — Nazified Ger- many. GERMANS MUST FACE CONSEQUENCES, How will the German people of today—of 1943, not of the past nor of the future—explain to the peo- ples ‘of Europe and the Soviet Union the role that they played in the blitzkreig crimes of the Ger- man army? Will the peoples of Europe and of the Soviet Union accept the plea that “it was not we who did these things, but the Nazis?” Will they accept the ex- JOHN STANTON Barrister, Solicitor, Notary 603 Holden Bldg. 16 East Hastings Mar, 5746 7 speech scorned the Nazi propaganda that thi sis a war against the German people as such, the ‘fascist.’ ... We hate Germans.” for sterilizing or completely destroying the national existence of Ger- d of an entiré people, repeat, “We must not hate planation that the German nation could do nothing but supply Hitler with munitions and men, because “it was too difficult to do other- wise?” : To be free of the taint of being an accomplice as well as the vic- tims of Hitlerism, the German peo- ple must make historic decisions, decisions of colossal difficulty, it is true, but no more difficult than those made today by the peoples of Burope or of the Soviet Union. Can anyone pelieve that the fail- ure to make such decisions will not have its historic consequences? CANNOT EVADE RESPONSIBILITIES. ‘What I am trying to say is that the German people cannot evade the résponsibilities of warring for thelr own liberation. They cannot wait passively for liberation to come from the out- side, serving the Hitler regime while they wait for the external rescuer, This is not the way na- tions forge their character nor their fate. In my opinion, to cling to the abstraction “the German people” without regard to the actions of the German people in this war is to fall victim to an unhistoric senti- mentality which takes no concern of the shift and change of historic development. “3 Perhaps we are shocked by the ruthless bitterness of a Sholokhov or an Ehrenburg because we have not yet entered into the war fully. We have not yet seen the remorse- less face of the Hitlerized enemy. MUST REDEEM SELF IN THE STRUGGLE. We must win the German nation away from its chauvinist intoxica- tion and Hitlerite infections, It may seem easier for Germany to acqui- esce in the Nazi leadership than to wage war against it and its Gestapo. But this is a gigantic error. For the German nation, the safer path historically is to join the war of the world against Na- zism. Brnest Fischer radios to Ger- many: “The German nation has a way out, and there is no justifi- cation for the national despair which is today paralyzing the will of so many anti-Hitlerites. The freedom of man is to realize neces~ sity, and voluntarily to proceed to action.” The heart of the world will leap with rejoicing when this appeal is heeded inside Germany. It is not up to us to encourage the view that avoidance of strug- gle against Hitlerimm and its crimes will not cost the German people a price which the victims of Hitler's armies will exact from them. Such a fatalistic view will not help shatter the hypnotic delusions nor the defeatist passivity which delay the uprising of the German masses against their seducers and jailers. “