ING GUIDE TO GOOD READ A sombre, powerful study of Germany under. fascism, this is The Dead Stay Young (Little, Brown), a new novel by the author of The Seventh Cross, An- na Seghers. We have learned since the days when fascism was something far away, something read about in books... It was far away, violent, and it seemed to us ag if it came in with the sound of thunder. Now we know that it takes more than a day to make fascism. And we know, too, that after fascism triumphs to the accompaniment of concentration camps, gas chambers and human vivisection, the sun shines still and people wed, work and live. ee It is the poisono&s growth of nazism over Germany which An- na Seghers has portrayed in The Dead Stay Young. It begins (in her novel) when three young of- ficers in the Kaiser’s army of 1918 murder a soldier suspected of agitating for peace and the overthrow of imperial rule.: Through the lives of these officers and their intimates, and _ Of the son and sweetheart of the murdered youth, Anna Seghers traces the history of Germany down to the destruction of the armies by the Soviet Union. Deliberately, the author has de- emphasized the drama and emo- tion which, in her Seventh Cross, were prominent. Unlike the earlier work, which centered ‘its atten. tion on the anti-Nazi fighter, this novel concentrates on those forces various types of Germans who made the terrible 12 years of Hitler possible. Anna Seghers has _ drawn them effectively. The fin- _ ancier who helps create the Nazi - Movement; the old line aristocrat who sneers at the new rulers but who toes the line, nonetheless; the cynical intellectual who thinks his contempt for the barbarians excuses his serving ‘them; the submissive people, the people who wear blinkers to shut gut every- thing but their own petty little world; the people who oppose naz- ism but fear for their jobs, their sons or their safety; the youth who buy Hitlers demagogic bill of “goods; the ‘careful’ people who - Say we'll fight, but not just yet— all these, too, are portrayed in Anna Segher’s German gallery. It may be said that in her stern study of the Reich, Anna Seghers has played down the horrors in- flicted by the Nazis upon their opponents and their other vic- tims, and has also done less than justice to those whose courageous resistance was advertised by their seizure, imprisonment or death. It is true that the Communist underground fighter, Martin, or the other characters shown in fleeting incidents of anti-Nazi struggles are shadowy and minor figures, at best. Yet there is a burning honesty in al] this—there is the profound- ly realistic judgement by one of Germany’s best writers on the way in which her countrymen faced the challenge of fascism. * * * IN THE young Hans, son of the soldier slain in 1918, Anna Seghers has drawn one of the most con- vincing characters of her novel. A protege of the Communist Martin and a member of a Marx- ist youth group, Hans eventually joins the Hitler youth. But even there he attempts to carry on anti-Nazi acivity in an individual, scarcely effective way. In the army too, he schemes to enlist his com- rades in a flight to Russia. Hans has never submitted to. fascism. Yet he, too, in his way, has done Hitler’s bidding as did millions of others. Home from the war, Hans recalls how his sergeant ordered him to take a child from a Rus- sian woman’s arms. All that Hans did was pass the child to the Anna Seghers’ novel powerful study of Germany under fascism sergeant and the sergeant to a third, who flung the child into a death wagon. And Anna Seghers writes: “Why had he obeyed the com- mand? Because at that time he did not know what would happen to the baby? Suppose he had known? Perhaps each person knew only a part of the terrible things that went on. To get at the whole horror one would have ‘to put all those parts together. This way each man could say: “I just handed the child to the next man.” It is thus, without romanticiz- ing, without invective but with great understanding, Anna Segt hers shows us those of the Ger- man people who, because of the great Soviet triumph, have r ceived another opportunity build a Germany free and demo- cratic. In The Dead Stay Young, though it concludes with 1945 and the Nazi rout; we see both the Germans who are for a demo- cratic Germany and those who, under the benevolent eye of the Western imperialists build ithe new nazism. (Here in passing ‘may it be said that the concrete role and actions of specific or- ganizations like the Communist Party and the Social Democrats were not sufficiently brought into the novel.) As true and important The Dead Stay Young is as a report on the people who paved the way for German fascism, it is a warn- ing bel to the reader that we may best view it. The Dead Stay Young is Ger- many’s warning to America and the world. The price for bowing to fascism is a terrible one. ‘The boon from fighting fascism at every step — the frame-ups, the loyalty purges, the spy hunts, the imperialis war adventures—is to escape the horror of Buchenwald and the infamy of Ilse Koch. ~—ROBERT FRIEDMAN _ A charge of 50 cents for each insertion of five lines or less with is made for notices appearing in accepted later than Monday noon of the week of publication. Dancing D from 9-12. Arne John- .son’s Orchestra. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 10 cents for each additional line. WORK BOOTS high or low cut, dova. Street. WRITE P.O; Box 275, Steveston, B.C., for Chinese herbs. Proven remedy as used in China for diabetes, : FOR RENT see Johnson’s Boots. 63 West Cor-| Lie EXTENDING LABOR DAY GREETINGS SILVER'S LADIES WEAR - 1470 Commercial Drive EMEA, - mae | {LIL HE‘S AN ABORIGINAL, SO— Aboriginal painter Alice Springs to Darwin. Namatjira, a member ten permit from a Native Namatjira’s written ciousness or apology. At Darwin, straggling ocean, rolled his “swag” on a bed man whose paintings have Namatjira came under 150 years. Artist under ‘curfew’ ALBERT NAMATJIRA, world famous Australian » recently bought a bus ticket from that he cotild not leave the tribal district without a writ- permit was given without gra- jira saw his largest city and, for the first time, the salt _ Namatjira had never slept between sheets. He un- world could not see the town that night. iginal Australians by usurpers of their tribal lands and exterminators of their ancestors. “White” law says that an Aborigine must not move out after sundown in Darwin. Commenting on this the Tribune, left-wing Aus- tralian weekly, states: When the sun threatens to set on the liberties of “white” Australians, it is just as well to remember that, for the Original Australians, the sun of liberty hasn’t been allowed to rise over the last of the Arunta tribe, found Affairs Branch “protector.” sub-tropical village, Namat- in a Darwin hostel. But the won praise throughout the the curfew imposed on Or- > INTERVIEW WITH MARSHAK Scots find Burns most widely read in USSR DANIEL MARTIN, Day delegation to Moscow, Aberdeen, describes a_ meetin SAMUEL MARSHAK. WILLIE WILSON, of. Glasgow, and I were resting in our room in the National Hotel, Moscow, when we were told that Samuel Mar- shak had agreed to our request for an interview. Tom Murray, secretary of thee Scottish USSR Society, had asked us to be sure to convey the greet. ings of the society to him and his wife and to invite them to Scot- land for a holiday. pe. I knew that Samuel Marshak was OMe of the .greatest living authorities on the works of Robert Burns, and that he had made av- ailable to the Soviet people the ballads and poems which are loved all over the wo: for their humanism and wit, and their at- tacks on privilege and power, He has also translated into Rus- sian the works of Shakespeare, Byron and Shelley. ° Marshak spent part of his youth in the company of Maxim Gorky, and Wilson and I were excited at the prospect of meet- 8 cd 4 ing this (great man, who had ROOM with or without board. HA. 5432 given so much happiness and Write to box 23 Pacific Tribune. . . = knowledge to his people, and at wibueie . '' the same time forged unbreakable MEETINGS ¥ 2 : = links between the British and the SWEDISH-FINNISH WORKERS’ | 110, . = Soviet peoples. CLUB meets last Friday every |= Day Greetings =... We Heed. Hoe Bask Gabtian. tin month at 7:30 p.m. in Clinton Hall, |= from ‘ 5 were immediately put at ease by HALLS FOR RENT hep < oes the simplicty and the charm of = i his manner, CLINTON HALL, 2605 E. Pender,}= JO) gree sia HAstings 3277. Hall is : . available for rent. or A for meetings, weddings, | = “We Specialize in and banquets at reasonable rates.|= _. _ UNION HOUSE Ukrainian Food”. 600 Campbell Ave., HA. 6900. S OPEN ALL NIGHT 242 E. Hastings St, PA. 3037 Pe ae _- Vancouver ||PLBASE NOTE: Office of Pacific e . - : Tribune close at 12 noon on ING: ] = Saturdays. GREETI Ss TO LABOR 3 : PT Dixieland Trio — Available for ip eee: : and socials. “Assure a suc- Lace S : = evening.” Quality tops, “A I Ss : SIGNS FOR EVERY PURPOSE “TELL THEM YOU SAW IT || = ge), le IN THE TRIBUNE” : 437 Homer 25, hig PA. 9615 — - THe mA LLMER RLM RRL i is 24 who was a member of the British May elected by the engineering workers of with the famous Russian poet, es We proudly showed him the original edition of Burns’ works, which we had taken with us to give to Josef Stalin. The book was enclosed in a beautiful case made by one of the members of the Scottish USSR Society. Marshak excused himself, and for a few moments he became part of the book, holding it close to his eyes and feeling the tex- ture of the paper. He then complimented us on our choice of a gift and said that he was sure that Stalin would be pleased with it, as he had a great interest in the national culture of all lands. “ He then began to talk about Burns, and spoke of Burns’ inter est in the French Revolution and of his poem about it, “The Tree of Liberty.” In this poem Burns Says: Wi’ plenty o’ sic trees, I trow The world would live in peace, man; The sword would help to mak’ a plough, The din o’ war wad cease, man. He said that this poem also des- cribed the fighters for peace to-— day. Marshak told us he would be glad to come to Scotland as he had always wanted to come, He had spent part of his student days in London, but could never afford the fare to go to Scotland. a His interest in Scotland had — been roused by reading and trans-_ lating the works of Burns. He told, us that Burns’ works are | read more widely in the Soviet — ‘Union than anywhere else in the — world. ; I left Marshak with the feeling that this man was performing 2 — great work as a translator and @ — poet. Wing He is handing the treasures of the English-speaking people over to, the Soviet people and forging bonds of friendship which ca? ‘ \ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 1, 1950—PAGE 10 never die.