Gems (?) of German Thought

AND üBER

n Hum

re th

. The Germans are always in danger of enervating their nationality through pos

n humility see Nos. 17, 20, 23,

above the inferior peoples of Europe and the p

se it is the German people, and numbers 87 m

ery barrier opposed to their hunger for exploitation as a challenge to their superiority. Great is the gulf that separates these

tion V., "M

es it that the peoples no longer understand each other? Whither has that great, serene power departed, that brought near the souls of the peoples, each to each? Who has shattered the marvellous mirror from which the countenance of the world was thoughtfully reflected?" Then they would str

high, if not the highest, importance for the entire development of the human

that he can hack and hew his way through

na in history! The peoples around us are either overripe fruits which the next storm may bring to the ground, such as the Turks, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, and a great part of the Slavs; or they are, indeed, proud of their race, but senile and artificial in their Kultur, slow in their increase and boundless in their ambition, like the French; or, confident in the unassailability of their countr

for outspoken convictions, which would make a cut-and-dried part

the elaboration of our national personality, and to develop the

have earlier gained their place, and now claim our share in the dominion of the world, after we have

told! But for that there is no need to go to Rome and Athens. Our German history offers us ideals enough, and is richer in deeds of he

ty, German idealism, can be preserved only in the stou

e also Nos. 45,

general progress of mankind in its healthy development, for which a flourishing Germany is the essential condition. Our next war will be fought for the highest interests of ou

that in this respect no other people on the earth can rival us, and none seems so clearl

n he takes his repose in it he lies upon his stomach, while

July,

capable of a sober self-criticism. We have no use for illusions and self-decep

manly pride as we? But we are equally far removed from presumption and fr

lso should the German feel that he is raised high above all other nations who surround h

ning and depth of the world.-"On the German God,

les. If we would speak frankly, we must admit that we ourselves are partly to blame in the matter. A great part of the blame i

ty.-"On the German God," by Pastor

is no other hope for the future of humanity.-H.S. Ch

nism would mean the downfall of humanity.-"Six War S

they may rail at him and throw mud at him, as the "intellectuals" ... of England, France, Russia and Italy are now doing-in his lofty repose

should they make us vain and arrogant, boastful and indolent! God forbid! We will hold fast to our old modesty, with which we have so often been reproached, and w

ixture of the heroic German with the calculating Englishman? If the result was a man who thought half calculatingly and hal

, and this greatness, these riches, may be a blessing to us if we always remember that true greatness, true riches, lie only in the

now transformed into the Archangel Michael, and, encountering you with his flaming sword, triumphs o

cherish any remnant of belief in truth and right, in the Good, or, indeed, in any higher

nd classes with a strong mixture of German blood, and, especially in earlier times, to the descendants of Germani

Christianity. He, therefore, who fights for its maintenance, its victory, fights for the highest blessings of humanity itself, and for human p

e, which we would have any trouble in doing without. Let us reflect on the inexhaustible wealth of the German character,

ld, and are in that respect superior to all othe

the spirit against the whole world's infamy, falsehood, and devilish cun

heroic view of the world, and around its crown there gleam the rays of th

n world-history before August, 1914. Not till then was the new German human being born...

nd of happiness, to be a German-the year 1914 has made it a title of

feeling, he opened to the German thought the widest possibilities of victory.... A specially Germanic way of feeling, a Germanic modesty and distinction of thought, was here

Peloponnesian War divided the States of Hellas into two camps, so this war has divided the States of Europe. But

abitable earth will far more than hitherto bend its gaze upon us, to marvel at (anzu

rvations, which pointed to certain conjectures; in Germany it was transformed with

nts of peace. We offered you palm branches, we offered you justic

licentious France, uncouth Russia, the unconquerable youthful power and manhood of the German peop

d even the Prussians of 1813, once more swooping down upon them, and shuddered at the spectacle. And, in spite of all the boasting of Sir John [Bull], our cousins fro

ch one stakes life itself, this single, sweet, beloved life, for the life of a whole nation, a nation wh

pper-master, the German university professor! You have lagged far behind us, you are hopelessly inferior! Hence your chagrin, your envy, your fear! Powerless to rival us, you foam with hate and rage, you

of mankind. Foreign countries turn away enraged from such unheard-of self-glorification and are quite certain that,

k of guiding the fate of the world.... As we feel ourselves free from hatred toward the kindred Kultur-people of France, we have taken up the gauntlet with Teu

of us spoke, in our first excitement, of hatred; but this was a misinterpretation of our feeling. Seeing ourselves hated, we imagined that hate must be answered with hate; but our German spirit (Gemüt) was inc

d at scientific, social, and economic progress; our enemies trusted

ur side.... Imitate us and we will honour you. Seek to constrain us by war, and we will thrash

ntle G

July,

e Navy) is to-day the greatest institute for moral e

to wear the German uniform, which history has made a garb of honour above all others; but as for arrogance, not o

noble manner in which our troops conduct the war.-"War

alry. It is true we believe that every bone of a German soldier, with his heroic heart

ct the sacred defencelessness of woman and ch

ined, and have never so much as hurt a hair of a sing

treat the inhabitants of foreign countries with violence and brutality. But everywhere he has obeyed the law, and shown that even in war he knows how to distinguish between the enemy t

ere ten times more numerous-infinitely greater in value and in

sents a higher intellectual and moral life-value than hundreds of the raw children of nature (Natur

-down is even more glorious than a victory.-Prof.

he rights of war, and for protection in real need. Had they obeyed the dictates of their hearts, they would rather have shared their soup a

us German soldiers out in the field, the moment there is a pause in the fighting, set about trying to ride on the camel which they have taken from the Zouaves.... So, too, a non-commissioned officer,

ng) and a living organization such as the world has never seen, and this again indicates an average level of culture in all grades-of spiritual dev

nothing but animal vitality. "This terrible Germany," he says, "like a wonderful beast of the jungle, springs upon all it

ship pass unharmed,[9] which by International Law it has the right to sink ... and then come Messieurs the English and repay this act of

people is a striking characteristic of the Germans-and

lso N

t Misund

July,

consequence of our spiritual wealth. We understand all foreign nations; none of them

ation understands or can understand us." In these words he rejects all community of Kultur with ot

med already almost decided. For it was able to comprehend the oth

if it does not make its own the spiritual values of the other peoples. We can already sa

wn nature, to one's own national personality. That is what makes the renegade so hateful, and those

is disposed to admire everything foreign and to underrate what is his own. With foreigners it is just the other w

rything that foreigners, in low or in high estate, have recently said on this subject. This is a new proof of the fact that foreigners cannot understan

o Nos.

lt

re th

stimulus to our present European Civilization with whic

is childlike and manlike, at once tender and strong, full of genuinely human simpli

divinings of instinct into the certainty of knowledge; and yet a sense of oppression steals upon us when we think of what still remains to be done (as they all agree) against a

of activity at the expense of the other national Kulturs. If we one day come into conflict with the Martians,

iritual life to clothes, footwear and table manners.... I am of opinion that we shall apply to this care for "form," for "rhythm," and whatever results from it, the name of "civilization," reservi

July,

which German "militarism" is about to achieve.-Manifesto signed by 3,500 "Hochschullehreren"

he Kultur-life of the peoples, we will not shrink from th

he Carthaginians and Egyptians, the Franks against Islam: namely, the chivalrous European way of thinking, which is ever bein

Kultur of our hemisphere, which it was our mission to guard, sinks wit

s rays from the centre of our continent, there can be no

ster-spirit of a thoroughly corrupted and inwardly rotten commercialism (Jobbertum), but also to impart Kultur in its most august puri

te-to carry its Kultur into foreign parts, and to win the confid

incomparable value of German Kultur, and will for the future guard it against being adulterated by less valuable imports. We do not force it upon any o

oreign races absorbed, incorporated into the Empire, and to make them see that only from German Kultur can they derive th

e forced upon us, but will serve our own Gods.-Pr

felt, as a powerful exchange of Kultur was still in progress between different parts of the German Empire.... But when this exchange of Kultur between the German stocks had run its course, and the Germanization of the frontier

so No.

r readily yield itself up; it must be earnestly sought after and lovingly assimilated from within. This love[11] was lacking in ou

of corpses, oceans of tears, and the death-rattle of the conquered? Yes, it must! [There follows an image too grotesquely indecent to be quoted.] Either one denies altogether the beneficent effect of Kultur upon humanity, and confes

rman people. It would be foolish to express oneself on this point with modesty and reserve. We Germans rep

kindred to which their Kultur has still to be imparted.... Our Kultur-mission has in view some hundred mi

he empire of the Muscovite ended in failure. To-day history has made us

at we aim at a world-empire after the Roman fashion, and wish to thrust our

m our striving towards a world-Kultur. We will busily and cheerfully work on at the

ts primitive genuineness (ursprüngliche Echtheit), and therefore its spiritual creative faculty, and found the transition from his previous cosmopolitan way of thinking to flaming national enthusiasm

to throttle it, while contrariwise our enemies are conducting an aggressive war, which they have to dis

e nations in long periods of peace, but by warlike peoples in the

omable depth of its moral constitution. Should it forfeit its moral purity

e, outlets shall we find for our wares. Economic profit is of course not the main motive

e he does not believe that where the German element has never penetrated, or has penetrated only to disapp

id: war has in these cases led the way to a really clear recognition of the value to humanity of these Kultur-treasures! The cry of indignation which went up against us had long before made itself heard in our own breasts in view of the thoug

mpelled to do injury to a priceless work of art. But no phrase-making ?stheticism, thank God, such as our neighbours cultivate, rendered us untrue to the conviction that, wh

115, 123, 151, 160, 186, 187,

tsche G

July,

enough for us to be a part of God.-"On the German G

oly rage, in vengeance upon the ungodly. God calls us to murderous battles, even if worlds should thereby fall to ruins.... We are woven together like the cha

so do his duty that, when he shall one day answer the heavenly bugle-call, he may stand forth

re No

in the midst of lightning from the clouds, and lightning from sword and cannon, send thunder, lightning, hail and tempest hurt

it of Jesus Christ, is He the God of those others? No; they serve at best Satan,

So may it please our Great Ally, who stands behind the German battalions, behind our

Germany belong to one another.-"On the German Go

er sense Germanism, within and without the Empire-has become an instrument of God, an indispensable, irreplace

at last beaten by the Russian Army and the English Fleet. This we do not believe, because we know Germany and hold the a

nst England. But how do our warriors greet each other? "Gott strafe England!" They thus invoke God, but not the God of hatred, of vengeance, b

d only happen, I am sure, over the dead body of the last German-but should it happen, I assert that we should all die happy in

oud, my friends, but we are conscious that it is also in all humbleness that we say it: the German soul is God'

lness, borne witness to the revelation of the German God in our holy war. The German, the national, God!... Has war in this case impaired, or has it steel

a great mission before it, to work for the welfare of humanity. God has put us to a hard probation ... that we may the better serve as His instrument for the saving of mankind; fo

think they can conquer by the weight of their numbers, by cunning tricks of devilish cruelty, by shameless co

re not so penetrated by the Christian spirit as our warriors

1

rg und G

Sieger Hi

der Bur

, die ist

er Feinde T

Burg ist

-that makes three "Burgs" in all. Nor is a fourth "Burg" wanting: one that puts to shame the ef

ly rest in this war: we must be His ultimate purpose.-"On th

ople says with David: "Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts," in the na

ingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness. Against a world of superhuman evil ... the power of superhu

, and true Christianity, against untruthfulness and hypocrisy and falseness, and un-Kultur and barbarism and brutality. All human blessings,

like indeed, but of far deeper meaning than he could guess, was the saying of a little boy to his playmate at the outbr

os. 43, 14

People and

July,

of Germany had better hang himself, and rather to

d us, but they are sensible of our enormous spiritual superiority. So the Jews were hated in an

er be altered, for is it not written in Romans xi., 29, "For the gifts and ca

Germany is chosen. Germany is chosen, for her own good and that of other nations, to undertake their guidance. Providen

gs in the storm of the world-war, a saying which we may well take as the consecration of our German missi

more let Bismarck's faith prevail within us, that God has taken the German nation under His special care, or in an

d new deeds, to a new sense of its world-mission-that of imparting to the other peoples, in a pure spirit, the ac

, and with German endurance and German industry, with German competence and German faithfulness, with German faith and German piety, we sh

become a place of refuge, a holy grove for all the seekers of the earth, a centra

everybody's mouth. Deeper thoughts are aroused by a less-known remark of Richard Wagner's: "A great mission, scarcely comprehensible to other nations, is unquestionably reserved for the whole German character (Anlage

the side of God; but all God's adversaries will find out that God will not be mocked, and that He rules the

German people, which is destined to the highest th

el, the people of the Old Testament covenant. We shall be the bearers of Go

the modern nations-the pious heart of Europe.-"My German

to look after the world (zu sorgen für die Welt). Is it arrogance to write such a phrase? Is it

the height of heaven, brought to us the tidings that there should be born from us the S

it the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster-

in our mission as a world-people has arisen from our originally purely spiritua

for the world.-"On the German God," by P

Nos. 75

r Peo

July,

the French. The French are a people on the down grade.-T

vity on a moral basis, inward riches, intellect, industry, and so forth [!]-no other nation possesses all thes

r controlling our activity and permeating our history, to a degree unknown to any other people. In this sense we have a right to say that we form the

tual rebirth, such as never happens to other peoples, all of whom only g

een old, but, thank God, we have as often been quite young.... How young do we not feel ourselves

literature,[16] and still hold the lead in that department; it is we who provide the whole world with children's toys. That is possible only because we have the power of ident

and, Deutschland über Alles," is something that cannot be found among the other peoples, because they

ssionate love of right, of justice, of morality. This is something which the other nat

for the Germans, who at that time were able to grow deep, while othe

... and when the Kaiser has to summon his people to a war which he has not willed, there at once awakes in the whole people the religious spirit peculiar to itself, of which the other

busily at work in Germany as well: ten years more, and God would perhaps ha

. 7, 8, 14,

ri

July,

aviour did not act more shamelessly than does England now.-"

ousy. From shopkeeper-spite. Because she wanted to earn the thirty pieces of silve

as Jesus was treated so also have the German people been treate

r of trial on the Mount of Olives, when with our Kaiser we prayed that the cup of suffering might pass away from us; and we, too, obeying the unfathomable will of God, have begun to drain it.... We, too, were betrayed by those to

s now happening to our people: it is experiencing a repetition

oks beyond the gloom of Good Friday to the dawn of Easter morn, beyond the dark days of war to the beacons of triumph-yet the cross still rests on

euter) of the Messiah, and in the same way He has by His hidden intent designa

st. Thus the Germans are the very nearest to the Lord, and may claim for themselves that they have "continued His word".... We fight, then, for Christianity[17] as against degeneration and barbar

God surround us with His protection ... since our defeat would also mean the defeat

hrist,[18] is the great Christophorus in the world of the nations.-"The Christia

oss and seemed forsaken of God, and had to tread in such loneliness His path to victory. My German people, even if thy road be strewn with thorns and

r people, seeking their disciples

for the cause of Jesus within mankind.-"War Devot

ride. "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." I quite

s to them in the quiet, peaceful work of a true Kultur. England, in these paths, has lowered herself to become a nation of hucks

en whatever is radiant and shining, and to drag what is exalted in the dust.... Socrates had to drain the bowl of poison, Columbus was c

wardly subjected to the same suffering as our Lord, is the type of the Turkish nation, wh

o Nos.

Wahrheit (G

July,

gainst our magnificent and strictly moral (sittenstrenges) Army, and slanders everything that is German. I propose that

ssible to entangle the Germans in a network of impudent lies, as the oth

ere responsible statesmen and soldiers who rightly said: "If England and her gang

criminals who serve only for filthy lucre ... and among whom desertion

of England, from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to Wales; bu

Press, but care was taken to suppress all mention of the twice repeated generous offer of Germany to compens

yet seen nothing of the British Fleet, it is [among other reasons] because John Bull kn

e] ... could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw that our noble cathedral was n

e enemy, had come under the fire of our rifles and seen our bayonets, did they find out that they had been d

ts for professors and students, he has enslaved the universities, imposing upon them hard-and-fast doct

acred spot. But when the English battered to the ground the defenceless Alexandria[20]-

ave not French prisoners boasted of the burning by their bombs of the open city of Nürnberg. The w

sight and

re th

red so far as concerns any European theatre of war. [Of the British Territorial Army.] For a

y be sure that Italy will unconditionally accord us

y prejudiced, if we, on our side, take care to kindle fires at the points where her world-power is threatened. In

have anything to fear from aeroplanes, as th

July,

ed States. Any injury that England may conceivably inflict on its best customer, Germany ... will be as nothing in comparison

gland, in secret, heartily rejoices in ever

n Fre

July,

om is no freedom.-H.S.

only home of a freedom worthy of humanity and el

ut an elevation of humanity above the despotism of its o

es," however praiseworthy in themselves, our individual many-sidedness, our tempera

ld'st understand German championship of freedom, care for j

eedom, see No

rman L

July,

isive truth ... of all the languages of Europe, German

ay or in a hundred years...-no duty is more urgent than that of forci

evelopment, an essential preliminary will be the spread of the German language. For only he who knows the German language, and can read the works o

igher Kultur of humanity depends upon the spreading of the German language." I go on to explain that this language is the indispensable interpreter of the German nature (Wesen), which

et ripe; the sacred treasure must yet awhile be guarded and cherished in the circle of the narrower Fatherland. For a

hich the inner man is illuminated; and the instrument of this ill

e would have to remain silent-or to lea

whoever cannot speak German is a pa

TNO

sion for the ordina

, 9th September, 1914. The Lus

king of the German state of mind before the war. But as he has lived thirty years in Germany he must have been there

must love h

em worthy

120, 1872), supplies a pertinent comment on German piety: "Ce qui fai

men can form such well-informed judgment upon all phases in the life of present-day Germany, and no one deserves to be listened to with higher respect." Th

not in themselves deserved this calling: it proceeds from the sheer

iated to Germany by the Kaiser:-"We are the salt of the earth,

have taken the very name of his work from an English book which ha

een all Muslims of the whole world, dependent on their common religion.... If all accounts be true, the whole Muslim world is flocking round the Sultan-Kalif, and regards th

rist which inspired the sinking of the Lusitania wa

ollowing account of the Battle of the Marne:-"We have, without any defeat, partly w

undreds of guns. It was these forts that the fleet bombarded, in the face of considerable

report, through the mouth of its Ambassador in Paris, as an excuse for declaring war. (French Yellow Book, No. 159.) It is possible that som