PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT If any of the 93 who signed the Manifesto of the Intellectuals of Germany against “the lies and calumnies” of the Allies is present, I shall leave the room. (Cries of “Oho!”)
PSYCHIATRIST I hope, gentlemen, you will evaluate this outburst as a symptom rather than an insult. I myself, as you all know, signed that protest, which will live on in the annals as a landmark of this age of grandeur, and I am proud of it. May I now ask our esteemed colleague Boas to probe the mind of the patient.
PROFESSOR BOAS (comes forward) As I have declared time and again, let me repeat: the food restrictions have had no deleterious effect whatsoever on the nation’s health. (Cries of “Hear, hear!”) It has been shown that half of the previous protein ration in our food suffices, without energy or work levels being affected; the fact is: our weight and physical well-being have even been enhanced.
PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT Presumably the black market keeps you supplied! (Heated protests.)
PSYCHIATRIST Gentlemen, please, in view of his mental state — Professor, please tell us what the situation is concerning infant mortality, a topic which repeatedly stirs the patient’s imagination.
PROFESSOR BOAS We have found no evidence of food supplies having a negative effect on infant mortality.
PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT My dear sir, you’ve been obliged to find no evidence—! (Cries of “Hold your tongue!”)
PSYCHIATRIST What do you hope can be achieved by a continuation of the war, Professor?
PROFESSOR BOAS Rising affluence and the increased consumption of luxury foods have played havoc with our health. Now, however, under the pressure of current privations, millions of people have found their way back to nature and the simple life. Let us ensure that the next generation does not forget the lessons of this war. (Cries of “Bravo!”)
PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT The man’s right — the rich on the Kurfürstendamm stuffed themselves before the war. But they still do. So there’s really been no deterioration of their nutritional situation. But as far as the next generation of the rest of the population is concerned — those circles who do not consult Boas about their obesity — as for Germany’s next generation, then, I see it being born with rickets! A generation of child invalids! Happy are those who died in the war — those born in the war will have artificial limbs! The insanity of seeing it through to the bitter end combined with the gloating about enemy losses so typical of German men will, I predict, leave Germany itself crippled. The passion with which fanatical German women celebrate the heroic death of their sons, nurtured by an atmosphere of orchestrated euphoria and self-deception, forms part of the same perverse social outlook and will have the same crippling effect! (Cries of “Disgraceful!”) As for Boas, I challenge him to deny that some 800,000 civilians have died of starvation so far, in the year 1917 alone 50,000 children and 127,000 old people more than in 1913; and that the estimated figure for deaths from tuberculosis for the first half of 1918 is higher—70 percent higher — than in the whole of 1913! (Cries of “Enough! Enough!” “Scandalous!”)
PSYCHIATRIST You see what we are faced with here, gentlemen. I thank our esteemed colleague Boas and now ask Professor Zuntz to pursue our enquiry further. If our esteemed colleague would be so kind as to address the question of whether the priceless national asset of German efficiency has suffered in the least through nutritional factors.
PROFESSOR ZUNTZ There can be no question of a reduction of efficiency given the current diet. Admittedly, malnutrition has occurred in a few instances where people are reluctant to eat ersatz vegetables with reduced calorific content in sufficient quantities.
PSYCHIATRIST If I understand my esteemed colleague correctly, the population has only itself to blame. For there is no objective reason for malnutrition.
PROFESSOR ZUNTZ Correct.
PSYCHIATRIST But malnutrition, when it occurs, or rather, if it occurs at all, it has no deleterious consequences?
PROFESSOR ZUNTZ Correct.
PSYCHIATRIST (to the Patient) I take it there is nothing you can say to refute this?
PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT Nothing.
PSYCHIATRIST His big mouth has an insolent answer to everything, but now he’s reduced to a stunned silence! I thank my esteemed colleague Zuntz, and now call upon Professor Rosenfeld from Breslau, whom we are honoured to welcome as a guest of the Berlin Faculty, to continue our enquiry.
PROFESSOR ROSENFELD (BRESLAU) Though undernourished, our population has become healthier, and the great anxiety about malnutrition has proved to be unfounded. On the contrary, overindulgence in peacetime represents a greater threat to life than wartime food shortages. According to statistics, almost all wartime illnesses in the female population have produced fewer deaths than in peacetime. To summarize: at all events, the wartime diet has not reduced the resistance of the population in any demonstrable measure — neither to the vast majority of diseases, nor to illness in general, nor to physical overexertion.