OPTIMIST That could lead to your deportation as an undesirable alien.
GRUMBLER Which I already am in my own country. Yet I remain convinced, after all we have been through, that “our Lord still has great things in store for the German people.” And I still believe that the affinity between both of “God’s chosen peoples” is revealed even in the most insignificant acts and facts of life, as radiated by the spirit which truly links the two cultures as a worldview: money-minded romanticism. As it were, unto the third and fourth generation. For in both cases a philosophy of life is being constructed, like a total work of art, in which things of this world are determined by things of the spirit, so that wars are handled like balance sheets, according to the principle “In God we trust.” It could be shown that the Old Testament rule of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is the maxim — even quite literally so — by which the new Germans wage war, and it is certainly no coincidence that a recent official communiqué from our War Press Bureau (as quick on the uptake as the clown chasing a horse in the circus) could use this formula to justify air attacks. It truly brings out the importance of the notion of “reprisals.” And who, apart from you, could fail to sense the truly biblical tedium with which this urge to retaliate and annihilate is expressed in daily reports from the Battle of Jericho?
OPTIMIST From the Jericho front? When do we read anything about that?
GRUMBLER Every day — in the Extra Editions!
(Change of scene.)
Scene 15
A Protestant church.
CHURCH SUPERINTENDENT FALKE —This war is a punishment visited by God upon the nations for their sins, and we Germans, together with our allies, are the instruments of divine retribution. There can be no doubt that the Kingdom of God will be hugely advanced and profoundly enhanced by this war. At this point, it must be freely and unequivocally acknowledged that Jesus’s commandment “Love your enemies!” applies only to relationships between individuals, not nations. In the conflict between nations there is no room for loving one’s enemies. Here the individual soldier need have no moral scruples. As long as the battle rages, the Christian precept of love is totally irrelevant! It does not apply to the heat of battle. The commandment to love our enemies has no longer any meaning for us on the field of battle. There, killing is no sin, but a service to the Fatherland, a Christian duty, indeed a service to God! It is a service to God and a sacred duty to punish all our enemies by overwhelming force, by shock and awe, and if needs be, to annihilate them! And so I repeat unto you, while the cannons thunder in this World War: Jesus’s commandment “Love your enemies!” no longer applies! Away with all scruples of conscience! But why then, the question arises, have so many thousands been shot and crippled? Why so many hundreds blinded? Because that was God’s way of saving their souls! Look around you, behold the miracles of the Lord, and pray: “Deliver us, O Lord, to Paradise!”
(Change of scene.)
Scene 16
Another Protestant church.
CONSISTORY COUNCILLOR RABE —So, more steel in the blood! And to the fainthearted I say: once war has begun, it is not only our right, but sometimes even our patriotic duty, to regard treaties and the like as scraps of paper to be torn up and tossed into the fire, if by so doing the Fatherland can be saved. For war is the last resort, the long-term strategy by which God brings the nations to their senses, by force if they will not be guided along the God-given path in any other way. Wars are trial by ordeal and divine judgment made manifest in world history. That is why it is also God’s will that nations at war should make full use of all the forces and weapons He has bestowed upon them in order to impose His judgment on the nations. So, more steel in the blood! German women too, and the mothers of fallen heroes, no longer take a sentimental view of war. They too, when their loved ones are in the field or have died in combat, are averse to pity and lamentation. God wants us to make the greatest possible impact through an iron will and intensification of energy! And so I say unto you again: more steel in the blood!
(Change of scene.)
Scene 17
Another Protestant church.
PASTOR GEIER —Look about you: the brilliant achievements of German genius in action are strung together like pearls on a sparkling necklace. German genius has created the miracle of the U-boat. It has produced the legendary gun that shoots shells into the ethereal regions, visiting destruction on the enemy some 80 miles away! But German genius not only furnishes us with weapons; it is no less indefatigable in supplying ideas, both defensive and offensive. As I can reveal to you today, Schulze in Hamburg has been commissioned by our Foreign Office to prepare a scientific study of fundamental importance on The desecration of corpses and graves by the English and the French. This work is to be disseminated for international propaganda purposes to win us the sympathy of neutral nations, and we hope it will be welcomed by those neighbours who still remain sceptical. Over the length and breadth of our German lands spirits awaken, ready to proclaim our just cause, to invigorate the idle, to convert the backsliders, and to win us new friends. Our farsighted government has recognized that Switzerland not only is a potential transit route for armaments, but also may be grateful for an insight into our military strategy through words and images. Films of our U-boats sinking countless tons of food have a huge impact on any neutral public; people faint, especially women, who are of course particularly sensitive to the loss of such priceless goods, and gradually the realization dawns that the damage we are inflicting on our enemies is simply incalculable! Nor does the German language lag behind. The Battle of Champagne is the title of a brochure published in Stuttgart by the Secretariat for Student Social Work, aimed primarily at Swiss intellectuals. Take to heart the words of the magnificent poem, “A Soldier’s Prayer”, which I found in this excellent piece of propaganda, and which our government has already distributed in neutral countries to enlighten them as to our true nature, to kindle an understanding of the German character, and so gradually help dismantle the hatred with which we have been persecuted:
Soldiers praying for salvation,
Hear them pray to God above:
Duty is our inclination,
Cannon’s roar our pledge of love.
Rifles splutter out Our Father,
And with bayonets raised on high
We advance against the Other,
Whom we mean to crucify!
Comrades, shrapnel from your mortar
Sprinkles incense on the field,
Use grenades as holy water,
And your sins will soon be healed.
Sing a heartfelt psalm to Jesus,
If a mine fails to ignite.
Once the foe is blown to pieces
You’ll be holy in His sight.
Take your hand grenades and string them