Youth in Germany

...In their early days the Wandervogel claimed that they sensed the rhythmic basis of life when they took their roaming expeditions along the valleys or up the mountains...

...Once upon a time there lived on the earth a wicked sorcerer, an obstinate enemy of the sacred faith and for a long time did not make peace with God...

...For whereas through God you obtain entrance to the kingdom which is not of this world, ye need the gods that this kingdom of the earth shall not perish away...

...The first is the manifesting of a desire to make politics and political thought the predominating factor of material life...

...Such groups sprang up everywhere, and within a short time the need of some form of federation was apparent...

...The post-war followers of the Wandervogel explain their view by saying, "Let us penetrate the state and society, if necessary compromising in order to transmute things from within...

...the simplicity so ardently demanded in pre-war days by the young, whether of the working-class families or of the merchant families, was now forced on all...

...it burns continually, like Moses's bush through which the Lord God spoke, and never, never can it be extinguished...

...Under this and by means of this, most of the younger generation of Germany was, in some form, more or less fully organized...

...July31, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 335 YOUTH IN GERMANY By BOYD-CARPI2.NTER N OCTOBER, 1913, the camp-fires of the Frei-deutsche Jugend burned gaily and brightly upon the HohenMeissner...

...The proletarians, as in most other countries, reiterate ceaselessly their opposition to the capitalist system of control of national life and government...

...Each human being has his own star, which shines as much as does his life...

...Even in defeat, Hindenburg led back troops to Berlin who could still say that, though in 1919 the spirit of the Jugendbewegung was apparently dead, it seemed so only because all the opposition of the older generation had vanished...

...Ye are, however, citizens of both worlds, being heroes and saints...

...As the light of the sun is reflected in dew in the morning, thus at night the glow of heaven is reflected in the stars...

...when the spark of light goes out on the earth, at the same time the star above goes out and falls down into an abyss, leaving in its place a burnt-out spot...

...The second is the observable decline in the pursuit, by this post-war present generation, of literature as a life work...

...Those who gathered thereat were full of enthusiasm because of their faith in themselves, in their movement, in their aims...

...with his feet bent, reposing comfortably, he gazes into the sky and, playing his lute, sings praises and thanks to God...

...After all it was a fine feeling, even if personal--that they at least were a race of heroes, whose aim and ambition was the reconquest of the world for youth...

...He had a young and only daughter, a pious, modest girl, who prayed in secret to the Mother of God, committing her soul in repentance to the Holy Virgin...

...This was realized in I923 by an amalgamation called the Deutsche Freischar (Bund der Wandervogel und Pfadfinder...

...The youth, who formerly had been Pfadfinder (Boy Scouts) or who would under less trying conditions have become Scouts, now joined in the Bund, a sort of Fascist organization to which there came also the old Wandervogel making free cooperative bodies, grouping themselves around a forceful leader or an energetic company of men, many of whom had been soldiers in the world war...

...Were they not looking toward the creation of a new Teutonlc race...

...and when people fall into their deep slumber, angels listen to the sainted lute-player...

...Today the Bunde and its members do not sit dreaming on mountain crags or peaks, nor drinking in romantic sentiments from valley scenes, but by self-education and cooperation they are confident that they are framing and directing the opinion of those who occupy positions of authority...

...Were it not for the sun, the earth would have a dirty, rusty color, like chilled and clotted blood, spilt over the sacred soil by Cain...

...they strive for high standards of honesty and the fullest originality of feeling...

...This expression of religious sentiment cannot be classed as a creed, but more as a mode of action...

...Akin to these were the bodies of organized youth who clung more closely to the traditions of the original Wandervogel, which now had six main associations organized under the banner of the Freie Bunde der Jugendbewegung Though naturally these organizations differ in form, as in their political and economic views, they are strongly united in all matters which deal with the state and the powers either controlling or seeking to control the Reich...

...Carth RAytAms These be temporalSnow and rain, Thunder-drum and Hurricane, Leaf and grass blade, Berry, briar, April fog and Autumn fire, Weed-choked road and Moldering treeThese be the brief-heard Melody...

...But the call to arms found them ready...

...The most holy Virgin had hung the bright sun and the moon on the celestial ceiling to the greater glory of her only Son...

...Yet it is not higher than the holy kingdom of the earth, but elsewhere...

...Every saint also has a star, but such is lighted forever and such burns with a brighter light, just as the stars of those people who pray devoutly and praise God continually will never be hurled down...

...It would seem that further to understand modern Germany and the tendencies observable in its post-war youth, it is essential to appreciate two particular phenomena...

...Throughout Germany and German-speaking Austria, its youth repeated gladly and enthusiastically the sentence which, freely translated, says-"We are determined to fashion our lives in obedience to our own conscience, accepting the burden of our own responslbllity...

...among them the silvery, glistening, morning star and the evening star, flickering brighter than gold, and the northern star, always in one place, illumine with their steady radiance the crown of the Mother of God...

...I summon you back to the gods and to found a new order of heroes...

...on these falls the light from her eyes from heaven through the open gate of the seventh choir, which the saints open wider than the others...

...asserting that trees, rivers, rocks, storms and clouds were more to them than the written word of prose and poetry...

...When her father learned of it, he intended in anger to slay his own child...

...There had been a time when the earth was pure, white as chalk, transparent as crystal, so that when Cain with his bloody hands buried Abel in the ground, the dead body was seen from its glassy grave...

...Were they not seeking a newer and finer type of manhood...

...These seized as watchwords the phrase "Herrschaft und Dienst," meaning "Authority and Service...

...This quotation indicates the blending qualities of young Germany's faith, a queer mixture of paganism and Christianity...

...it paints the earth with colors such as no painter ever dreamed...

...Possibly experience and knowledge gained from exercising the functions of government within the municipal sphere of Germany, and without, in the larger area of international relations, will direct attention to the fact that the world is tired of speculations and demands peace and cooperation in all forms of life...

...He, the knight of knights, did it on the spot, boring a hole in its great neck with his spear...

...Where youth are seeking to produce art or literature, as they see it today, it is in association with some new social activity which has not as yet received public or popular attention within their fatherland, and which finds but little support either in the rest of Europe or in America...

...Since then in his silver armor the Virgin Mary's knight lives on the moon...

...When the star drops down from the heavenly ceiling, human lips whisper: "Praised be the Holy Maryl" to ease the way for the dead soul, going up to heaven...

...they made an effort in cold weather and would battle with hunger, while their folk-songs kept many a camp happier for their presence...

...If God-Father should order this gate to be closed, the sun would go out like a blown-out candle and darkness would fall on the earth, like the one that covers the abyss beyond the border of hell, where unchristened souls do everlasting penance...

...All over Germany the old and young starved...

...For the Holy Mother, for the Queen of Heaven, the brightest stars are wound into her crown...

...But it seems to be an attempt to reject all credence in the world as pictured and presented by modern science, and especially those forms and aspects of science prevalent in America...

...The sun falls into the sea and floats on the water, drowning not even in the deepest place...

...The girl was thus saved from certain death, and the Virgin Mary, having seen the knight's bold deed, called him to her and said : "Because you have thus nobly saved the maiden's life, you J shall have a starry chariot in the sky and my moon I will give you for your home...

...FRANCES M. FROST...

...And these the permanent UndertoneArrogant soil, Defiant stone...

...Alone and lost in sacred revery, walks the Queen of Heaven with her Baby in her arms and with her hand blesses the earth enwrapped in sleep...

...With the grace of the Blessed Virgin, with the light of heaven and herself, shines the sacred sun, the eye of a clear day, existing like God's other creations, gliding over the zenith above the earth and the sea, looking into every nook, bringing with itself the reflection of the Mother of God to bless the whole earth and to gladden all men's hearts...

...On their way back they usually visit the moon, where Saint George, who is a knight of knights, has dwelt for many centuries past by the grace of the Virgin Mary...

...336 THE COMMONWEAL July 31, i9:z 9 MARY" A POLISH LEGEND By MARYAN GAWALEWICZ and PIOTR STACHIEWICZ YRIADS of strewn stars glimmer like pearls over the firmament, reflecting the eternal lights...

...between these two extremes of political views there were certain of the organized church clubs for boys and girls...

...This may best be seen in the opposition to the mid-Victorian and early twentieth-century idealism, and the attempted substitution of what appears to be a fatalism of religion, such as is found in the following quotation from George Faber: "What know ye of the earth's wisdom...

...especially in the production of novels, of plays for the theatre, of the cult of literary criticisms and the writing of lyric poetry...

...The Mahraun are opposed to the idea of caste rule and financial control of government...

...Your faith in God shall not break your service to the gods...

...The sun sheds light and warmth over the earth and makes every seed come out of the soil, be it sown either by wind or human palm...

...It is impossible to give allegiance to the gods and the Christian God, because it is impossible to be at one and the same time the ally of darkness and of light...

...Two hundred and ninety days later war flooded Europe from the Balkans to the North Sea, and the German and AustroGerman youth gathered around camp-fires of a different kind...

...When at night sparkles the milky way, winding through paradise up to the Lord's throne, a soul, worthy of this grace, may see Mary, going from the convent of Jasna Gora to Kalwarja...

...They were good soldiers, excellent at bivouacking, ideal non-commissioned officers, because all could march, cook, sew...

...But the kingdom of the Lord is not of this world...

...The sky is strewn with stars as with diamond gravel, shimmering like a bishop's chasuble embroidered with pearls...

...The Freie Bunde, like the old Wandervogel, seek to experience the wonder and the mystery of life on earth in all its pristine freshness...

...The Lord God interfered in this evil design, charging Saint George to kill the voracious beast...

...The Mother of God with her Baby crosses over the milky way, turning her pensive eyes to the earth, followed by myriads of stars, and not a sound dares break her revery...

...There were the political societies of the ex-soldiers such as Mahraun's Jung deutsche-Orden, then the Stahlhelm, and the Wehr-Wolf in the German National Camp, while the proletarians had created the Arbelter Jugend and the Kommunistlsche Jugend...

...Such peace, such calmness, such brightness is spread throughout the sky that it seems as if the angels hold their breath and the world below, turn mute in ecstasy...

...Thus blackened it would have remained until our time if God had not taken pity, bidding the sun to paint the meadows, fields and mountains with bright colors...

...When the full moon is clear, one may see him there on a bright, calm night...

...he brought a monstrous dragon and gave his daughter to be devoured...

...Hence the flinging out of their now famous declaration was, in their view, an epoch-making event...

...Cain cursed the white earth that it did not conceal his fratricide, and the earth blackened from his curses...

...It has been rent from you by priests and magicians, and because this connection has been severed, have ye died for the kingdom of this world...

...Through the mediation of the Holy Mother, the saints ofttimes go to the sun with processions, as to a holy wondrous place, to say their Mass...