Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR GENEVA Part--a very large part--of Herbert Luethy's article in the September 19 NL is a superb and devastatingly witty statement of what the "spirit of Geneva" does and does not mean,...
...His observations on the West German political scene are very pertinent and timely...
...Arnold has dispelled some of the sentimental fog that has beclouded the precarious state of West German politics...
...Adenauer himself...
...If Soviet occupation forces left the East today, the Government there would collapse...
...It is perfectly feasible that Moscow will dangle the release of the countless thousands of German deportees which Adenauer forgot to mention in his eagerness to repatriate some 9,000 "war criminals" before the Bundestag in exchange for the "repatriation" of some of the Soviet citizens now in West German refugee camps...
...He said he shivered when he imagined himself facing a hostile Indian and armed only with a stage pistol whose tendency to misfire had several times "compelled our heavy villain to commit suicide with a tablespoon...
...And what will happen if the Communist puppet regime in East Germany, now entrusted with the control of the corridor to West Berlin, puts the squeeze on this embattled outpost once more...
...both were outlawed by the Nazis...
...Now in view of all this, what ground for hope have we and what are we to do...
...Savings Bonds...
...New democratic student groups now exist alongside the traditional fraternities...
...Materialism, it seems, has gotten the upper hand over old nationalism and idealism...
...They loved him everywhere for his genius at making people happy...
...It's actually easy to save money -when you buy United States Series E Savings Bonds through the automatic Payroll Savings Plan where you work...
...Mr.Gelber does not trust Germany nor does he trust Dr...
...But as a hopeful alternative to the concept of Russo-American condominium leading to the inner transformation of the Soviet regime, the Third Camp is surely deserving of more consideration than it commonly gets these days...
...In his July 25 column, William Henry Chamberlin wrote that "no political party in free Germany is willing to accept the Oder-Neisse boundary as Germany's proper Eastern frontier...
...These are just a few questions anyone concerned with the fate of a democratic Germany might raise...
...Sign up today...
...Gelber also forgets completely the many Prussian-German officers and soldiers who tried to get rid of Hitler as soon as he came to power...
...By my scoring, Adenauer gave nothing and got something humanly valuable...
...Who, for once, can adequately succeed Adenauer...
...Despite all his shortcomings, he has held together the frazzling edges of his Government coalition and his own party...
...This is the man who a few paragraphs earlier wrote: "Only an open world can be a world at peace...
...a world-wide tutelage,' of the really Big Powers who "temporarily monopolize the terrible engines of destruction" he nevertheless has no doubts or qualms...
...Invest in them regularly and hold onto them...
...Dallin offered no policy guide to the future...
...I'm astonished that it is taken seriously by anyone...
...even the most partial freedom must be seen...
...There should be little doubt that under the new "spirit of Geneva" such operations as Radio Free Europe, RIAS in West Berlin, and other anti-Communist agencies within the territory of the West German Republic will draw heavy fire from the Soviet emissaries...
...Neither favor a revival of National Socialism...
...I would, however, like to offer comment on some of them...
...Adenauer...
...E. 0. Thompson RED CHINA Following your usual praiseworthy habit of affording dissenters a forum, your issue of September 26 carries letters from two Tonis, Tony Bouscaren and Tony Marcus...
...Amidst all the deserved praise for Germany's economic recovery and Dr...
...Luethy correctly points out that "the spirit may suffer in its descent to the lower echelons," when, that is, negotiations begin over Germany or so-called disarmament...
...Once a Texan even suggested the troupe tour through Indian country, carrying their stage weapons for protection...
...Freedom cannot be created secretly...
...I certainly have no cause for complaint about a shortage of articles, reports and reviews on the subject...
...there is a considerable amount of travel going on between the two parts of Germany...
...Having spoken of the concern of statesmen and ordinary people about the H-bomb, he trenchantly warns that "fear pure and simple justifies only immobility and the status quo" and points out that though statesmen may be abashed "by the prospects of apocalypse," great powers cannot really be expected to cease behaving like great powers and, e.g., to "evacuate positions which, justly or unjustly, they now control...
...Even more important, if it were not so difficult to gain recognition as a political refugee in the Federal Republic--which means a much better chance of building a new life in West Germany--many more Germans would leave the East...
...Adenauer's part in this development, there has been a decided lack of any critical assessment of the Federal Republic's essential weaknesses, and of Dr...
...An appreciable number of Volkspolizisten are defecting over the zonal border to the West...
...That the smaller nations might constitute a third grouping--not a third atomically-armed power bloc--somehow qualitatively different from both the dominant regimes does not seem to occur to him...
...Which Toni is which, I am unable to decide because both overlook the fact that Mr...
...This hardly seems the right attitude for a fair review...
...The one disturbing possibility he sees is that some of the little fellows may be aide to make these "genocidal weapons" before long: "There you have the menace of tomorrow...
...New York City Armin E. Mruck When the gun failed,they used a tablespoon HE learned acting the hard way, barnstorming frontier towns by barge and stagecoach...
...New York City Gunther Stuhlmann Having spent the better part of a recent 10-week European trip in Germany, I returned to my backlog of New Leaders with a particular interest in the material dealing with that country...
...New York City A. J. Muste AID 1 am truly sorry about the misfortune suffered by The New Leader's printing plant during the recent floods in Pennsylvania...
...As one secondary-school teacher said to me: "West Germans have grown to love their higher living standard too much and are not willing to give it up...
...GERMANY G. L. Arnold has written some solid articles for The New Lender, but in his "Chancellor Adenauer's Mission to Moscow [NL, September 26] he merely accuses the German leader of provincialism and incompetence without bringing any evidence to bear...
...These weaknesses, a growing provincialism and the non-existence of an astute, far-sighted and versatile body of politicians who could steer the Bundesrepublik through the dangerous reefs of the cold war, as Mr...
...Adenauer has proved his friendship toward the West more than once, even at the risk of losing popularity at home...
...Actually, the Iron Curtain is not as iron as it appears to be from the United States...
...The fact that they develop a rigid class-consciousness is another point...
...On the whole, too, they accurately reflect the contrasting feelings and conditions that one finds in present-day Germany...
...DEAR EDITOR GENEVA Part--a very large part--of Herbert Luethy's article in the September 19 NL is a superb and devastatingly witty statement of what the "spirit of Geneva" does and does not mean, and as such a timely corrective of a lot of loose thinking and facile optimism prevalent in many circles...
...And who, one might ask, will deal successfully with the undoubtedly forthcoming demands and protestations of the Soviet Mission in Bonn, once this dubious gain of Adenauer's Moscow mission has been established...
...Dallin deals with details such as recognition, but omits any suggestion of overall China policy for the U. S. The Open Door Policy on which Cordell Hull insisted in his miscalled "ultimatum" of November 26, 1941 having been abandoned, and the utter lack of policy having been proclaimed by Dean Acheson in his "let the dust settle" statement, both Tonis have overlooked the fact that Mr...
...The answer Luethy gives to the first question is that it is just possible--a "most daring hypothesis"--that a radical inner transformation in the Soviet regime may take place...
...Finally, when he writes of a "blind obedience to Prussian warlords, Imperial autocrats, and Nazi dictator," Mr...
...An odd development is taking place in German universities, where good work is being done...
...When he does, it is to compare the "spirit of Geneva" with the "spirit of Yalta," and to indicate that what is ahead for Europe is a "Russo-American condominium" under which the European nations have little to say since "the Great Power entente, once established, will do very easily without intermediaries and courtiers...
...It is a strange performance...
...The latter have experienced a rather strong comeback and recently they resumed their old practice of duelling (Mensur) and wearing traditional uniforms...
...New York City Ernest van den Haag I would like to congratulate The New Leader for publishing G. L. Arnold's sober appraisal, "Chancellor Adenauer's Mission to Moscow...
...They claim to be democratic, however, on the ground that they elect their officers...
...New York City Alfred Kohlbek...
...I cannot see that Adenauer gave the Russians anything by agreeing to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union...
...In the absence of proposed overall policy, arguments about fighting or not fighting for Matsu become endless...
...Mr.Gelber might find, too, that quite few Allied soldiers who fought against the Germans do not agree with his statement that the German soldier did not fight honorably...
...Indeed, there are some who don't even like to be reminded too often of the Soviet Zone...
...I do hope that the many subscribers who believe in your purpose and know of your diffi-culties will come forward with the aid you so richly deserve...
...You just sign an application at your pay office...
...Melvin J. Lasky's "Gottingen Says No" [NL, August 8] reported the very encouraging result of the fight between the students of Gottingen University and the Kulturminister of Lower Saxony, who had been a Nazi...
...Diplomatic and military strategy then follow...
...If he acted as if he gave them a great boon, that is understandable...
...And again: "The changes which count are not those made in secret, in the inner sanctums of power...
...Miout a condominium...
...By the 1860's, Jefferson was America's favorite actor...
...Surely Americans who are rather excited over a handful of prisoners held in China and one held in Hungary should understand that the Germans are far from indifferent about the 10,000 or more prisoners held in Soviet Russia...
...And his sunny outlook still sparkles in the spirit of America...
...Of course, this excludes the SS divisions...
...In view of all that Luethy has so wittily and ieily said about the need of being specific and guarding against the optimism of the "traveling coexistentialists," this reference to radical transformation in the Soviet regime is pure wishful thinking, unless Luethy becomes specific himself...
...The most concrete thing Arnold says is that Adenauer got the worst of the Moscow bargain by exchanging diplomatic relations for German prisoners...
...Lionel Gelber's review of Chancellor Kon-rad Adenauer's World Indivisible [NL, August 15] was almost entirely negative...
...And the Bonds you receive will pay you interest at the rate of 3% per year, compounded semiannually, for as long as 19 years and 8 months...
...Safe as America-U.S...
...I have to add that in the end it turns out to be a baffling riddle...
...Arnold points out, may one day indeed prove a grave danger...
...That's why, to save for your goals in life, you cannot find a surer, safer way than United States Savings Bonds...
...He further warns against counting too much on what may come from cultural exchanges, revived tourism and so on, since "it is a curious sort of optimism to imagine that time, patience and smiles will be enough to reunite the two sections of Germany or of Europe, one of them living under freedom and the other under terror, without seeing either freedom or tyranny go under in the process...
...And so he does...
...The riddle is this...
...David J. Dallin's conclusions in his article "Russia and Germany" [NL, August 22] are farfetched...
...In the Schlueter case, democratic and traditional fraternities apparently worked together...
...It helps Bulganin think he got one...
...This is true, because no party dares to have another opinion...
...Lakeside, Calif...
...Nevertheless, it should be noted that some people are willing to forget this injustice...
...I am aware of the pseudo-legal reasoning which makes it appear that diplomatic relations between two actually sovereign governments involve a great concession on the part of one...
...Both take issue with David Dallin's recent article on Red China...
...Like Jefferson, Americans still know how to travel a hard road and smile when the going's roughest...
...These confident Americans are the real wealth of our nation -the real reason why our country's Savings Bonds rank among the world's finest investments...
...after that your saving is done for you...
...Joe Jefferson declined...
...They become all the more pertinent after Mr...
...Objectives and purposes come first, policies to attain them next...
...all the rest is mere superstructure...
...It is very unlikely, to say the least, that the Germans on either side of the Iron Curtain would fight out the differences between East and West...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 40
