Germany

ATLANTIC

December 1947

on the World today

HUNGER is making monomaniacs of all Germans, with the possible exception of German students. While everywhere else in Germany the conversation invariably centers on one’s daily diet, the latest black-market prices of potatoes, or — inexhaustible source of haunting daydreams — what one would like to eat if for once one were free to choose, yet at lunchtime in the students’ dining hall you will hear the subject of subjects scarcely even mentioned: students are talking shop.

It is not because the students are better fed than the rest of the population. Apart from an extra meal in their canteen, they get the usual rations for white-collar workers. Girl students, who constitute about 40 per cent of the total, as a rule show few signs of undernourishment; indeed, some might still invite the epithet “buxom.” A wizened old professor commented, with a knowing twinkle, that they were prettier than formerly — which is not saying much, since feminine charms were at no time outstanding among Germany university students.

The men look less robust by comparison. They often present an alarming sight. Tuberculosis is common. You can read ii in their telltale faces without the aid of statistics. Still, the majority, though lean and haggard, seem to have withstood undernourishment tolerably well. And whatever their state of health, they are a hard-working lot.

THE Nazi legacy

The percentage of dyed-in-the-wool Nazis now is certainly not larger than it was in 1928. The worst damage was done not by teaching German students actual falsehoods, but by withholding the truth from them, keeping them in ignorance of certain basic facts which would have helped them to attain intellectual and moral maturity. Their development was literally nipped in the bud.

Grown-ups were comparatively in a better position. For them—having completed their mental development by 1933 the Nazi era was merely an interim, however disagreeable. But the younger generation, which was fed a diet of carefully disguised misrepresentations and half-truths, has now to start from scratch. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to assimilate the new intellectual food, and how it will blend with their inherited and acquired prejudices. Their apparent hunger for facts is a hopeful sign.

Scholarship versus common sense

From a political standpoint, however, it must be emphasized that mere proficiency in scholarship is not enough. In the days of the Weimar Republic the intellectual standard was undoubtedly high. Yet the universities then were a hothed of narrow nationalism and afterwards furnished the Nazis with an elite of civil servants, at once reliable and efficient. Those students were largely recruited from the middle class, and it is an undeniable fact that the German middle class as a whole, representing the different shades of the political right, fell for Hitler from the outset, while the parties of the left, whatever their other faults may be, at least saw clearly which way the Nazi cat was jumping.

The academic youth, though intellectually capable of passing all the prescribed examinations, failed miserably in the decisive test of political common sense. In this respect the German student showed himself inferior to the man in the slreet. Strange as it may seem, there is evidently no constant interrelation between intellectual attainments and sober political judgment.

Topsy-turvy class dislsuction

Class distinctions today are a sore point in Germany. In the eastern zone a policy is being followed of getting a larger percentage of workingclass students into the universities at the expense of the former middle-class majority. This is done by an open reversal of class privileges.

In principle the moderate trade-unions in the western zone see eye to eye with their more radical comrades in the eastern zone. The son of a laborer, after a two-year preparatory course, today has a bet ter chance of being admit ted to a university than the applicant with a normal secondary education. It is: only natural that such a practice should cause resentment. Karl IVIarx himself, opponents point out, coming as he did of a bourgeois family, would not be allowed to attend a university today.

But if the new university should turn out specimens who, on the strength of their different origin, are less prejudiced and more open-minded and levelheaded than were tin scientists, teachers, doctors, and lawyers of the Nazi regime, then the end would no doubt justify the means. Of course the lowerclass students may simply be absorbed into the middle class and lake over ils mentality lock, stock, and barrel; or else new prejudices may crop up which by their very nature may prove just as detrimental as ihe former variety.

Still, the Germans say, since the middle-class leopard cannot change its spots, you have to substitute some less dangerous animal, whether you like it or not. Pessimists — for the most part members of the leopard family — say it will develop into a hyena. More hopeful observers expect it to be something like a horse - - useful, domestic, and with plcnly of horse sense.

Exit the officer class

At present there is still a two-thirds majority of “ordinary” middle-class students in one German university in the Russian zone. They were carefully sifted before admission, lienee the German officer class is not represented. Most of that class have made their exit into the British zone, where they hope to pass unnoticed. They are sure to bite the hand that fed them, the moment they are let loose.

With the bulk of young Germans, however, military life has lost its glamour. There is no wistful hankering after the glorious years in the army. In fact, students are fed up with all things military. For Germans to abhor uniforms is indeed a new and amazing phenomenon.

In respect to nationalism, the prospects seem less bright. National feeling is inherent in the German character. And so long as the nation has not acquired a healthy and sober self-respect, nationalism tends to come out in violent and aggressive forms.

The present situation is singularly unsuited to effecting a change. Though an open acknowledgment of the German guilt should not be incompatible with self-respect, the German youth finds it hard to face facts or to steer a middle course between abject subservience and uncalled-for arrogance. Confronted with a chorus of justly abusive voices from all over the world, they are on the defensive.

In this awkward position some students are prone to minimize the Nazi outrages, while others adopt the adage of the kettle and the pot. The resulting cynicism in its turn leads to a negation of all moral standards. “We are in the wrong because we lost the war.” they often say, with a significant shrug of the shoulders. They forget that the Nazis were guilty regardless of the outcome of the war. In such a situation the Germans can hardly expect others to let bygones be bygones. But many do.

The national inferiority complex

The latent inferiority complex among students is clearly shown by an extreme touchiness. In a streetcar a student who had been unable to get a large bank note changed was fumbling vainly in his pockets for small coins to pay his fare, when a Russian soldier came to the rescue and proffered him 20 pfennigs, which the young man took gladly. His girl companion, however, afterwards reproached him severely “for having accepted a gift from the enemy” — for this, she said, was incompatible with his national honor.

Unless this characteristic bee in the German’s bonnet is removed there will always be the possibility of a relapse into the Nazi doctrine, which had its roots in a feeling of inferiority, with hatred and arrogance arising from the same source. These qualities hamper international relations.

How about the Russians?

A thoughtful university professor sums up the situation this way: “Of the Russians I shall not judge; partly for the sound Biblical reason that I may not be judged, partly because I honestly think that we Germans have done our full share in the whipping up of hatred in the past, and should therefore be doubly careful to quit meddling for a while. We should leave it to others to gather fuel for the next world conflict.

“But let me in truth and fairness state this: If the Russians have not succeeded in making themselves generally liked, it is at least as much the fault of the Germans, who can be as stubborn as mules. Remember that British prestige in northwestern Germany has well-nigh reached rock bottom. There are no unshaven ruffians parading the streets here, brandishing their still-smoking revolvers in gory hands. The Russians’ methods, it is true, are sometimes drastic. But if, by standing no nonsense, they have put the fear of God into the Nazis and their sympathizers, so much the better.

“After all,” he continued, “there is more freedom now than under Hitler. I, for one, have not had to go out of my way to subordinate my views to a political code. And though my candid opinion happens to coincide in some aspects with the Russian outlook, I would not have myself labeled as a ‘Commie.’ Neither students nor instructors are under an obligation to subscribe to Marxian doctrine.”

Nobody has so far interfered with university teaching, apart from a superficial control and the establishment of a new syllabus, which prescribes the number of lectures to be attended and the principal subjects to be taught, besides providing for additional examinations at the end of each term. This requirement is a deviation from German tradition, but would hardly shock an English or American student.

Scientific research is still hampered by the lack of books and periodicals from abroad. Each of the four powers has more or less confined itself to fostering its own culture in its own particular zone, and interest in a universal exchange of ideas seems lukewarm. This is to be deplored; for in the field of science and learning it is imperative that all materials should be equally available, without restrictions and preferences— with one exception, on which all can agree: that Germans on no account should be allowed to play with explosives.

Dog-eat-dog democracy

The hopes of German students are largely directed towards German unity, but naturally they don’t run high. The prevailing conception of a true democracy seems to be to set up a regime on strictly Socialist or Liberal or Christian principles, as the case may be, and to make short work of dissenters.

Totalitarianism is still in the air. The Socialists hate the reactionaries; Christians have been known to be pretty intolerant; and even the Liberals are not proof against the bacillus. One member of the Liberal Party said he would gladly wring every Socialist’s neck for him, once the Russians were out — and what is more, he meant it. So far the spirit of compromise has not penetrated the minds of young Germans. A return to the unlimited liberties of the Weimar Republic, would be unwise. Therefore foreign control, at least for the time being, is regarded, even by some Germans, as the lesser of two evils.

Polities comes second

Many students certainly most of the girl students — do not take any interest in politics at all. Their daily worries are enough to occupy their minds. Fortunately, communal feeding has lessened the scramble for food; but even so, much time has to be spent in queuing up. What there still is of leisure may be devoted to sports or dancing once in a while by those few who have surplus strength; youth cannot be daunted all the time. Others take up music, or hobbies such as anthroposophy and existentialism. But the majority have to be more sparing of their energies, and concentrate on their studies.

After food, the more pressing necessities are howto find living accommodations (German students live in private lodgings all over a town), how to get one’s laundry done, how to mend one’s clothing — which in many cases consists of one single wornout uniform — what to do about that last tattered pair of shoes, how to procure fuel for the winter. Writing materials are scarce. And where can you get a dictionary, let alone experimenting flasks or chemicals? Few can afford to pay black-market prices.

In the big cities like Berlin a large percentage of students make their living by black-marketeering, while the less experienced, who do not know the ropes and vainly try to bolster up their finances by giving lessons, are hopelessly destitute. This state of affairs is sure to result in a negative selection: those who will survive are the smart-dealing young scoundrels who can live by their wits — and they will man the civil service and the learned professions a few years hence. That is not a pleasant prospect.