12
PARTISAN REVIEW
have been extravagant in their destruction of furniture, grand pianos,
books, etc.
Some of the complaints I heard were almost frivolous. For
example, in Bonn, people complain that the Americans were far too
slow in liberating the Rhineland, and, particularly, Bonn. The story
of the townspeople is that in the autumn of 1944 the Nazis were in
full flight across the Rhine. Only frightened S.S. men, out of panic,
fired a few shots. At that the Americans made a full-scale retreat of
fifteen miles and did not advance again until the spring of 1945. 'We
can understand that American civilization is unwarlike and that the
Americans do not want to practise military virtues,' a professor said
to me, 'but you have no idea how difficult it is being conquered by
a people who can't fight. Everything happens so slowly.' This kind of
complaint, coming from an intelligent man, illustrates the amazing
egotism of the Germans, which has now been accentuated by their
having been cut off for so long from the rest of the world.
Some of the complaints were directed against what may have
been an unwise tendency of the Allies to treat the Germans as the
Germans had treated others. For example, we were very harsh in our
methods of requisitioning. Families were given four hours' notice be–
fore their houses were requisitioned . They were only allowed to take
away with them the barest necessities, which did not include beds or
cupboards. In fact, they could only take a few kitchen utensils and
a little personal luggage. Although many would justify it, no one
would deny that great hardships were caused. For example, people
were deprived of their means of livelihood, a seamstress of her sewing
machine, a piano teacher of his piano, etc. The Germans so deprived
then had to plead with the occupying authorities to get some piece of
their property back. Usually property was not returned. All of this led
to a considerable waste of time. It would perhaps have been better if
at the time of requisitioning an officer had decided on the spot what
the people whose houses were being requisitioned could take with
them.
On two occasions I saw large American trucks (when the Amer–
icans were leaving Bonn ) drive right over civilian vehicles which
were parked against the pavement. In one case a car was transformed
in an instant into the shape of a twisted biscuit tin, in another a cart
was utterly smashed and the horse thrown wounded on to its back.
In neither case did the American truck driver ever turn round to
see what he had done.
If
one measures these things against the monstrous cruelties
