GERMAN IMPRESSIONS
23
results), then one can scarcely doubt that there are Germans, living
in Germany, who have felt like this. One aspect of the Gennan prob–
lem is not that there are no Germans of good will, but simply that
there are not enough of them.
The result of this isolation is that the German intellectuals show
all the defects of their weakness, sometimes (as in the case of C--,
considering themselves quite outside the German people, by whom
C-- is 'disgusted'), and sometimes going over to the cause of
the strong, just because they find themselves so weak.
The impression of the Polish prisoners as to the behaviour of
the overwhelming majority of Germans whom they encountered in
their long wanderings, is undoubtedly a true one. It is a terrible
testimony which explains why now in every corner of Germany one
stumbles upon some new horror, a mass grave or a prison camp.
At the same time, there were undoubtedly a few Germans who
right through the war did not believe in a German victory, and others
who feared such a victory almost as much as the enemies of Germany.
These were the intellectuals whom Hitler was always railing against,
and although one has no sympathy with Hitler's point of view, there
was a certain shrewdness in his analysis of these people as being
completely cynical, and against everything and everyone. They had
lost all faith, because they suffered from a sense of depression the
extent of which one can only understand when one has lived for
some weeks in Germany.
One great problem is to revive the political life of Germany in
a democratic sense. Few people have fully realized the difficulty of
this problem, which is that although there are political parties in
Germany, there are no real political issues, since neither the fate nor
the resources of Germany are in German hands. Political experiments
in Germany are rather like political experiments and 'party govern–
ment' in a progressive school of decrepit boys and girls, living amongst
ruins.
Another great problem- which I have never seen discussed- is
to create a body of opinion and to present to the German people
personalities who are not completely identified with the Occupying
Forces, and whom the Germans can respect as being outstanding in–
dividuals. It seems to me that this is where the German intelligentsia
might play a most important role. For this is the only section of Ger–
man society which includes outstanding individuals of good will.
Moreover these historians, philosophers, theologians, etc., are not
discussing problems which conflict with the interests of the Occupa-
