652
PARTISAN REVIEW
and the continuing wish for inwardness and harmonious community is
still in evidence. At such a time, it is more important than ever to ac–
knowledge and remember the emigres' heritage.
David Gress:
Thank you. Will our audience members please state their
names and formulate their comments as questions to one or more of the
panelists? Thank you.
Karl Hyman:
To Professor Ash. I'm afraid you did not watch PBS a
few weeks ago, which broadcast a show, part of the Holocaust series,
"Deceit and Indifference."
It
demonstrates that the American State De–
partment traditionally has been anti-Semitic. I lived through the 1930s in
Germany with my parents. One of my brothers left for Palestine, and the
other went to Argentina. There was no problem in leaving Germany.
The problem was finding a country that would accept you. My parents
decided to emigrate to the United States where we had relatives, in
1936. We registered at the American Consulate in Stuttgart, but we
weren't let in until 1939. My question is, has the United States State
Department policy improved, or is it just as anti-Semitic?
Professor Rollberg, I agree with everything you said. I just want to
quote Albert Einstein who said the world is not threatened by those
who do evil; it is threatened by those who let it happen.
Mitchell Ash: I
am not in a position to tell you whether the State
Department now is anti-Semitic. However, a number ofJews have risen
to rather high positions in the State Department in recent years.
Whether that has any impact on policy or not is an entirely different
question.
Harry Fisk: I
am from the University of Hartford. I, too, am an emi–
grant. I, too, came here at the very last minute. Yes, the Final Solution
was the responsibility of the whole world. We had great difficulty get–
ting any country to open its doors to us. Professor Rollberg described
an incident where three Poles managed to assuage the anger of three
hundred thousand people. I'm a clinical psychologist, and I deal with
problems of individuals. However, I think you're being too optimistic in
finding the solution for social problems in individuals. We need a social
psychology that will explain mass reactions. Stanley Milgram, in his
study, found an excessive amount of obedience to authority, even in the
United States, when college students were told to administer electric
shock to others, and followed orders. I feel that we need broader con–
ceptions to understand why eighty million Germans shared one man's
