"The German mind," he says, "does
not seem to have altered,
"Albeit sadly puzzled to account for
the utter break-down of the entire
German system, in his outlook on life
the German of 1920 is to most intents
and purposes the German of 1913. In
a world which to British eyes is
strangely changed by five years of
World war the mental isolation of the
German is absolute. To talk to him
makes you feel that the German of
today is the loneliest creature on God's
earth.
"Yet with heavy deliberation he is
communing with himself to ascertain
the causes of his defeat. But he is
not examining his conscience.
"Any Berlin bookshop will show you
the chaos prevailing in the German
mind.
Nothing of the Present.
"Professor Steinach's rejuvenation
experiments, Einstein's theory of light,
Maynard Keynes and Norman Angell
on the Versailles Peaceboth books
in German translations and prominent
ly displayedtreatises on spiritualism,
atheism, free love, and the likeworks
of this description stand side by side
with a mass of frankly pornographic
literature. Here will you find reasoned
explanations for the past, complicated
schemes for the future, but nothing
practical to deal with the problems of
the present. And above all, no con
trition for Germany's crime against
mankind.
"The German sur-vepod the world
from his castle of militarism. Now
that it has -collapsed he is left floun
dering in a sea of doubts and fears.
The Germans with whom I have spok
en expect us to hold them guiltless of
the past because, they say, they have
rid Germany of her military caste.
