Soul of the Age (17 page)

Bern
[
end of September 1915
]

Having just returned from Germany, I would like to let you know right away that I'm back; my leave lasts until the middle of November, and will then be renewed, I hope. But I fear that the war will eventually devour all of us. Last week, a cousin of mine in Stuttgart was pronounced fit for duty, even though he is small and frail and used to be considered unfit for military service; compared to me, he is a real dwarf. The Balkans will soon be devouring lives,
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and there are also the tens of thousands thrown away during the silly mass offensive of the French.
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Well, I'm still here for now; this new kind of work is keeping me busy. I have just been asked to supervise the POW libraries, which are being sent to France via Bern. I have examined the holdings in Stuttgart; they have quite a lot of books there, but don't have sufficient funds to expand our collection systematically.

I realize that the POW libraries—along with the prisoners' newspaper, which I'm producing single-handedly—offer a unique opportunity for some adult education work, and I have accepted the position. I shall do everything I can to expand the service. We have already used up all the money and books that I was able to donate, and I'm trying to raise some more money; a few hundred francs would allow me to implement most of my plan. I'm trying to enlarge all the small POW libraries so that each one carries a selection of the best German literary works in cheap editions. Everything is set to go: I have scoured the relevant publishers' catalogues, and as soon as we get enough funds, which I'm trying to raise discreetly, we can send off the orders. Of course, an appeal to the German public would produce quick results, but I have no right to compete with the Red Cross collections, and must save whatever funds I have left over for the larger project, the POW paper.

I was wondering whether you might not like to help, since it's a good cause and those POWs need our compassion. I never expect large sums nowadays. If, in addition to the amount I'm donating, a small number of my friends contribute 50 to 100 francs or marks per person, my plans will be salvaged. These new duties have turned my study into an office. I have become an office worker; it's not bad for a short while, but I couldn't stand it for very long, not to speak of forever! I would prefer to join a German battalion and vanish into oblivion. But I do hope to accomplish some worthwhile things. At some stage, I should like to escape to Zurich for a bit of rest, but it's still not altogether clear whether that will be possible. For now, I would like to ask you to contribute to my project, if you can. If you cannot give anything or don't feel so inclined, I trust you will forgive me for asking. Now that I have taken over this project, I feel I have to promote it by every means at my disposal. The misery crying out for attention all over the world is such that I want to do whatever I can in my little patch.

TO COLONEL BOREL

Bern, October 12, 1915

I heard from Professor Woltereck some time ago that you had expressed interest in our plan to set up a special weekly paper for German prisoners in France.
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Shortly afterward, I found out that Herr Ador
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of Geneva had promised to try to persuade the French government to allow us to distribute the paper in France.

This was quite a few weeks ago, and we have not heard anything yet.

Dear Sir, could I take the liberty of asking you whether you are interested in my plans? I'm convinced that the project is very worthwhile, and my approach is humanitarian rather than patriotic. I see the paper as a unique forum for educating the public. The prisoners, especially those who are uneducated or only half educated, face spiritual and intellectual dangers that are certainly far greater than those confronting the soldiers at the front. And we now have a chance to supply tens of thousands of them each week with reading matter that really caters to their needs. This presents us with an altogether unusual opportunity to comfort tens of thousands of poor suffering souls in a discreet and undidactic manner. We hope to have a positive influence on their thinking, but I want to make sure that we exclude all denominational biases as much as possible.

Dear Colonel, I'm very keen on this plan and consider it extremely important. If you are interested, and wish to help us carry it out—your role might consist merely of getting in touch occasionally with the French Embassy or with Herr Ador—I would ask to meet you for ten minutes at your convenience, so that I can give you some idea of the sort of paper we have in mind. I have the plan all worked out, and much of it could be implemented straightway. I become anxious when I feel this issue is being put on the back burner and might be shelved.

I'm also trying to enlarge the POW libraries, which were sent here from Stuttgart and are destined for a hundred camps in France, with the idea of providing adult education in literature. After inspecting the selection of books in Stuttgart, I took charge of the project, with some financial help from friends. The necessary arrangements are being made very quickly indeed, and I expect that the office headed by Herr von Tavel
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will soon be able to get to work. I'm in touch with Herr von Tavel. With sincere and respectful greetings, yours

TO THE EDITORS OF DER KUNSTWART, MUNICH
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Bern, October 23, 1915

While working at home and elsewhere on behalf of our prisoners in France, I was subjected to some vociferous and occasionally coarse attacks by a small segment of the northern German press. I only found out later about these aspersions. The reason for these attacks is a “letter” of mine, which is supposed to have appeared in a Danish newspaper. I have never seen the Danish newspaper in question, and none of the papers engaging in these polemics had the decency to inform me of their accusations. Hence the delay in responding.

That “letter” consists of a short note that I wrote to Sven Lange, thanking him for a kindly favor. Although I never expected that this purely private communication would ever appear in print, I would willingly reiterate and reaffirm every word of it before a court of law.

There were two sentences that got people excited: “I haven't been able to tailor my literary output to the war” (meant somewhat ironically) and “It is my hope that Germany shall continue to impress the world not just through its weaponry but, more importantly, through its mastery of the art of peace and its endeavors to further a genuinely supranational humanism.”

What really agitated my antagonists, I'm sure, was the word “supranational.” Well, it's up to each individual to decide whether to accept that there are broader, human responsibilities which transcend all national obligations. It seems to me that a person who assumes that a given people is fully conscious of those broader obligations is bestowing a signal honor on that nation.

I now realize that this view is not shared by everybody. So I would like to emphasize my conviction that all peoples have “supranational” obligations, especially the major nations. I need hardly cite chapter and verse for this in Goethe, Kant, and indeed all serious German thinkers, with the exception of a certain section of the press.

I find it almost harder to understand how anybody can think ill of a writer merely because he refuses to churn out war novellas and battle songs. Surely, all of us should not feel compelled to do so, just because some editor has asked us, or because we're having difficulty making ends meet, but only because we feel an inner need? I don't think so. In my case, I have long since abandoned literary life in order to volunteer my services on behalf of the prisoners. Moreover, each time a group of fanatic German militarists annoys the neutral countries with their provocative statements, I try to smooth things over the best I can. Many people here think the recent attacks against me and my Weltanschauung are part of the same phenomenon; I have had some difficulty explaining that this misguided fanaticism isn't at all prevalent in Germany, and that aside from a few journalists, nobody in our Germany believes a writer ought to be punished merely because he cherishes the art of peacemaking.

A section of the press is acting according to the Kaiser's wonderful aphorism, since it only heeds the parties and subjects any opinions deviating from the party program to merciless attack. That section of the press ought to be reminded that it is merely providing the enemy with material for propaganda leaflets, making it harder for Germans living abroad to do their work, and creating obstacles for German diplomacy. Here in Switzerland, for instance, we have many hundreds of volunteers from neutral countries working with us, people who were deeply affected by the plight of those injured in the war, and are now helping to track down the soldiers missing in action, assisting our prisoners and internees, and performing many other errands of mercy. In the Swiss welfare offices, I have seen dozens, indeed hundreds, of pleading letters written by German mothers about missing sons or daughters who disappeared inside enemy territory. How does that small section of our press respond to these volunteer efforts? By bad-mouthing neutral countries! Their tactics are foolish and run counter to our official diplomacy. I don't wish to question the good faith of these journalists, but I would urge them to think about the damage they are inflicting! I hereby invite each of these gentlemen to spend a week in Bern, so that they can examine our work in a neutral country, especially the labor of love on behalf of the prisoners. This might change their attitude toward the neutral countries and those of us who live abroad; they might think twice in the future before subjecting us to such destructive attacks.

PRO DOMO
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Bern, November 1, 1915

The
Kölner Tageblatt,
a newspaper I have never heard of, published an editorial on October 24 attacking me for an essay of mine, “Germany Revisited,” which appeared recently in the
Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
The writer lets fly a wild barrage of angry accusations about my “cowardice” and “draft-dodging.”

Even though I have no idea yet whether this curious piece has influenced German public opinion—a self-respecting newspaper would scarcely publish it verbatim—I would like to state the following: The Cologne article is a crude piece of libel and lacks all foundation.

He accuses me of “draft-dodging” (the vocabulary to which we have to resort nowadays!); after all, I myself have admitted that I stayed away from Germany for fear I wouldn't be allowed back across the frontier. Unless they are exceptionally malicious, people with any knowledge of the situation at the frontier will understand why I did so. If I had entered Germany so close to my mobilization deadline, I might not have been allowed out again, and would have been cut off from my family and my work for weeks, and possibly even months. But the gentleman in Cologne interprets those words of mine as an admission that I tried to dodge military service in a cowardly fashion.

Then my kind enemy refers grandiloquently to poets such as Dehmel, Löns, etc.: even though some were even older than I, all of them volunteered and saw active service, whereas unpatriotic specimens such as myself (his words!) were just sitting around at home. I find it absurd and demeaning to have to respond to this sort of thing. But since there is no way around it, I would like to state for the benefit of the gentleman in Cologne that I did attempt to enlist in the late summer of 1914, just like Dehmel and the others, but was turned down. Moreover, because of the energetic work on the prisoners' behalf in which I have been engaged for some time, I am now provisionally exempt from German military service.

I hereby wish to reiterate and reaffirm the sentence in my Zurich article that seems to have provoked our Cologne Hotspur like a red rag: I value peace more highly than war, and believe it is far more noble to work for peace than for war. Didn't the Kaiser describe his decision to reach for the sword in rather similar terms, as one taken reluctantly and under duress? Why not let those journalists in their snug little studies in Cologne and elsewhere go on praising war and ridiculing anybody who favors peace as a coward? After all, they are just cranking out words, words written for a fee or in the hope of creating a sensation. I stand behind what I wrote. At the moment, it isn't so easy to be a German with decent political views—i.e., a person who really loves his people and wants to see them developing deeper and more amicable relationships with the neutral nations. By the time this war is over, I think I shall have aged more than ten years. But I'm not about to walk off and allow those loudmouths free rein. One hopes their shouting will soon be irrelevant. We shall then have to ensure that this terrible war creates a valuable and enduring legacy of peace and culture, for our country and compatriots. The shouting and sword waving of the homebound literati will never accomplish anything; what is needed is a lot of selfless work. I realize that, in Germany, thousands of people, hundreds of thousands even, are determined to pursue this course, and they shall prevail over those noisy hotheads. Don't assume that those loud voices are in any way representative of Germany.

As regards the personal allegations, I should just like to state once again that the libelous article in that Cologne paper was written by somebody who knew nothing about me or the facts. The author may have imagined he was acting as a patriot, but that doesn't make his allegations any less libelous.

TO FRAU HELENE WELTI
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Sonnmatt Sanatorium, Lucerne, May 18, 1916

[ … ] I too may be approaching a crisis, although the physical symptoms are of secondary, if symbolic, significance.
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I'm having electrotherapy; the electricity warms me up inside, then I get massaged, scrubbed, and put out in the sun; yet despite all our efforts, we haven't managed to keep my feet warm for longer than a quarter of an hour at a time. They have also been giving me small doses of bromide, and for the last few nights I have been getting a decent amount of sleep, for the first time in weeks.