Germany ten years after

Front matter

GERMAN

TEN -YEARS - AFTER: |

Germany, it is said, lost the war and won the peace. In this unbiased, accurate, and vividly written volume is told the story of that swift transformation and of the new nation that has arisen upon the ruins of Imperial Germany. The author, formerly Exchange Professor at Leipzig, not only analyzes Germany’s political, social, and economic transformation but describes her educational and artistic development and the daily life of her people. The result is an invaluable document for the student of history and an uncommonly interesting book for the general reader.

Preface

At the invitation of the Saxon Ministry of Public Instruction, I accepted an exchange professorship at the University of Leipzig from Tsing Hua University, Peking, China, for the academic year, 1925-26. Owing to the unsettled state of China, the professor from Leipzig did not come to Peking, but I went as ‘Gastprofessor,’ and lectured in Leipzig on conditions in contemporary China and on American problems. Although the appointment was for both semesters, it seemed best to terminate the lectures at the end of the first half-year, in order to see something of other parts of Germany. Invitations were received to lecture at several other German universities but, unfortunately, only that of the University of Berlin could be accepted. Everywhere I found the most courteous treatment and I cannot express myself too strongly in appreciation of the tact and kindness of my German colleagues and hosts, who recognized the difficulties of the delicate situation caused by the failure of the exchange to materialize, and who did all in their power to place themselves and the resources of their institutions at my disposal. The list of these helpful friends is too long to name; it includes nearly every one with whom I came into contact in my academic relations, and I take this occasion to express viii PREFACE my thanks to them. I wish also to thank the various members of the German Legation in Peking, of the German Foreign Office, and of the Saxon and Prussian Ministries of Public Instruction for their helpfulness.

The present volume arose out of these contacts. It does not pretend to be an exhaustive study of Germany; it handles no one problem from the specialist’s standpoint. There are many significant movements which are entirely omitted, especially in art, literature, and philosophy. No statistics are presented. The book is based on sympathetic observation rather than on detailed investigation. It tries to show the German point of view in a friendly but objective way. Its background has this peculiarity: there had been no opportunity on my part to revisit Germany since my student days; in the meantime, an extended residence in the Orient had colored all my opinions. Perhaps this leads to a comparative attitude which may throw the problems into higher but clearer relief.

It may be worth while to note that the sojourn in the Orient had so imbued me with the spirit of Oriental culture that I went to Europe with a positive distaste for that side of European civilization. But when [I left Europe, I had regained my feeling that in art, literature, and music, not only America but Asia has much to gain from the Old World. But the economic and political aspects of Europe were discouraging. Even when compared with chaotic China, Europe seemed at times depressing.

PREFACE ix

As far as I could, I have tried to answer the type of » question which was asked me in Europe, America, and finally in China, about Germany. While the reactions are purely personal, I feel that they interpret correctly and fairly the opinions and moods of those with whom I came into contact. This was, perhaps, a somewhat restricted group, but just such restriction may lend a certain color to the volume which will serve to document definite lines of thought. I felt that I got into touch with student opinion rather more than I expected. The students came to consult me very freely, and as three of the members of my family were in attendance at the university, we saw a good deal of the student life. What seemed most difficult was to get into touch with the laboring classes, except incidentally.

I came away from Europe firmly convinced that it is to the advantage of the United States, as well as of China, to develop relations with Germany to their fullest extent. This means, for America, not merely the investment of capital but a return to the old intimate cultural relations of the pre-war period. As the boycott of the German language still continues to some extent in American schools, there is probably not much chance that a real relation can be brought about among the young. But it is only a matter of intelligent self-interest (if there be such a thing) to demand a closer attention to the whole of German culture.

This book owes a great deal to the codperation of x PREFACE my wife whose notes I have freely used; the section on the mensa is based entirely on her investigations.

G. H. D.

Pexina, July, 1927

VII.

Contents

. INTRODUCTORY 1 . PouiticAL AND Economic REACTIONS 69 . THE ScHOOLS 137 . THE UNIVERSITIES 156 . THE STUDENT AND HIS PROBLEMS 202 . SomME Post-War EFFECTS ON THE THEATERS

AND LITERATURE 242

GERMANY’S INTELLECTUAL VITALITY Q74 eat i) Aas 1 a if yy

Chapter I Introductory

In order to understand Germany from anything but the tourist’s point of view, especially in relation to the effects of the war, it is necessary to keep in mind certain definite factors, the bearing of which upon the whole complex may not, at first sight, be evident. These factors, which are found in Germany itself, are complicated in people’s minds in their interpretation by extraneous data, derived from the reading of books, and especially of newspapers, each of which has its specific point of view or special field of emphasis. The attitude may also be tinged, indeed, usually is tinged, by emotional reactions which tend to warp the judgment and cloud the issue. It is a strange fact that people usually either very much like, or very much dislike, Germany and the Germans. One seldom finds a lukewarm attitude toward them. Now, although this may be taken as a compliment to the definiteness of the German personality, it is unfortunate if it happens to crystallize in an unfavorable opinion; for thus, at the present time, when the war-psychosis is by no means over, it results in greater distortions of truth than it did before the war. If the somewhat anti-German traveler comes to Germany via France, he may feel the reaction even more strongly; indeed, as he will have to pay im a stabilized currency for what he gets, and pay fairly high prices, he may not realize how much his judgment is affected by the financial aspect of the matter. Usually the American traveler finds prices in Europe so low that he does not realize that his comparisons are valueless for a generalization on the economic condition of the inhabitants of the countries through which he passes, and he is very likely to postulate prosperity because he is buying foreign products by means of a currency which is high in value, or because he is thinking of prices in America. If he is bibulously inclined, he may postulate, from the general European attitude toward alcohol, a social freedom which is really not at hand, or, contrariwise, if his insularity increases in direct ratio to the distance from home, as is often the case, he may find nothing whatsoever to his fancy.

The first point to be observed in forming an estimate of Germany is that, as the country was not devastated by foreign armies, there are no visible signs of war, in the way of ruined buildings or of vast reconstructions, such as one sees in France. The Germans cannot carefully preserve ‘war-scarred’ areas as outward symbols of what they suffered. This has one excellent effect: it does not tend to symbolize

EVIDENCES OF THE WAR 3 hate and keep fresh in the minds of the common people reminiscences which stimulate, through hatred, to future wars. Even the cult of the unknown soldier and of the battle heroes is diminished by the sense of defeat. Whatever scars there may be (and they are many) are more or less covered up by other attitudes and are pushed into the background by other necessities. They remain in the spirit of the people rather than in the appearance of the country. This is evident in the matter of the wearing of mourning; there is little black to be seen, even in the Roman Catholic sections of Germany, where one would expect it, as one expects it in France, Italy, and Belgium, and where it is found in abundance. The number of cripples on the streets is surprisingly small, nor does it seem necessary, as in France, to have special seats in the trams ‘reserved for wounded in the war.’ The occasional limp sleeve, the halting gait, or the staring eye make no special claim to sympathy in the general current, in the matter-of-fact outwardness of the situation.

The traveler coming from the Orient, however, remarks one notable exception: nowhere in the world do the faces of the aged show such signs of suffering. The aged Chinese, serene in the feeling that their system provides for them, no matter how low the standard of living, show no facial signs of mental suffering or conflict. The placidity of their countenances is a marked contrast to those of the aged Germans. One is shocked at the look of pain, uncertainty, and inner

A GERMANY TEN YEARS AFTER grief that one notices everywhere. One rarely saw anywhere in Germany a benign old face. Most countenances exhibited settled despair. Sometimes, when the faces were in action, there was vitality, and even humor, but in repose the faces of the aged were sometimes shocking, not only in their sense of spiritual, but even of physical, suffering. If one examines into the background of all this, one discovers that the post-war conditions have borne especially hard on the older generation. The young people, at least the majority, are ready to face the new era; in fact, a generation is growing up which has only faint memories of the struggle. But the old people cannot forget that they are being made to bear some of the war’s burdens in a peculiarly acute way. By ‘old’ one usually means those who are actually on in years, not necessarily middle-aged. In Germany, however, as in all countries in which the struggle for existence is severe, the tendency is to depress the age level of retirement from active service. The word which strikes terror to the aged in Germany is Abbau, the discharge of superfluous or superannuated employees. At the end of the war, when the Hamburg-Amerika lines lost so many of their ships, all captains over fifty-five years of age were let out. Other firms pursue the same policy. Teachers, professors, officials, all have the axe over their heads; as soon as they reach the age limit, they must go. But these classes have fixed positions, with pensions and a certain social standard. The situation bears much more severely on

THE FACES OF THE AGED 5 the working classes, who, in spite of doles and old-age relief, are discarded as soon as possible.

But the economic situation does not account for all the suffering one sees on the faces of the aged. One’s imagination quails at the thought of the bleeding bodies of the young on the field of battle, but one cannot help but pity the old whose philosophy may have contributed to the error. If appearances are any guide at all, the old people of Germany feel the after effects of the war far more keenly than do those of any other nation that participated.

The second point which requires elucidation is the matter of Germany’s intellectual isolation for the period of the war, and indeed for some time succeeding the close of the struggle. It is very difficult for those who have never suffered isolation from their fellows to understand the effects of such separation upon the human mind and character. Nowadays communication is so rapid and the generalizing of knowledge so complete that it requires a real effort of the imagination to understand the point of view of a Trappist monk, who lives solely for his orisons in some secluded part of the world. Those who have ever visited a Trappist monastery will remember the hunger for companionship and for news of the world that one reads in the very eyes of the monks. One sees the same thing, to a certain extent, in the case of missionaries who have lived long in the interior of China. When these come to the coast cities, their mental eyes seem constantly blinking at the unaccustomed light. One refrains from saying ‘brilliance,’ because in the port cities of China the effect is rather that of ‘darkness visible.’ This same phenomenon may be observed in Germany. Much that is otherwise difficult to explain is easily explicable if one realizes that the Germans were very much cut off from the world for more than four years; that, to a certain extent, they are still cut off. Their newspapers must depend on foreign services for international news, since the Germans control no cables. Their purchasing power was strictly limited by a debased currency, even after the world was ready to give out information, so that there are great gaps in the actual knowledge of the facts which the Germans have regarding the outside world. They are rapidly filling in these gaps, but the lacune exist, and they have had their effect on the national point of view. There is vastly less interest on the part of the outside world in Germany than there is interest on the part of Germany in the outside world. Whereas the rest of the world has a sense of having had too much to think about in connection with Germany in the last dozen years — and this feeling is quite marked in the United States — Germany, which has been shut up for so long, exhibits an intense desire to know what is going on elsewhere. One may decry this feeling, by saying that the interest is, at bottom, due to an economic urge; that Germany is seeking fields for expansion, both for surplus population and for the marketing of her superfluous goods. No one

INTEREST IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD 7 can deny that there is this element of self-interest involved. In this attitude Germany is not alone among the nations, and the desire is both natural and legitimate in a competitive industrial civilization. Neither ' can it be denied that the desire for other fields of _activity than those offered by present-day Germany is very strong in the professional and intellectual classes. Perhaps the most constant form of advice for which I was asked by students was how to find positions either in America or China. Even where there was no especial desire to leave Germany permanently, the feeling seemed to be that, for the next period of years, crowded conditions at home, in fact, the whole mzlzeu, made it imperative to get away. In one of my lectures the name of a certain steamer happened to be mentioned. After the hour, a youth appeared in my office and said that he had worked his way as dish-washer from Germany to the Orient and back on that boat. Even with this hard experience, and with only such glimpses of China and Japan as an underpaid servant had been able to catch in the ports, he had conceived such a longing to return to the East that he found Germany almost unbearable.

In this man we get the real feeling of many young intellectuals; it is a border-line feeling, between a sense of economic helplessness with respect to Germany of to-day, coupled with an intense dissatisfaction with chances of advancement, and a romantic desire to know more of the outside world, to be in and of this outside world rather than to follow the dull routine of home, especially when that home offers so little chance. Domicile in present-day Germany means to many of her youth not only economic but social and intellectual restriction. Whether this feeling is entirely justified is another matter; it probably rests on assumptions which are based on imperfect information as to what the outside world offers. It certainly was true with respect to the facts of economic opportunity in China and America, as not only persons situated like myself, but such German organs as keep in touch with outside conditions, kept emphasizing in their warnings to young people.

Since naturally the majority of Germans are well aware that their future lies within Germany, no matter what the fate of the land may be, however poor and overcrowded, however wanting in untapped natural resources, the effort to break down the isolation must be mainly in the direction of intellectual endeavor. The first task is to reérect a shattered hope, to rescue a civilization which even now may be threatened with wreck, and, above all, to restore their own economic balance. The earnest desire to know other lands fits in with this scheme. The lecturer who comes to Germany to talk of other civilizations need not flatter himself that it is merely his engaging personality or his fluent oratory which brings him his numerous invitations to speak. He is a spring of information to a naturally intellectually virile race which for many years has been cut off from direct

_ SURFACE APPEARANCE OF PROSPERITY 9 contact with foreign lands, and which still feels sensitive, in the main, when traveling.

The factor which causes the largest measure of misunderstanding in the average mind in regard to Germany is the surface appearance of prosperity. There is more or less attempt at outward show, which in some quarters amounts to luxury. A certain element of internationalism has crept in, in this respect, so that the women dress better and more stylishly than in the decade before the war. This means short skirts, silk stockings, pumps, instead of sensible shoes, no overshoes in bad weather, fur boas around the neck while the feet are bedraggled in the slush. Bobbed hair was not so usual as elsewhere, but was very prevalent. The trend toward uniformity in outward things pervades the entire world; in dress it was far more apparent among the young women than among the young men. If Spain has taken to Oxford bags and Japan has introduced both these and flapperism, there may be some little excuse for the widening of Germany’s sartorial horizon, especially after the deprivations caused by the war; during this period the materials were of the worst, and no luxury of any kind was possible. If the chance tourist sees the reaction from the earlier situation, if he sees the sleazy shopgirls and the bedizened cook, he must also look carefully at the educated and cultured classes, who are only now beginning to reappear after a long period of seclusion which was partly occasioned by shame at the lack of a proper wardrobe. For Germany is an expensive country to live in. Food is very high, especially meat; cotton goods are higher, quality for quality, than in America. If one examines into the situation a little, one finds that the spending in public is done by a limited few and that under the surface it is still a buyer’s and not a seller’s market.

It is constantly reported that the cafés and restaurants are always full, and that there is a great demand for all things which build up the external side of social life. Again, a good deal of this is purely on the surface. The luxury is artificial and specious. The evening dresses blatantly advertised in the shop-windows remain week after week; in Leipzig a very expensive broadtail coat was ticketed ‘sold’ in a furrier’s window for a month. The comments by the window gazers were extremely illuminating, ranging from bitter socialistic criticism to shopgirl envy. Some of the spending is still a hang-over from the inflation, when people refused to save, so that they got out of the actual habit of saving. In fact, it was not until early in 1926 that the trend back to the savings banks was noted among the working classes. A second point to be taken into consideration is that, though the shops are full of fine things, there is no evidence of their having been bought except in some of the large centers. There is a remarkable fidelity to type among the lower classes in the extensive purchases of shoddy of all kinds, of standardized art and dress, of which European shops have their full share. The better

SALESMANSHIP IN THE SHOPS 11 shops and the specialty shops universally reported poor business.

There was evidence on all sides that the German public had not yet recovered its purchasing power. The police permit special sales only within certain limits and at certain times, in order to protect the public from chicanery. The merchants also seem to have an agreement to the same effect, in order to prevent cutthroat competition. The result seemed to be that everywhere the shops were desperate to sell, a fact which resulted in very unpleasant salesmethods, indeed, in some very bad salesmanship. In order to placate the customer, the salespeople too often adopted an oleaginous manner, which turned into acid if the customer left the shop without purchasing. As might be expected, the worst sinners were the specialty shops, though the department stores left a good deal to be desired. With this, there was coupled far too much of the ‘unreel,’ of the unreliable in the quality of the merchandise. When goods were found not to be as represented, there was not only great unwillingness to refund, but even to make good actual damage or to replace damaged articles. ‘Caveat emptor’ was the motto, all too often. The goods displayed in windows were often not purchasable at the window price, but were used as bait. Such tactics are not confined to Germany, and there are no moral Jessons to be drawn from them at this point. They indicate, when taken with the whole situation, that the shops are compelled to resort to every means in order to break what is practically a buyer’s strike.

For reasons which will be developed later on, there is no real development of luxury within the home, in the general run of ordinary life. The petit bourgeors lives in the same meager way that he always did, all over Europe. In Germany, the taxes are high and the income is severely cut into by them. There is an income tax, a turn-over tax, a profits tax, and a list of other taxes which numbers, for two unmarried women keeping a very small pension, a total of nine different taxes. The taxing mania of the Government is illustrated by this incident: during one year these women lost four hundred marks on their pension. When it came time to go over their books with the tax collector, it was found that they had to pay a special tax on this deficit! The reason was that it was a turn-over, and whether the turn-over was profit or loss made no difference. The tax regulations amount to a thick book, and are more complicated than those in the United States. The papers print each month what taxes are due for the current period, and in what proportion; and people need to be well-informed on this point in order not to get into trouble with the authorities. One lives under the impression that all the world is either paying taxes or collecting them, and in certain groups the taxes were the subject of a good deal of anxious comment. For the German in business, there is a constant atmosphere of ‘pay.’ Such a system raises the prices of all commodities,

BANKRUPTCIES AND SUICIDES 13 and even if shop rents are low, all other costs are high enough to neutralize the advantage from low rents.

Failures in business and the consequent suicides were constantly reported in the daily press. We were informed by business people that there were far more bankruptcies than the reports showed. The reasons why not all came out were, first, that the papers kept some back in order not unduly to excite the public, and, second, because many persons arranged with their creditors without going through the expensive processes of the bankruptcy courts. But a surprising amount of space was devoted to business troubles. A prominent sociologist confided to me that the real seriousness of the economic situation lay in the startling number and the contagiousness of suicides among agriculturalists who could not weather the storm. ‘These were causing such authorities as himself more concern than the industrial situation, or, indeed, than the unemployment, which reached its peak in February, 1926, with 1,700,000 out of work. Even during the darkest period of the war, the farmers did not lose heart. If they were despairing, the country was in danger of a bad collapse of morale, according to this professor. The great lack of capital made an immediate high percentage of profit necessary, in order to raise cash with which to carry on. There were constant inducements to buy on the installment plan. Interest rates were high; savings banks offered eight per cent on yearly fixed deposits; on ordinary savings, six per cent was common,

No matter with what class one talked, one learned of the severity of the economic strain. The railroad conductors were placarding the country to prove that a married man could not possibly live on the wages they were getting, one hundred and eight marks a month, with all deductions and additions taken into consideration. This was for a family of four. One of the striking points in all arguments for higher wages was that, with the cost of food so high, new clothing was out of the question. A street-paver opened his pay envelope on the street as I passed him; I could not help seeing what was in it: eighteen marks. As he counted it, a curious expression passed over his face. He caught my eye, shrugged his shoulders, and passed on. One emigrant couple said that the husband had been a worker for Krupp at twenty-two marks a week. Two people could not carry on on that sum. These were in the class that risked everything on a trip to America, where they had no jobs in sight, but where they felt they had more chance than at home. Yet there are plenty of people who would rather try the doles: ten marks weekly for a single man, fifteen for a married couple without children, and seventeen for a couple with one child. But, in spite of the small amounts offered by the labor relief, there are some who try to cheat the Government. These are the persons who get a small job by hook or crook, even though they are unfit to hold it. Once discharged, they come under the heading of the unemployed, and so are entitled to the

MEMORIES OF HUNGER 15 doles. Country girls migrate to the city, get positions which they have no intention of holding, lose their jobs, and go back to the farm with the doles as a safe income on the side. With all the doles and unemployment, there is a scarcity of good agricultural labor. It has been found that the unemployed city laborer or factory hand is unfitted for agricultural labor.

The general impression made by social life in Germany is that people have very little time and almost no money for entertaining. This impression grows so strong that one hesitates to accept hospitality for fear of causing some derangement in the budget of friends whose finances cannot stand any extra strain. One cannot help realizing how great were the privations all through the war, and how deep the memories of these privations are from the tenor of the conversations when these points are discussed. It is not that the people whine; it is simply that they still remember real suffering. It has a most blighting effect on a guest to see a lady of refinement and education hold her hands to her stomach, and, with every gesture of pain and with every expression of torture, describe her actual craving for food. The men are much more restrained in their expressions. Besides this, many were at the front and did not go through the attrition process of the civilian population. The entire memories of the latter center around hunger, around hunger that was so vivid a moment in their lives that a silence falls on an assembly when, across the buzz of conversation, one hears from the other side of the room the words, ‘Wir haben gehungert.’ Mothers have only one thought, and that is how they struggled to get milk for their children. Even during the inflation, the main attempt was to get milk, at the cost of whatever millions.

It was interesting to watch the real awakening of social life among the educated class in Germany. This social life, as manifested in 1925-26, could be understood only when seen against the background of war conditions. In Leipzig, for example, the large faculty party known as the ‘Professorium’ was held for the first time in full flower in the winter just mentioned. During the war and the inflation, when people felt the need of meeting together for social purposes, they brought their own food, and if the host provided anything, it was a drink of some weak substitute for tea. But there was actually neither the desire nor the opportunity for any social life. There was no heat and little light, so that social gatherings were practically impossible. The people also had no good clothes and were thus ashamed to appear. The most terrible winter, 1917, was the ‘turnip winter,’ when the people were reduced to eating yellow turnips in every possible form, and when many of the substitutes for such staples as coffee, were made of dried and roasted turnips. In a winter like that, it was impossible for people to develop the least interest in social intercourse. Then, after the war, when the natural rebound was due to take place, the inflation