The Re-education of Germans
Mr. Henry Wallace, Vice-President of the United States, in a speech last Sunday, said that in the prevention of world war no. 3 much will depend on how we handle the German youth immediately after the war. By " we " he meant his own countrymen, in con-
junction with the other United Nations, for he insists that a " grown-up " America must face her responsibilities in Europe. He recognises the harm that has been done by the type of education imposed on young Germans, and sees the necessity, for Germany herself and her neighbours, of encouraging German youth to develop a " peaceful, worthwhile purpose in life." But how is the change to be brought about? Mr. Wallace is not one of those who think that ideas can be forcibly thrust into the mind of a nation, and in any case nothing can be done here till the defeat of Germany is com- plete. He suggests that in the hour of victory our responsibility to our own people carries with it also a responsibility to the young people of Germany, whose despairing emotions must be guided towards an end in which despair need have no place. But Ameri- cans and Britons cannot themselves undertake their 'education. He believes that there are still Germans steeped in the liberal tradition to whom the job could be entrusted. If that were so, care would have to be taken not to discredit such teachers in the eyes of their countrymen by any action taken by us. It is not an easy course which Mr. Wallace recommends. It requires unyielding firmness on the one side, tact and sympathy on the other. By some meats these have to be reconciled.
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