Sta,—Please allow me to protest against the confused and dangerous
conclusions expressed by Mrs. Mavis Tate, M.P. in her article in the Spectator of May 4th. She believes that "there is a deep streak of evil and sadism in the German race " (my italics), and that the establishment of democratic government in Germany will not suffice to cure this. It is necessary, she thinks, that the Germans should follow " the teaching given to the world two thousand years ago," and that they should be treated with "extreme firmness." But what was this teaching? Did Christ adopt " extreme firmness " towards publicans and sinners and the people of Samaria? Did He teach us to discriminate among the "races" of His Father's children? After reading Mrs. Tate's article I read Mr. Victor Gollancz's pamphlet, " What Buchenwald Really Means." It is not the first time that I have turned for Christianity from a Christian to a Jew. I do not profess and call myself a Christian either. And yet I cannot doubt that Jesus of Nazareth would have preferred my views and those of Mr. Gollancz to those of Mrs. Tate.
Mr. Gollancz points out that since Hitler's rise to power, and while many people in England and other countries declared themselves his admirers, hundreds of thousands of Germans (not Jews) suffered tortlire and death for opposing him. Those of us who had dear and honoured friends among these hundreds of thousands mourn them now as we mourn our friends who have died in the Allied armies. They were all victims, not of a cruel race, but of a cruel doctrine, of envy, hatred, :'nd
all uncharitableness. None of these are confined to one nation, still less I0 one "race." They preponderate at varying places at different times. If we are to degrade ourselves to the Nazi level by adopting their opinions, if we- are to believe that some "races " are inherently more evil than others, let us in so doing cease to pay lip service to Christianity, and let us realise that if we so degrade ourselves, Hitler, in the hour of his down- fall, has won the war, leaving to us, if we care to accept it, a legacy of hatred, arrogance, and sheer stupidity, the perpetuation of which will ensure the perpetuation of war itself.—Yours obediently,
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