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.Having been convinced by war propaganda that the Germansare innately more aggressive and cruel than other peoples, mostAmericans are unable to realize that the punishment of the Ger-man people only serves to strengthen the Soviet aggressors.The most important influence in America furthering Commu-nist aims would seem to be the refusal of the New Dealers to admitthat President Roosevelt s policies were fundamentally mistaken.They must continue to believe that the German people are thefount of all iniquity, and a continuing menace to the peace of theworld, if they are to preserve their veneration for the late President.Most of them lack the courage to admit that their revered leaderwas mistaken in believing that all that was necessary for the estab-lishment of lasting peace was the crushing out of existence of theGerman nation, and that this aim justified close collaboration withStalin.Some New Dealers, or so-called progressives, like Wallaceeven today turn the same blind eye on Soviet crimes against hu-manity, as Roosevelt and his wife during the war.Others, whoare too intelligent or decent to ignore the evidence, neverthelesspersist in demanding that the full pound of flesh be exacted fromdefeated Germany.They all lack the moral courage to admit thatPresident Roosevelt s policies were fundamentally wrong and haveproved a colossal failure.To sustain their faith in their dead leaderthey continue to demand the implementation of his German pol-icy, long after the assumptions on which it was based have beenproven false.They want Germany to be kept impotent even atthe cost of rendering Europe incapable of self-defense.They areprepared to run the risk of driving the Germans to side with Rus-sia by denying them freedom and equality and the possibility ofearning their living so long as they remain on our side of the IronCurtain.The Republicans, having subscribed to a bipartisan foreign pol-icy, are similarly held the prisoners of past errors.They too cannotface the political consequences of admitting they were mistaken.With rare exceptions the Republicans have followed the Demo-cratic lead in throwing good money after bad rather than cut lossesand start on a fresh and enlightened foreign policy.They too mustbe held guilty for the failure of the United States to make a cleanbreak with the past.Nor is it easy for the American people as a whole to accept the 306 THE HIGH COST OF VENGEANCEsad truth that for the second time in a quarter of a century theyhave sacrificed their sons and husbands in foreign wars to no goodpurpose.Far from making the world safe for democracy, bothwars have diminished the area of freedom, and the last one hasmerely substituted one totalitarian dictatorship for another.But itis difficult for those who have lost their loved ones to admit thatthey died in vain.The reluctance of the human mind to face unpalatable truths,the inability of politicians to admit their mistakes, the aftermath ofwar propaganda, and the sinful pride which inspires us all, play intothe hands of the Communists.It is conducive to spiritual satisfaction and self-respect to viewpast or present enemies as the only transgressors against the laws ofGod and man.To admit that the capacity for evil is inherent in allmankind would destroy our sense of superiority.So we have gonefar toward the adoption of the Nazi theory of racial differences,and have ourselves assumed the position of a superior or master race.Worst of all we have been seduced by the Nazi-Communisttheory that justice means the collective punishment of the manyfor the sins of a few.In the second century A.D.Emperor Trajan enunciated the prin-ciple that it is better for many guilty persons to escape punishmentthan for one innocent person to be wrongly condemned.The Com-munists have reversed this principle.They say that it is better fora thousand innocent people to be condemned than for one guiltyperson to escape.In our treatment of the Germans we have adopted the Commu-nists principle instead of that of the civilized Western world.Those who indict the whole German nation for the crimes of theNazis put themselves in the same category as the Bolsheviks, whomurdered millions of people for the crime of belonging to thecapitalist class (in which the Communists included the more pros-perous peasants called kulaks ); and of the Nazis who extermi-nated millions of Jews and other inferior races such as the Polesand Russians.By treating all Germans as criminals or pariahs, and punishingthem all by our policies, we deny the very essence both of Chris-tian civilization and of rational liberalism: belief in individual re-sponsibility; the rule of law, not of men; and the equality of allpeoples irrespective of class, race, nation, or creed. CONCLUSION 307As I complete the writing of this book, the battle for Berlin isending and the struggle for Germany is beginning.If, as seemsprobable, the Communists have learned that they cannot win Ger-many by force and terror and are preparing to reverse their tactics,we shall no longer be able to count upon Stalin s cruelties and blun-ders to keep the Germans on our side.There is a limit to enduranceand sanity when there is no hope.If democracy continues to offernot bread but a stone, the German people will be driven once againto repudiate Western civilization.If Soviet Russia offers the free-dom and unity which the West cannot, or will not, give them, theGermans may combine with Russia to destroy us together withthemselves
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