A conviction that Hitlerism in Germany is a permanent manifestation of the will of the German people was expressed by James W. Gerard, in an interview yesterday.
“I think that Hitlerism will last in Germany,” the former Ambassador to Germany declared. Mr. Gerard represented the United States in Berlin during the war years, from 1913 to 1917, and is considered an authority on Germany.
In spite of his opinion that Nazism is not a passing phase in German history, Mr. Gerard is certain that Nazi ideas will not spread. “You have the example of Austria,” he explained. “They will make an attempt to put Hitlerism into Austria, but the Italians will block the move. The Italians do not propose to have Germans under Hitler facing them across the Alps.
“All through history,” the former Ambassador continued, “German leaders have attempted to get control of the Italian peninsula. It is traditional with Germany to want to get control of Italy. Mussolini naturally opposes them. Thus, Italy is the real bulwark against the spread of Hitlerism.”
Turning to the problem of anti-Semitism under the Hitler regime, Mr. Gerard declared that “there is only one thing that can modify anti-Semitism in present-day Germany. That is the boycott. I think that the boycott is seriously injuring German trade. That alone may make them modify their harsh rules.”
There is no immediate danger of war in Europe today, Mr. Gerard asserted. “The only nation that wants war is Germany,” he said, “and it is pretty thoroughly disarmed. Probably, as soon as the Germans become prosperous again, they will attempt to stir up a new struggle. That is what they did in 1914. If they had kept peace then, they would have become the most prosperous country in the world within ten years.”
Mr. Gerard defended the seeming paradox of Dr. Schacht’s protestations of German bankruptcy in refusing to pay the German debts on the one hand, and the use of German funds for internal and external propaganda on the other. “There are a great many countries that spend money which ought to be used for paying debts,” he declared, citing the instance of Great Britain spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single book when it is unable to pay its international debts.
The former diplomat who returned recently from a trip to the Bahamas, is the author of several books on Germany, including “My Four Years in Germany” and “Face to Face with Kaiserism.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
