In the Book and Literary World

The artistic importance of Franz Werfel lies in his awareness of mass movements and mass feeling before they have become evident historically. The Goat Song portrayed the rising tide of dissatisfaction and the nebulous spirit of revolution that has since become the driving force behind world events. So in The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, he shows through the medium of an incident of the World War a stiffening resistance of the persecuted races of the world, and since his interest in this situation is more than that of an artist, he has written a call to arms to his own people, the Jews.

The story of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is a simple one. It deals with the wholesale “evacuation” during the World War of a million Armenians from Syria into the Mesopotamian Desert by the Turks under Enver Pascha. Even the Turks themselves estimated that the “evacuation” would result in the death of ninety per cent of the people. It was a measure with only the slgihtest pretense of military necessity and it was motivated solely by the unreasoning hatred of the Truks for the Armenians.

One of Werfel’s greatest contributions lies in his description of the underlying nature of race hatred—the three basic reasons— jealousy of greater industry and wealth of the people, religious contempt and hatred, and the desire for women of alien race.

But Werfel is not content to write of the tragedy of this wholesale slaughter. He has chosen one incident of the “evacuation,” An Armenian, due to his wealth and his European education, has been able to overcome the docile acceptance so characteristic of his race, of whatever life may bring, and through his example to arouse to resistance, the people at the foot of Musa Dagh, “The Mountain of Moses.” They encamp on the mountain and for forty days hold the entire might of the Turkish armies at bay. The eventual result of this gallant defense becomes relatively unimportant. All that retains significance is the satisfaction that lies in action itself. Here at last the Armenian people have given notice to Turkey and to the world that they will no longer allow themselves to be persecuted by an alien race.

Forty Days of Musa Dagh is, on the other hand, a stirring tale of gallant deeds and quiet heroism. On the other, it is Werfel’s solution to the problem of the Jew. Werfel’s method is that when one’s back is to the wall, there are only two courses of action—meek surrender to extinction or heroic resistance, however slight the chance for recovery. And through the relatively unimportant incident of the defense of Musa Dagh, he has shown his choice.