THE GERMAN INTELLECTUALS
[To the Editor of Tan SPECTATOR.] Snt,—While fully appreciating the lucidity with which your correspondent outlines the complex problem of the German intellectuals, may I suggest that he has not done full justice to the case of Dr. Furtwaengler and of " one of the greatest German historians " ? There may have been some latent reason for his reticence.
First, Dr. Furtwaengler : the unfortunate dispute, which led to the resignation of the great conductor, resolved itself into a personal quarrel between Furtwaengler himself and the so-called Minister for Propaganda and Enlightenment, Dr. Goebbels. But popular opinion (which in some respects is more influential than we usually believe possible in a country under a dictator) was overwhelmingly on the side of Furtwaengler. Rosenberg and Hitler himself intervened. As a result, Dr. Furtwaengler was reinstated, and a Beethoven concert which he conducted last June in Munich was attended by the Fuehrer, who thus buried the axe in public. Dr. Furtwaengler will be the chief conductor for the 1936 season at Bayreuth. Opinions differ widely of Hindemith : his music is obviously not to everybody's taste, though that fact alone should not have condemned him to the treatment he has received. His brother continues to give concerts in Germany.
But it was not surprising that an autocratic Government dismissed a man who did not hesitate to change his political principles to suit the immediate occasion. Professor Oncken (it was he to whom your correspondent was alluding ?) declared himself ready to lecture on National Socialist history ; the authorities apparently overlooked his qualifications as a distinguished historian and forbade him to lecture, in view of his reputation for being a " Vicar of Bray." They argued that those who had been National Socialists before 1933 were better qualified to lecture on the party's history than those whose views had at one time been opposed to National Socialism. Constancy and Opportunism are both considered virtues according to present-day standards, Meanwhile let us hope for continued moderation on the part of the Nazi authorities, for this alone will bring about a peaceful settlement of an aggravated situation.—Yours faithfully,
C. M. Cs.00cAsf.
Quenington Old Rectory, Fairford, Gloucestershire.
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