Sts,—May I suggest that the problem of German guilt and
punishment should be viewed from a more practical standpoint? All Germans have a certain amount of guilt, even the best of them thought nothing of joining in the wholesale plunder by buying in the shops of Paris and Brussels with money that he knew was stolen. Even the most innocent German is more guilty than his victims, the peoples of occupied Europe. Now the most elementary justice would postulate that Germany hand back the loot. But what would this imply? To hand back all food, lorries, cars, rolling- stock, barges, factory and harbour equipment, all the stocks of prime materials, textiles, metals, and all the goods in tradesmen's hands, the contents of the shops and warehouses of a continent . . . to hand back all that, and at short notice, would leave all the Germans naked and starving before even a fraction was repaid, and the whole tribe would perish swiftly from the face of the earth.
This, incidentally, would merely be to subject them to the war by star- vation, so well described by Mr. Swaminathan in your last issue (the French coined the expression "guerre biologique ". for this particular aspect of German frightfulness), and could also be regarded as an appli- cation, in reverse, of Goering's dictum that whosoever starves in Europe, it should not be a German. Nevertheless, I do not think that even the most outspoken opponent of Lord Vansittart would ascribe such intentions to him. It just cannot be done. Therefore the question of punishing the Germans never arises at all ; even the problem of making them give back what they have stolen is insoluble. Far from dealing with them according to their iniquities, we shall have to send them relief, and protect them from the logical consequences of their own sins.
Unfortunately, the amount of relief that can be sent to Europe is limited, both by supply and transport facilities, and in giving any help we should always bear in mind that this will be done at the expense of
Germany's victims, that Allied men and women will go unfed, unclothed and unwashed, that the growth of a whole generation will be thwarted for lack of proper food, that, in short, Germany's "guerre biologique " will be continued even after the armistice, because our Christian con- sciences will constrain us to spare Germany the worst. But we should do this with our eyes open, and should make it perfectly clear to the Germans, and to the world in general, not only once or twice, but con- tinuously as the years pass by, so that future generations of Germans and of appeasers in other countries, will know and remember that Germany has been treated with mercy. That will be the best way to stop the preparation for the next war, for which Germany is even now laying down the foundations, with the aid of her unwitting humanitarian helpers amongst the Allies, by "organising the sympathy of the world" as she did so effectively after the last war.—Yours sincerely,
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