Books of the Day
Disaster and Recovery
HERR KLEIN holds an honoured name among Continental journalists. Austrian by nationality, he served under that great editor, "Old Benedikt," of Vienna ; like so many of his country- men, he sought his fortune in Berlin, and from January, 1920, until August, 1935, when he was expelled by the Nazis, he was the correspondent of the Basler Nachrichten in that city. His despatches, particularly during the first two years of the Third Reich, were among the best informed of all the foreign correspondents.
To Herr Ernst Klein the first important landmark along the road leading to the European War was the revolt of the Young Turks at Monastir on July 23rd, 1908. From then onwards through the pre-x9i4 confusion in the Balkans, the failure of the Peace Treaties to stabilise the Continent and the growth of Nazism, the author traces the course of events through his own personal experiences, especially in German-speaking countries. The road to disaster is lined on either side by the victims of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism, 'as far as this author is concerned. It is the struggle between thne two forces which has been mainly responsible for what has happened. He is equally opposed to both, but one does feel that he might have gone more deeply into the reasons which led the Slav peoples of the former Austria-Hungary to look to Moscow for help. He admits that the former empire, "more than half of whose inhabitants were Slays, had no Austro-Slav idea to set against Russian Pan- Slavism," but he does not trace the course of events back to the Ausgleich of 1867 which established the "divide and rule" policy for the Austrians and Magyars within the Empire. It is also extremely doubtful whether the furnblings after a " trialistic" system which are associated with the name of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand would ever have been practically realised against the opposition of Berlin and Budapest.
Herr Klein lived through the Weimar Republic, and his enthusiasm for Stresemann and his policy is self-evident. He
interprets the German statesman as a monarchist favouring a "popular imperialism" (Volkskaisertum) which "in its ground- work would be more democratic than the English constitutional monarchy." National Socialism in its present shape is seen as the work of Hitler and his associates, though it is "in essence nothing but a resurrection of the old Prussian Pan-Germanism which had the subjugation of foreign peoples in its programme." His hatred and contempt of Hitlerism is everywhere apparent, particularly because Hitler destroyed "not only material, but also irreplaceable moral and ethical values. He made German youth what it is today . . ." But Herr Klein is not content merely to look back on the road of disaster. He also looks forward and offers a solution which would reduce Prussia to its size and influence before Frederick the Great's aggressions. According to this plan, there would be no dismemberment of the Reich as often advocated in certain foreign quarters. But Prussia would be destroyed within the Reich through the restoration of their local freedom to the various kingdoms, duchies, free cities, &c., such as Hanover, Saxony, Westphalia, of which a "blood and iron" policy had robbed them in the past 150 years. This new Germany would have Weimar, not Berlin, as its capital.
As for South-East Europe, Herr Klein would join the Danubian and Balkan States together in a free association "without the participation of any of the European Great Powers. Then they will form a Great Power themselves strong enough to withstand successfully any aggressor." To these States would also be added Prussia and Austrian Silesia, excluded from the new Germany and giving added strength to the new Danubian Con- federation. With his love of the monarchy and his emphasis upon the importance of the future role of Vienna and Austria, the author would certainly not be averse to seeing this all under a Habsburg once more. But whether the majority of the peoples of the countries concerned would be so enthusiastic about a
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