THE GERMAN INTELLECTUALS
[To th,c, Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sm,—,In reply to Captain Cadogan can only claim that my summary of the cases of Dr. Fiirtwangler and Professor. Oncken (to whom I was alluding) gave a truer impression of the issues involved than his more detailed account. I was living in Germany from the end of 1082. until last April and was in close touch with academic and artistic circles in. Berlin, when the incidents occurred.
If Professor Oneken is a " Vicar of Bray," so also was the much venerated Hindenburg, and so also arc hundreds of the finest German scholars who have. not thought it their. duty to leave their country during a critical period. . It can hardly be argued that Oncken's. readiness "to lecture, on National Socialist History," whatever that may mean, • involved a change in his political principles. As for Dr. Fartwangler, the comprOmise which was reached in the • spring involved no recantation by the authorities on the question of principle, and the impression was, given in the German. Press that lne had yielded to argument. The essential point is that in a country with Germany's great traditions the ;Government no, longer, respects the intellectual integrity of the most distinguished patriots. Captain Cadogan's hope that the Nazi authorities ill1 samv " continued moderation " reveals an insensitiveness to the sufferings of those Germans who have not yet come :to the depressing conclusion that opportunism is Y a our obedient servant, EDWARD SEYMOUR.. Hillside, Marlborough, Wiltshire.
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