MARGINAL COMMENT
By HAROLD NICOLSON
THE enemy wireless, until Monday morning, throbbed with indignation at the bombing of Rome. The invective with which we ourselves (in an admirable feature entitled " Ritratto d'un assassin° ") assailed that evil person, Carlo Scorza, was almost complimentary when compared to the insults which were hurled at the leaders of the United Nations. The shrieks of rage which spread from the Italian transmitters across Europe and the world were echoed by Dr. Goebbels in a comparative undertone of sighs. The Italians drew a telling contrast between the inordinate brutality of President Roosevelt or Me. Churchill and the awed delicacy shown by Alaric in 410 and Attila in 451. Dr. Goebbels spoke in sorrow rather than in anger. The dark ages, he explained, were now in danger of returning : if any proof were needed, here for all to see was a patent demonstration that the treasures of European culture were at the mercy of the barbarians of the West ; a people who could wantonly destroy Goethe's Gartenhaus at Weimar were capable of abolishing one by one the monuments of European history and culture ; all good Europeans therefore must rally round the German standard and defend their common heritage: for years he (Dr. Goebbels) had been trying to reveal to the world the true nature of the Plutodemocracies: Europe was now aware that his had been no empty imprecations ; the tiger had at last disclosed its frightful fangs. This propaganda was reinforced by long lists of those objects in "Europe's heritage" which Anglo-Saxon bombers had destroyed. In Germany the list included not merely the Cathedral at Cologne, but such valuable buildings as the State Opera in Berlin, the Martin Cathedral at Cassel, the Margrave's Palace at Karlsruhe, the Cathedral at Liibeck, the Elector's Palace at Mainz, the old Pinakothek at Munich, the Pilatus Haus at Nurnberg and the Nikolai and Petri Churches at Rostock. In Italy the list contained nine palaces at Genoa, the Cathedral and Church of St. Zita at Palermo and the Cathedral at Syracuse.
* * * * These catalogues of disaster have without doubt been exaggerated. We know, for instance, that Cologne Cathedral has not been destroyed, although sonic damage has been done to the north transept. Nor can I believe that any Allied aviator, except by some almost inconceivable mischance, damaged the little summer-house which Goethe built for himself in the pleasant valley of the Dm. The fact remains, however, that in many of the more ancient towns of Germany and Italy there exist buildings of immense historical and artistic interest ; and that even if the greatest care is exercised some of these buildings are liable to be damaged by incendiaries, ex- plosives or blast. It is irrelevant to contend that many of our own finest buildings have been similarly destroyed. When I walk daily through the fragments of the Temple, observing how reminiscent of Pompeii or Palmyra are the bases of the shattered columns, it is no solace to me to reflect that one day a similar fate may reduce to rubble the tracery of the Zwinger at Dresden: nor if Oxford were reduced to ashes should I wish such a tragedy to overwhelm Siena. One cannot acquire any mental comfort by drawing up a balance- sheet of right and wrong ; the tit-for-tat frame of mind is a rotten frame of mind. Neither do I derive comfort from the thought that some at least of the buildings destroyed, such as the Hedwig Kirche at Berlin or even Cologne Cathedral, possess a local or sentimental aloe greater than their intrinsic importance. This is mere casuistry. It is a bad thing to destroy even a fifth-rate work of art.
* * * * There are, I know, many arguments which run counter to such an ssertion. There is the argument (which I accept) that our enemies
• nnot be allowed to conduct military operations under the shelter f works of artistic or historical importance. There is the argument that were we to give immunity to the capital or main cities of Italy and Germany we should be depriving ourselves of an effective means shortening this war. I admit this argument also ; and, indeed, I ave no doubt that the retirement of Mussolini was due in no small
measure to the knowledge that the cities of Italy could not expect to remain immune. There is the contention that our pilots and navigators are carefully briefed and instructed to avoid all non- military targets ; this also, with certain obvious reservations, is un- doubtedly correct. There is the argument that it is unfair for civilians to cast doubts upon the value of the tense and difficult operations which our bomber crews have to execute. I am im- pressed by this argument. It is, I know, no fun at all to fly through the night from England to Turin. It is no fun at all to wait hour after hour for the summons ; to huddle into the dark tumbrils which take one to the plane ; to see the faint fields of England slide below one as the searchlights spring to anger along the Dutch and Flemish coasts ; to throb through the dark over shrouded cities and mountains glistening in the moon ; to search for one's target through cones of searchlights and avenues of flak ; to feel danger clustering around one and safety far away ; and to realise that within a day or two the whole horrible adventure will begin again.- I do not suppose that our pilots and navigators are agreeably impressed by the criticisms of those who have never shared the perils of the night.
* * * Yet if we must remain unable to solve the problem completely to our own satisfaction, we can at least seek to avoid all unnecessary confusion of thought. The attack upon Rome, for instance, has given to vague perplexity a most unreasonable slant. I have been distressed during the last few months by the number and nature of the questions which have been put to me at public meetings on the subject of the bombing of Rome. It was not sufficient to explain that circumstances had not yet arisen in which the military advantage of an attack on Rome would justify the political and other dis- advantages which such an attack would inevitably entail. Some of my questioners believed that I was one of those archaisms who prefer the mouldering past to the resplendent future. Others suspected that I was in some way subjected to the nefarious influence of the Catholic hierarchy. I was of the opinion and I remain of the opinion that such centres of civilisation as Rome, Florence and Venice should not be bombed unless such action can be proved to furnish an overwhelming military advantage. I am convinced that our Government were well advised to delay such attacks until the moment when the advantage became obvious and immediate ; nor could any reasonable man deny that the attack when it came was well-timed, well-directed or that it contributed to important results. It was most unfortunate that the raid upon the railway system in the south-west corner of Rome should have occasioned damage to the Church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. It may be true that the damage affected only that part of the basilica which had been largely reconstructed in 1864; but it is also true that San Lorenzo was founded by Constantine, that it contains the tombs not only of Honorius III, but also of Pio Nono, and that it is one of the seven pilgrimage churches of the Eternal City. Damage to such a basilica is much to be regretted.
* * * * It is foolish none the less to allow sectarian prejudices to distort the incident. It is unreasonable for any Catholic to suggest that the damage to San Lorenzo represents an affront to the Holy See: their indignation should be turned against the Fascist Government who refused to declare Rome an open city. It is equally unreasonable for Protestants to suggest that the Pope's letter on the subject was an =neutral act. It is customary for bishops to sympathise with their diocesan officials when a religious building is destroyed ; nor was there a word in the Pope's letter which was more embittered or more partisan than the protest which he raised against the destruc- tion of Malta's sacred edifices. Let us hope that it will now be possible for Italy to retire from the conflict with only a small fraction of her buildings destroyed ; but if that retirement be postponed am- duly, we can rely on Bomber Command to give to the phrase "dis- criminate bombing" a specially accurate interpretation.
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