Collier's for November 26,1938

Collier's asked the mosl famous

victim of anti-Semitism to explain
I SHOULD like to begin by telling you an ancient
fable, with a few minor changes—a fable that will
serve to throw into bold relief the mainsprings of
political anti-Semitism:
left to thirst. Stay with me! My wisdom and guid-
ance shall deliver you and your kind from a dismal
and ignominious state."
Blinded by envy and hatred of the stag, the horse
why the Jewish people are the ob- The shepherd boy said to the horse: "You are the agreed. He yielded to the shepherd lad's bridle. He
ject of organized persecution in noblest beast that treads the earth. You deserve to lost his freedom and became the shepherd's slave.
live in untroubled bliss: and indeed your happiness The horse in this fable represents a people, and the
Germany, in Italy and elsewhere. would be complete were it not for the treacherous shepherd lad a class or clique aspiring to absolute
Why do they inspire bitterness stag. But he practiced from youth to excel you in rule over the people; the stag, on the other hand,
even in democratic countries? Dr. fleetness of foot. His faster pace allows him to reach represents the Jews.
the water holes before you do. He and his tribe drink I can hear you say: "A most unlikely tale! No
Einstein here presents his views up the water far and wide, while you and your foal are creature would be as foolish as the horse in your fable."

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10 Collier's ior November 26, 1938
tism itself as a psychological and social phenomenon
existing even in times and circumstances when no
special action against the Jews is under way. In this
sense, one may speak of latent anti-Semitism. What
is its basis ? I believe that in a certain sense one may
actually regard it as a normal manifestation in the
life of a people.
The members of any group existing in a nation are
mn-i 7K more closely bound to one another than they are to
the remaining population. Hence a nation will never
be free of friction while such groups continue to be
distinguishable. In my belief, uniformity in a popula-
Be Thou with the afflicted who tion would not be desirable, even if it were attainable.
flee away from the cruelty of the Common convictions and aims, similar interests, will
in every society produce groups that, in a certain
oppressor. Quench the passions sense, act as units. There will always be friction be-
of fanaticism and hatred. Plant tween such groups—the same sort of aversion and
in their stead the feelings of love rivalry that exists between individuals.
The need for such groupings is perhaps most easily
and brotherhood. Grant under- seen in the field of politics, in the formation of politi-
standing to those who take coun- cal parties. Without parties the political interests of
sel together how best to succor the the citizens of any state are bound to languish. There
would be no forum for the free exchange of opinions.
fugitives and to aid the forlorn. The individual would be isolated and unable to assert
Show them the way wherein they his convictions. Political convictions, moreover, ripen
and grow only through mutual stimulation and criti-
should help and the work they cism offered by individuals of similar disposition and
should do, and grant that their purpose; and politics is no different from any other
labors may prosper. Inspire our field of our cultural existence. Thus it is recognized,
for example, that in times of intense religious fervor
hearts and the hearts of all our different sects are likely to spring up whose rivalry
brethren, in every place of their stimulates religious life in general. It is well known,
on the other hand, that centralization—that is, elimi-
habitation, with tender pity, that nation of independent groups—leads to one-sidedness
they may bring the gifts of their and barrenness in science and art because such cen-
hands to satisfy the souls of the tralization checks and even suppresses any rivalry
of opinions and research trends.
afflicted and to provide quiet
resting places for the poor out- Just What is a Jew?
casts. Bestow Thy blessing upon
our d e a r l a n d u n d e r w h o s e The formation of groups has an invigorating
effect in all spheres of human striving, perhaps mostly
shadow we dwell in peace and due to the struggle between the convictions and aims
happiness, and visit us all with represented by the different groups. The Jews too
form such a group with a definite character of its
mercy and salvation. Amen. own, and anti-Semitism is nothing but the antago-
nistic attitude produced in the non-Jews by the Jew-
ish group. This is a normal social reaction. But for
This is from (he eloquent and moving
the political abuse resulting from it, it might never
"prayer for the Jews of Russia offered up have been designated by a special name.
on fhe Day of Atonement, 1891"—a prayer What are the characteristics of the Jewish group?
that rises today from Jewislr hearts. What, in the first place, is a Jew? There are no quick
answers to this question. The most obvious answer
would be the following: A Jew is a person professing
the Jewish faith. The superficial character of this an-
swer is easily recognized by means of a simple paral-
lel. Let us ask the question: What is a snail? An
answer similar in kind to the one given above might
be: A snail is an animal inhabiting a snail shell. This
But let US give it a little more thought. The horse hated regime in power until near the end of the answer is not altogether incorrect; nor, to be sure, is
had been suffering the pangs of thirst, and his vanity World War. it exhaustive; for the snail shell happens to be but
was often pricked when he saw the nimble stag out- When the Germans had lost the World War one of the material products of the snail. Similarly,
running him. You, who have known no such pain and hatched by their ruling class, immediate attempts the Jewish faith is but one of the characteristic prod-
vexation, may find it difficult to understand that were made to blame the Jews, first for instigating the ucts of the Jewish community. It is, furthermore,
hatred and blindness should have driven the horse to war and then for losing it. In the course of time, suc- known that a snail can shed its shell without thereby
act with such ill-advised, gullible haste. The horse, cess attended these efforts. The hatred engendered ceasing to be a snail. The Jew who abandons his
however, fell an easy victim to temptation because against the Jews not only protected the privileged faith (in the formal sense of the word) is in a similar
his earlier tribulations had prepared him for such a classes, but enabled a small, unscrupulous and inso- position. He remains a Jew.
blunder. For there is much truth in the saying that lent group to place the German people in a state of Difficulties of this kind appear whenever one seeks
it is easy to give just and wise counsel—to others!— complete bondage. to explain the essential character of a group.
but hard to act justly and wisely for oneself. 1 say The crimes with which the Jews liave been charged The bond that has united the Jews for thousands
to you with full conviction: We all have often played in the course of history—crimes which were to justify of years and that unites them today is, above all, the
the tragic role of the horse and we are in constant the atrocities perpetrated against them—have changed democratic ideal of social justice, coupled with the
danger of yielding to temptation again. in rapid succession. They were supposed to have ideal of mutual aid and tolerance among all men.
The situation illustrated in this fable happens poisoned wells. They were said to have murdered Even the most ancient religious scriptures of the
again and again in the life of individuals and na- children for ritual purposes. They were falsely Jews are steeped in these social ideals, which have
tions. In brief, we may call it the process by which charged with a systematic attempt at the economic powerfully affected Christianity and Mohammedan-
dislike and hatred of a given person or group are di- domination and exploitation of all mankind. Pseudo- ism and have had a benign influence upon the social
verted to another person or group incapable of effec- scientific books were written to brand them an in- structure of a great part of mankind. The introduc-
tive defense. But why did the role of the stag in ferior, dangerous race. They were reputed to foment tion of a weekly day of rest should be remembered
the fable so often fall to the Jews? Why did the wars and revolutions for their own selfish purposes. here—a profound blessing to all mankind. Person-
Jews so often happen to draw the hatred of the They were presented at once as dangerous innovators alities such as Moses, Spinoza and Karl Marx, dis-
masses? Primarily because there are Jews among and as enemies of true progress. They were charged similar as they may be, all lived and sacrificed
almost all nations and because they are everywhere with falsifying the culture of nations by penetrating themselves for the ideal of social justice; and it was
too thinly scattered to defend themselves against the national life under the guise of becoming assimi- the tradition of their forefathers that led them on
violent attack. lated. In the same breath they were accused of being this thorny path. The unique accomplishments of the
A few examples from the recent past will prove the so stubbornly inflexible that it was impossible for Jews in the field of philanthropy spring from the same
point: Toward the end of the nineteenth century them to fit into any society. source.
the Russian people were chafing under the tyranny of Almost beyond imagination were the charges The second characteristic trait of Jewish tradition
their government. Stupid blunders in foreign policy brought against them, charges known to their instiga- is the high regard in which it holds every form of in-
further strained their temper until it reached the tors to be untrue all the while, but which time and tellectual aspiration and spiritual effort. I am con-
breaking point. In this extremity the rulers of Russia again influenced the masses. In times of unrest and vinced that this great respect for intellectual striving
sought to divert unrest by inciting the masses to turmoil the masses are inclined to hatred and cruelty, is solely responsible for the contributions that the
hatred and violence toward the Jews. These tactics whereas in times of peace these traits of human na- Jews have made toward the progress of knowledge, in
were repeated after the Russian government had ture emerge but stealthily. the broadest sense of the term. In view of their rela-
drowned the dangerous revolution of 1905 in blood— Up to this point I have spoken only of violence tively small number and the considerable external
and this maneuver may well have helped to keep the and oppression against the Jews—not of anti-Semi- obstacles constantly placed in (Continued on page 3&)

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 Collier's for November 26, 1938 11

Speak No Evil
By Cleve F. Adams
ILLUSTRATED BY HARRY MORSE MEYERS

A cop-killer trapped in a flood,

and Regan, who found thai dead
men may tell tales—to a woman

T HE water was so swift that boulders taller than a

man rolled in it, wallowing their brutal way down
to the sea. Smaller boulders, hundreds of tons of
them, rounded and smoothed by other floods and more
agile than their fellows, banged and crashed along on the
crest, or sank slyly beneath the surface only to reappear
again farther down. The effect was that of a Gargantuan
pouring of concrete, dumped from the mixer which was
the Sierra Nevada range.
There were other things in the yellow maw of the
flood. There were houses and cars and bridges, dis-
solving magically before the eye. and there were men.
These men would have to die. There was no hope for
them. The little boat would have died too, had it ven-
tured into the raging main channel. It was already
loaded beyond the bounds of safety, and the thickset
man in the stern sheets knew it, and cursed quietly each
time the inadequate outboard motor was tipped into his
lap by hidden debris. The propeller and shaft housing
were battered almost beyond recognition. It still rained
and it was night.
Up in the bow the boat's one lantern gleamed yel-
lowly on Jorgensen's slicker. Jorgensen was a big man,
even for a cop. He stood there, poised like a blond Vi-
king, head bared to the rain. Occasionally he would
laugh as if this were a lark. Jorgensen was very young.
Once he turned and yelled at the man in the stern.
"Hey, Sarge, I bet you never seen anything like this
before!"
"No," the thickset man said.
There were seventeen others in the boat. The boat
had been built to carry six. They sat there, packed to-
gether, saying little because there was so very little to
say. Only a few of them were grateful for being alive. A
woman who was the sole survivor of a family of five
prayed quietly. Detective-Sergeant Regan fought the
motor.
It was a little ironical, he thought, that in all this
chaos they should be looking for one man, so that they
could hang him. Every cop on the metropolitan force,
every man on the county staff, wanted the flood to spare
Christy Charles so that he could he hanged. Because he
had killed one of their number. There was supposed to
be a point of honor involved somewhere. It wasn't
enough that Christy Charles should just die. He had
to be hanged.
This was Regan's third trip since eight o'clock—since
the El Cajon dam had gone out. It would probably be
his last in that particular boat. It was leaking badly
through its thin planking. The roar of the water and the
incessant pounding of the rocks were wearing Regan's
temper thin, too. He thought that if they asked him just
once more if he'd seen anything of Christy Charles he
would tell them exactly how he felt.
He hoped that Charles had died as countless others
had died tonight. It would be easier on Karen that way.
Hanging a guy is sometimes pretty tough on the guy's
wife. Even if the guy is a heel and deserves it.
The motor coughed, went dead. Regan stared over
the heads of the others at the black jut of land he had
hoped to make. It was problematical whether the boat
could make it now, without power. The tremendous urge
of the current was already swinging the bow out toward
the maelstrom of the channel. There were no oars.
Regan said through set teeth, "Did you blast the dick or was it Charles?" He knew the answer Regan began taking off his shoes. "Jorgensen."
"Yes, Sarge?" (Continued on pa^e 60;

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