Leo Strauss: The Re-education of Axis Countries Concerning the Jews [1943]

Leo Strauss The Review of Politics 69 (2007), 530-538. Copyright (CUniversity ofNotre Dame in theUSA DOI:

The Re-educationofAxis Countries ConcerningtheJews 1. To statemy thesisfromtheoutset: I do not believe that thequestion which we are discussing tonight is a very importantquestion. I believe thatreparations,relief,emigrationare infinitely more important topics.In tryingto substantiatethisview, I shallbe compelled todepart fromviewswhich seem tobewidely held in thiscountry.I shallbe com to be blunt.

pelled

I apologize

in advance

if I shall hurt, against my

serious intention, anyone's feelings. 2. In theremarks which I am going tomake, I shall limit myself toGermany, in thefirstplace, because I have somefirsthand knowledge ofGermany, whereas

I have none of any other Axis country. It is only fair that I should

that even my firsthand knowledge

add

is very limited: I left

of Germany

Delivered at thepublic session on "The Re-education ofAxis Countries Concerning the of

Jews"

the

November ers were

Dr.

Baron.

on of the Conference meeting at 8:15 pm at the New for Social School

annual

7,1943,

States

State

and

Kallen,

the chair was

Professor

American

Association

DC:

(Washington,

Salo of

1934), had been active in interventionistgroups before theUnited

the war

entered

of The Nazi

author

University Women, American

and Prof. Horace

Brunauer

Esther

Brunauer,

Relations, Jewish Sunday, The other Research. speak

and

as

the secretary Women

of the International had

of University

Association

helped

to

Relations

Office

of the

women

scholars

from

bring

Nazi Germany to theUnited States. She went towork for theStateDepartment in 1944,

was

accused

by

Sen.

Joseph McCarthy

of being

and

educated

was

at Harvard,

social philosophy at theNew and

Sloan,

Pearce,

1942)

one

of

a Communist

and

as a secur

dismissed

(1882-1974), born in Berenstadt, Germany

ity risk in 1952, and died in 1958. Kallen

the

original

core

faculty

and

a

of

professor

School, author of Art and Freedom (New York: Duell,

and many

other

books,

an

active

and

Zionist,

of

originator

the concept of cultural pluralism. Baron (1895-1989) born in Tarnow, Austria, and educated at the University of Vienna and the Jewish Theological Seminary there, was professor of JewishHistory at Columbia University from 1930-1963 and author of the classic 27-volume Social and Religious History of theJews (Columbia University Press, 1952-1983). Strauss did not publish this talk though he kept a letterfromOtto Nathan, thenpro fessor

of Vassar

of economics

College,

of November

13,1943,

saying

he had

done

"an

excellent job" and expressing the hope that itwould be published. See Leo Strauss Papers, Box 28 folder 4, Regenstein Library Special Collections, University of Chicago. Nathan (1893-1984) was author of The Nazi Economic System (Durham: Duke University Press, 1944) and a close associate of Albert Einstein; he later lost a teaching left-wing

position associations

at N.Y.U.

until

and a

was

judge

denied ordered

a in 1952 passport the State Department

because to grant

530

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of alleged one.

him

THE RE-EDUCATION OF AXIS COUNTRIES

531

thatcountryin 1932 and never returnedto itafterward.Secondly, the problem before us concernsGermany much more than any other The otherEuropean Axis countriesare asmuch thevictimsas country. theyare theallies ofGermany.We do not know yetwhetherHungary and Rumania in particularwill not become cobelligerentsof the United Nations. These smaller countriescan say,with someshow of truth,that theNazi doctrinewas an aliendoctrine imposed on them by the fear of the armed

force of a foreign nation. The Germans,

on

theotherhand, may, at some futuredate, rejecttheNazi doctrineas an abomination: they can never reject it as an alien, as an imported doctrine. 3. Even ifwe limitour question toGermany, it remainsan iffy question. When

we

of the re-education

speak

of Germany,

we

assume,

of

course, that the war will be won and thatAnglo-Saxon-Russian We assume also cooperationwill survive the cessation1of hostilities. that the bulk of Germany

will

not be occupied

by the Red Army. For

theRussian notions about the goal, or themethods, of re-education are presumablydifferentfromthoseacceptable to the liberalpowers. AtlanticCharter: thepoliticsof thepresentadministrationofU.S. and of theBritishgov[ernmen]t.2 4. One must make this remark about the conditions of German re-educationin general. For thequestion of re-educationofGermany concerning the Jewsis clearly only a part, if a particularlydifficult part,of thequestion of there-educationofGermany ingeneral.Permit me to statemy view on thegeneralquestion somewhatmore definitely. When we speak of re-education, we imply that the wrong education, which is to be replaced by a second education, by a re-education, is of crucial political importance. We are apt to imply that the root of the dif

ficultiesis some sortofeducation,of indoctrination, viz. theNazi indoc trination: Is this really the case? And

how

far is it the case? We must

beware of takingtheNazi doctrines,theirRassenkundeand theirgeopo liticsandwhat not, too seriously. What was important, what did influ ence theGermans,what educatedtheGermanswere not thosepedantic folliesby themselves, but theprospectopened up byNazi rearmament, by Nazi diplomacy, and by Nazi arms, of the solution of all German pro blems by a short and decisive war. And, after the hope of a short victor

iouswar was shatteredby theSpitfires,theprospectof thesolutionof all German problemsby a newHubertusburgpeace3on a planetaryscale. If we disregardtheGerman high school teacher,ifwe considerthemass of

1 is crossed "ceasing" added 2This sentence

out. in

pencil.

3The Treaty ofHubertusburg at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 established

Prussia's

place

as a

great

European

power.

I owe

this reference

to Meredith

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Edwards.

532

THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

theGermans,we shall find,I believe, thatwhat guided theiroutlook, and hence theiractions,was merely thecrucial implication of theNazi doctrine,viz. the implicationthat theneeds of theGerman people as interpreted by themost efficient man in the land are thesupreme law, not subject toany higherconsideration.To put itbluntly,theNazi edu cation consisted in this: that theyconvinced a substantialpart of the German people thatlargescale and efficiently prepared and perpetrated crimepays. I remembertheargumentofGerman studentsin theearly 1920s:a country whose policies are not4fettered bymoral considerations is,other thingsbeing equal, twiceas strongas a5 country whose policies are fettered bymoral considerations.For 50% of all possibleways and means are rejected,as immoral,by themoralistic countries,whereas all ways and means are open to the unscrupulous country. It is evident thatthisdoctrine is subject to the testof sense-experienceand, hence,

that the Nazi

doctrine

is a force only as long as Nazi

strategy is

successful.The victory of theAnglo-Saxon-Russian combination, if followed by a just and stem and stable peace, will be the refutation of

the Nazi doctrine, and thus will uproot Nazi education. The re-educationofGermanywill not takeplace in classrooms: it is taking right now in the open air on the banks of the Dnjepr6 and the ruins of the German cities. It will be consummated by a of British-American and of Russian meeting tanks in Unter den place

among

Linden, and by the harmonious cooperation of theWestern and Eastern occupying forces in bringing to trial thewar criminals.No proof is as convincing,as educating,as the demonstrationad oculos:

once the greatest German blockheads, impervious to any rational argu ment and to any feeling of mercy, will have seen with theirown eyes that

no brutalityhowever cunning,no crueltyhowever shameless can dis pense them fromthenecessityof relyingon theirvictims' pity-once theyhave seen this,thedecisive part of the re-educationalprocesswill have come to a successfulconclusion.

5. But-you

will

say-it

is one thing for the Germans to realize that the Nazi doctrine was erroneous, and Nazi education was disastrous; it is another thing for the Germans to discover the true doctrine and the

righttypeof education.And thisother thingis exactly thepurpose of We are thenconfronted with thequestion "what is the re-education.

true doctrine?" We shall not hesitate to answer: liberal democracy. But liberal democracy have any appeal to, any attraction for, the Germans? A German form of collectivism perhaps-an authoritarian

will

regime

of

the bureaucracy

4The word

"not"

5The word

"policy"

inserted crossed

based

on

a

resuscitated

authoritarian

twice. out.

6TheRed Army crossed theDnieper in earlyOctober 1943 and tookKiev November 6.

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THE RE-EDUCATION OF AXIS COUNTRIES

533

A formof interpretation ofChristianityperhaps-but not liberalism.7 governmentwhich ismerely imposedby a victoriousenemy,will not last-to saynothingof thefactthatRussia isnot exactlya liberaldemoc racy.Where are the roots, inGerman soil, of liberaldemocracy?Of course, thereis a traditionofGerman liberaldemocracy-but we have to add, a traditionof political inefficiency ofGerman liberaldemocracy. It came to power only once: after Germany's defeat in the last war. Seven years later, long before the economic world crisis, itwas already

doomed: theelectionofHindenburg to thepresidencyof theReich in 1925, and, more visibly, the demonstrations in the streets of the German citiesaftertheelection,showed toeveryonewho did not delib where Germanywas going.Nothing reallyknown eratelyblind himself, permitsus to indulge thehope that thepoliticallyefficient part of the German people has changed their minds as regards liberaldemocracy. Until

the contrary has

been

proved,

I shall

not consider

the Free

German Committees8as representingthe politicallyefficientpart of theGerman people. But letus giveGermany thebenefitof thedoubt: under no circum stances, however,

can we

evade

the question

as to who is going

to do

the re-educating?Only Germans, only Germans who remained in

and shared all the degradation and all the misery9 of Nazi rule and of defeat, can do it.Only theywill be able to speak a language

Germany

understandable topost-Hitlerian Germany.Certainlyno foreignersare in [a] position to re-educateGermany.And this forthreereasons:The firstisGerman pride. I say "pride" and not "conceit."For a nation which

the glorious spiritual tradition of has the pride, and besides Germany, the idea that they as a nation should have to sit10 at the feet of foreign nations is unbearable. Or the idea, that they as a nation

should have to be reminded of theirtraditionby foreigners.The second reason is theintellectualclimate.The practicaland commonsen sical and hence theoretically not radical temper of theAnglo-Saxons

was

always differentfrom theGerman temper.But after the intellectual upheaval

of the last 20 or 30 years, it is certainly not themild

and easy

going language of Anglo-Saxon humanitarianismwhich is going to appeal to theGermans of thepresentgeneration.Only Germanswho have stayed in Germany,will have thatparticular intellectual,and nervous, tensionwhich will be required in anyone who wants to reach German ears and minds and souls. The third reason: the

7This

sentence

8Anti-Nazi and

later

inserted

German

at the bottom

exiles

had

formed

of the page. Free German

Committees

first

in London.

9The phrase 10The words

"and "to

all the responsibility" sit" are written twice

is crossed but

out.

the first time

crossed

out.

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in Moscow

534

THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

Germans are going toquestion thecompetence of theAnglo-Saxons.They are amazinglywell informedabout all thedeficienciesof liberaldemoc racy in thecountriesconcerned:JimCrow, India, etc.Theywill empha size the differencebetween theAnglo-Saxon doctrine (theAtlantic Charter) and theAnglo-Saxon practice.They are not familiar with the practice,and the spirit,of compromise: theydo not know thata just lawwhich ismerely on the statutebook and not observed inpractice, acts neverthelessas a humanizing influence;hence theywill speak, as theydid speak and as theydo speak, of hypocrisy. A nation may

take another nation

as its model:

but no nation

can

presume to educate anothernationwhich has a high traditionof its own. Such a presumptioncreates resentment, and you cannot educate people who resentyour being theireducator. If theGermans were to submit to re-educationby foreigners,[they]11 would lose theirself respect and therewithall sense of responsibility.But everything depends on making theGermans responsible-in everymeaning of the term.The re-educationof Germany should be exclusively the affair of Germans.

On

the other hand,

the peace

of the world,

i.e. the

securityof thenon-Germannations against the repetitionofGerman aggression,must be exclusively the affairof thenon-Germannations. do you guarantee Only by thus clearlydelimitingthe responsibilities, responsibleconduct.Only by limitingthemselvesto theirownbusiness, namely to theprotectionof theirown security,can theUnited Nations influencethe re-educationofGermany: iftheUnited Nations show the Germans by firm action, by intelligent distrust, by vigilance in arms that all prospects of German world domination and even of German expansion have gone, and have gone forever, the Germans will have Imean, to the cultivation of been driven back to internal colonization,

theirown spiritual traditionand of any other innocentpursuits they might choose. 6. "Re-education

of Germany"

is then, tomy mind,

open

to grave doubts.

A furtherdoubt, a still graver doubt, concerns the re-educationof When I give thoughtto there-education Germany concerningtheJews. of Germany

concerning

the Jews, I, being a Jew, cannot help

thinking

constantlyofone basic questionwhich overshadows all otherquestions:

how can a Jewwho has some sense of honour, be interested at all inwhat Germans12 think about Jews? I cannot disregard13, I am not permitted to the fact that in the whole course of disregard, for a single moment

human history,therehas been only one political communitywhose basic principle,whose raisond'etre,whose very soulwas nothingbut

nThe

manuscript

12"Germany" 13The word

has

"their."

in the to "Germans." manuscript changed out after is crossed "for" "disregard."

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THE RE-EDUCATION OF AXIS COUNTRIES

535

theutterdegradationof Jewsand Judaism:thatstate isGermany.The statecalls itself"Aryan"-but theterm"Aryan,"thisproductof thisbar baricpedantry,has no intrinsic meaningwhatsoever: itsonlymeaning is negative,polemical: anAryan simplymeans a non-Jew. But iftheobjec tion is made

that the Nazis

are not Germany,

I would

answer

that a

nation in thepoliticalsenseof thetermis thepoliticallyrelevant,thepol partof thenation:when in a freeelection,about 45% of iticallyefficient theGermans voted forHitler, and theother55%were in a conditionof utterconfusionand helplessness, thenthe45% are theGermans-from any politicalpoint ofview.Until theGermans have purifiedthemselves by spontaneouslygivingus satisfactionfortheunique humiliationthey have offeredtous, no self-respecting Jewcan, and no Jewought to,be interestedinGermany. 7. Alas-you will say-this languageofnationalhonour soundshollow in of a member

themouth

of a small and weak

nation, of a nation without

tanks and airplanes. We we must

are reduced to such a condition of misery that if a handful of Jews who somehow manage to

be grateful

survive Theresienstadt,will be permitted to live in Germany. For where should theygo? Let us thendisregardhonour-let us speak of material needs only. I thinkwe must insist, when the finalreckoning on reparation,on restorationof robbed comes, on indemnification,14 We must do this,not as individuals,who by now may have property. become citizensof thevictorious states,15 but throughagencies repre sentingthe16Jewsas Jews.Forwho should claim the robbedproperty of the thousandsand thousandswhom theyhave butcheredand have no heirs

left? To say nothing

of the fact that the government

of the

U.S. in particular protects claims for property damages by those persons onlywho were citizensof theU.S.A. at the timewhen such We shall thenbelong, in our collectivecapacity,to damage occurred.17 theenemies ofGermany,visibly or invisiblysittingon theother side table, on the side of themany nations which are separated, for a long time to come, from theGermans by18 rivers of blood. For itwill

of the peace

be theGermans, thede-nazifiedGermans, and not theNazis alone,who will have

to pay the reparations.

I for one fail to see how

Germany could be bearable under thesecircumstances.

"on

14The phrase

crossed

restoration,"

life for Jews in

out here.

15Strauss himself at about this timewas applying forUS citizenship, which he received in 1944.He received an acknowledgment of his preliminary petition fornatu ralization dated December 7, 1943, and filed his naturalization petition February 1, 1944. Leo Strauss papers Box 28 folder 1. 16The word 17This

"the"

sentence

18The word

was

"the"

inserted inserted is crossed

above

the line.

at the bottom

of the page.

out.

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536

THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

8. Let us assume, however, thatthesedoubtswill be disposed of in some miraculous way-let us assume thatJewscan orwill ormust live in Germany,asGerman citizens.In thatcase,we doubtlesswould be inter ested ina changeof theGerman view of Jews,and, therefore, perhaps, in re-educationofGermany concerningtheJews.Here again, Iwould have to raise thequestion:who isgoing todo there-educating? Certainlynot we

Jews. A Jew trying to convince, by argument,

the Germans

that the

Jewsare decent and intelligentand physically fitand may have blue eyes and blond hair and I do not know what, does not cut an impressive

figure. He would be open to theattack thathe is speakingprodomo,that all his rationalargument is servinghis self-interest. The Germans are particularlysensitive to everythingwhich has even a semblance of special pleading: theywould just despise such an educator.Nor can non-JewishAmericans do the job. For, as I indicated before, the Germans are amazingly well informed about the strength of anti-Jewishfeelings in America. To say nothing of more recent developments, the restricted area was practically unknown in pre-HitlerGermany.Only Germans can educate theGermans concern ing theJews. But whichGermans? I do not believe thatthe liberal Germans could do it.Liberalism never carried a decisiveweight inGermany.And now, aftertheextinctionof themiddle class, the traditionalbearer of liberal ism, thechances of liberalismare probably stillsmaller than theyever were. To arrive at a more satisfactoryanswer, I suggest thatwe briefly situation with the situation in this country. In compare the German one respect, the situation in Germany was, and is, better than it is in

thiscountry. Many refugeescoming fromEurope to thiscountryare

amazed

to find that so many Catholics

in this country are so hostile

to

The German German Catholicismwas much less anti-Jewish. Jews:19 Catholic clergy and a part of theCatholic intelligentsia might then of German re-education the one concerning become significantagent Jews. On

the other hand, two important groups of educators

are much more

liberalin thiscountrythantheiropposite numbers inGermany are: the high school and college teachersand theProtestantclergy.The German Oberlehrer

and

the German

Lutheran

pastor were

perhaps

the most

virus. (The term"carrier" is not importantcarriersof the anti-Jewish

tells me, a carrier is a adequate, for, as the Concise Oxford Dictionary person or animal that without catching a disease conveys its germs; I do not believe that the attitude but you will understand what Imean.) of theOberlehrer will have changed even after the defeat; I see no reason

19Consider Father Charles Coughlin.

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THE RE-EDUCATION OF AXIS COUNTRIES

537

why itshould.Theydid not accept theNazi doctrine,or thePan-German accepted iton doctrineforany low considerationof earthlysuccess: they will notbe refutedby defeat;they will wait for groundsofmorality; they the second coming of theFiihreronce he has been put to sleep in the justas theyhave beenwaiting fortheEmperorBarbarossa. Kyffhfiuser,20 The situationof theLutheran clergyisdifferent. Anti-Jewishattitudes belonged to theirtradition: give theJewhis livelihood,but don'thonour and some him,was theLutheranprinciple.The roleplayed by Stdcker21 ofhis brethrenfortheemergenceofpoliticalanti-SemitisminGermany made theexperi iswell-known.But theyhave now, forthe firsttime, ence 22 that anti-Judaism

to lead

is apt

to anti-Christianism.

By no

means all Lutheran clergymen,but a substantialpart of them,had to part of theLutheran standup against theNazis. The most conservative clergy,theConfessionalChurch,and a neo-orthodoxgroup, theBarmen group,23i.e. clergymenfollowingthe linesofKarl Barth,but even some lessorthodoxclergymendid not give in.For the firsttimein itshistory, Lutheranismhad to fighta battlewhich centeredaround the Jews, againstan anti-Jewish popularmovement. governmentand an anti-Jewish On the other hand, we have to add that they did not defend Jews as Jews or

Judaismas Judaism:theydefended the0. T24 and thebaptisedJews.They with Christianity:theydid not fight rejectedracialismas irreconcilable forlegal,social,or politicalequalityof theGerman Jewsas such.As far as I know, certainLutheran clergymenhelped Jews in a practicalway of 1938,but I do not thinkthatthereis a single during thepersecution25 ProtestantclergyorProtestanttheologicalfacultiescon statement by the26 ceming the political rights of Jews.

It isperfectly possible thattheso-calledneo-paganismof theNazis has betweenChristiansas Christiansand broughtabout a rapprochement

in

to Frederick where, Emperor Saxony-Anhalt legend, according in a cave, waiting restore bewitched for the time when he will

20A mountain Barbarossa

sleeps

German

greatness. 21 Adolf St?cker (1835-1909), Lutheran clergyman,Reichstag member, and founder of theChristian Social Party, the Lutheran Social Congress, and theUnited Lutheran Workers League, who helped push the Conservative Party to adopt anti-Semitism. See Peter Pulzer, The Rise ofPolitical Anti-Semitism inGermany and Austria (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1964, 1988), pp. 85-97, 111-119. 22Three started

at

letters

to write

the start of this word

something

else,

are

darkened

or

crossed

out

as

if LS

had

"observation."

perhaps

23TheBarmen Synod organized by Karl Barth,Martin Niem?ller, and others inMay 1934 issued theBarmen Declaration, thebasis of theConfessing Church thatopposed

National

2401d

Socialism

and

the established

Lutheran

church.

Testament.

25The word 26The word

crossed "pogrom" "the" inserted.

out

and

"persecution"

inserted.

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THE REVIEW OF POLITICS

538

Jewsas Jewseven inGermany. If thisis thecase, iftheProtestantclergy in particularhas realized that theymust abandon theiranti-Jewish with the traditions,itcan be presumed thattheywill use theirinfluence German people in a desirable direction.Naturally,no one can tellhow great the influenceof theProtestantclergyin post-Hitler Germanywill be.

If the war

and

the defeat of the Nazis

lead

to a reawakening

of

Christian faithand manners inGermany,it is not impossible,I believe, will make that the leaders ofGerman Catholicism and Protestantism some effortstowards the re-educationof theGermans concerningthe Jews. Iwould

be false to the trust you put inme by asking me

to address

you on this subject,if I went one single step beyond thisconditional sentence. But Iwould be unfair to thoseGermanswho did notwaver in their attitude, if I did not report to you a remark which a German tome the other day. He advised me to tell you his conviction that themass of theGermans are simply ashamed of what has been done to Jews in Germany and in the name of Germany; and that, after the war,

decent made

countryin theworld.27If Iwere a Germanywill be themost pro-Jewish German,

if I had ever been a German,

Imight be prepared, or perhaps

in

dutybound, tohave thathope. Perhaps thesehopes are not unfounded: in thatcase, there-educationof theGermans concerningtheJewswill be even superfluous.I shallnotbelievebeforeI have seen.

27A clause

is crossed

out here:

"while

non

Jewish

feelings

will

be

rampant

the world."

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all over