AFTER THE VICTORY[1]


1

At these moments of tragedy, none should be allowed to speak who
cannot shoulder a rifle, for the written word seems so monstrously
useless, so overwhelmingly trivial, in front of this mighty drama
which shall for a long time, it may be for ever, free mankind from the
scourge of war: the one scourge among all that cannot be excused, that
cannot be explained, since alone among all it issues entire from the
hands of man.


2

But it is while this scourge is upon us, while we have our being in
its very centre, that we shall do well to balance the guilt of those
who have committed this inexpiable crime. It is now, while we are in
the thick of the horror, undergoing it, feeling it, that we have the
energy, the clear-sightedness needed to judge it; from the depths of
the most fearful injustice justice is best perceived. When the hour
shall have come for settling accounts--and it will not long delay--we
shall have forgotten much of what we have suffered and a blameworthy
pity will creep over us and cloud our eyes. This is the moment,
therefore, for us to frame our inexorable resolution. After the final
victory, when the enemy is crushed--as crushed he will be--efforts
will be made to enlist our sympathy, to move us to pity. We shall be
told that the unfortunate German people were merely the victims of