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"Naziism and The High Castle" (1964)
Many moon have passed since white man (i.e., Poul Anderson) review my book Man in the High Castle, and fen [sic; perhaps "fan" intended] (e.g., too many to note, with, however, one exception, a certain John Boardman) have commented, not on the book nor review per se, but on Naziism -- which is right and proper, because that is the true topic, far more so than any novel or any review, and only proves that I am right: We are still very much afraid, still rightly so very much disturbed, and, as Harry Warner so correctly said, "... we might identify with the war guilt of the Germans because they're so similar to us... ."
However, although these comments, etc., took place back in March, I have just now seen them, and would also like to comment.
John Boardman calls Dr. Friedrich Foerster "the greatest modern critic of Germany." There is no one "greatest modern critic," etc., of anything; this is just a way of saying that you believe your source, and it is right that you should believe your source; however, I will dispute his uniqueness, or any claim to his Platonic Ideal-type perfection as a sole and utter source. Even though, as a matter of fact, I agree with the quoted passage from him (v. John Boardman's comments March '64 Niekas). In fact it is just this sort of thinking that worries me (however, it is early in the morning, I have not had breakfast yet, so everything worries me; let it go). Anyhow, we just ca
Please forgive me if I ramble, but you see: I feel that simple, clear "answers" to this question ("Why the Nazis did what they did, and will we do it, and are we also guilty?") defy us; they ca
Yet, the German people, or a good part of them, better than half, voted, legally voted, Hitler into power, and knowing his racial views. Read Goebbels' early diaries; the Partei had the support of the working class -- not the bourgeoisie. Mark that, too: The working class swung from supporting the Communists and the moderate socialists to the Nazis. Why? Well, I can hazard a guess. The Nazis, like the big city political bosses who used to run Chicago and New York and Boston, were always "open," always there and ready to listen, to help, to dole out food and support... and the Germans were starving, dying, being evicted, being deprived; it was the Depression, remember, and the people, as our people, were desperate. One of our favorite folk singers of today in those days (late 30s) not only sang against our support of the U.K. and defense plant activity but drawlingly spoke of being listed as a "Japanese spy"; in other words, this "now liberal, one of us" great folk singer -- his initials are P.S. -- was for Nazi Germany -- because of the German-Russian Pact. World Communism and Naziism were cooperating, for a time; the Nazis were not "rightists"; they were coleftists -- at least until the Nazi tanks entered the Russian-controlled half of ex-Poland.
In his comments in Niekas George H. Wells speaks of "Jewish nationalists," and that they "were overlooked." This is a point, too; at the time of the rise of anti-Jewish ideology among non-Jewish-Germans, the Jewish-Germans were begi