Liberal Forum

Nobody cared in Germany whether a Jew went home and pulled down the shades and said “Shema'
Yisrael” or “Our Father.” No one cared in Germany any more than they do in the United States. Now
this feeling that developed later in Germany was due to one thing: that the Germans held the Jews
responsible for their crushing defeat, for no reason at all, because World War One was started against
Germany for no reason for which they [Germans] were responsible. They were guilty of nothing. Only
of being successful. They built up a big navy. They built up world trade.
You must remember, Germany, at the time of Napoleon, at the time of the French Revolution, what
was the German Reich consisted of 300 -- three hundred! -- small city-states, principalities, dukedoms,
and so forth. Three hundred little separate political entities. And between that time, between the period
of . . . between Napoleon and Bismarck, they were consolidated into one state. And within 50 years
after that time they became one of the world's great powers. Their navy was rivalling Great Britain's,
they were doing business all over the world, they could undersell anybody and make better products.
And what happened? What happened as a result of that? [continued]