HAGEN, PAUL. Will Germany Crack? Pp. xvii, 283. New York: Harper & Broth ers, 1942. $2.75

• Author: Robert M.W. Kempner
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222400141
• Date: 01 November 1942
• Published date: 01 November 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

204

&dquo;white

paper&dquo;

as

that

phrase

is

commonly

understood.

A

white

paper

is

supposed

to

be

a

collection

of

official

government

state

papers

published

under

authority

to

make

a

case.

This

is

not

published

under

au-

thority

of

any

kind.

The

authors

do

not

print

in

full

any

hitherto

unpublished

diplo-

matic

document,

but

they

do

publish

ex-

cerpts

and

phrases

from

such.

They

say

they

have

&dquo;examined

the

officials

records

to

the

extent

to

which

they

are

available.&dquo;

Now

it is

a

well-known

fact

that

the

rec-

ords

of

the

Department

of

State

are

not

generally

available

to

responsible

scholars

after

1906;

they

are,

however,

available

in

most

matters,

upon

application,

to

1918;

after

1918

in

a

few

instances

historical

scholars

have

been

allowed

to

read

particu-

lar

unpublished

documents

as

late

as

1928.

Here

are

two

able

journalists

with

schol-

arly

inclinations

who

summarize

docu-

ments,

and

cite

phrases

from

them,

for

the

period

of

the

present

war,

even

conferences

between

Secretary

Hull

and

the

Japanese

ambassadors,

not

hitherto

revealed,

and

be-

tween

Under

Secretary

Welles

and

foreign

representatives

in

Washington,

and

give

intimate

details

about

the

negotiations

of

Harry

Hopkins.

These

details

are

accom-

panied

by

dates

and

short

quotations

which

could

come

only

from

intimate

conversa-

tions

with

these

statesmen

themselves

or

their

confidential

aides,

perhaps

even

from

the

President

himself.

If

the

authors

did

not

actually

&dquo;see&dquo;

or

hold

in

their

hands

these

current

state

papers

not

available

to

objective

scholars,

it

looks

as

though

they

&dquo;listened&dquo;

to

the

documents.

Listening

to

such

selected

sources,

the

authors

have

made

an

excellent

case

for

the

administration’s

handling

of

pre-Pearl

Harbor

diplomacy.

The

book

is

the

first

of

a

long

series

that

is

bound

to

follow,

of

the

historiography

of

United

States

entry

into

the

war.

After

1917

the

first

signifi-

cant

revelation

of

United

States

diplomacy

preceding

the

first

World

War

did

not

ap-

pear

until

1924,

the

forerunner

of

a

volumi-

nous

critical

literature.

In

the

second

World

War,

the

first

important

book

has

appeared

nine

months

after

Pearl

Harbor.

Highly

revealing

as

it

is,

it

will

be

vexing

to

historical

scholars,

because

the

journalist

authors,

instead

of

indicating

precisely

the

sources

of

their

information,

as

scholars

try

to

do,

carefully

cover

up

their

tracks.

SAMUEL

FLAGG

BEMIS

Yale

University

HAGEN,

PAUL.

Will

Germany

Crack?

Pp.

xvii,

283.

New

York:

Harper

&

Broth-

ers,

1942.

$2.75.

A

review

of

this

book

requires

some

ex-

planation

as

to

the

position

of

the

author

within

the

political

emigration

from

Ger-

many.

Besides

the

former

bedfellows

of

Hitler

and

would-be

companions,

we

have,

here

in

the

United

States,

German

repre-

sentatives

of

the

social-minded

Catholics,

Democrats,

Social-Democrats,

Socialists,

and

Communists.

Paul

Hagen,

primarily

known

in

Socialist

circles,

has

succeeded

in

building

up

a

new

political

machine

un-

der

the

name

Neu

Beginnen,

which

means

&dquo;New

Start.&dquo;

This

group

is

unusually

ac-

tive ;

it

is

backing

the

publication

of

the

Inside

Germany

Reports

and

of

a

critical

bibliography

of

books

and

magazine

articles

on

Germany;

furthermore,

it

maintains

a

close

contact

among

its

members

here

and

abroad.

Although

Hagen’s

book

is

written

on

his

own

responsibility,

he

could

not

have

written

it

without

the

group.

Hagen

has

based

his

analysis

of

the

ques-

tion

&dquo;Will

Germany

Crack?&dquo;

upon

five

different

sources:

(1)

Nazi

sources

from

within

Germany;

(2)

American

news-

papers ;

(3)

the

radio

talks

of

a

&dquo;secret&dquo;

German-language

radio

station

known

by

the

name

&dquo;The

Chief&dquo;;

(4)

the

very

ac-

curate

&dquo;Green

Reports&dquo;

formerly

published

by

the

German

Social

Democratic

Party

Abroad;

and

(5)

the

reports

of

his

own

political

group.

Basing

his

findings

upon

these

sources,

the

author

points

out

that

the

element

most

disturbing

to

the

smooth

functioning

of

the

National

Socialist

war

regime

today

is

labor

in

Germany

itself.

&dquo;A

modern

political

strategy

of

the

United

Nations

will

dis-

cover

in

labor’s

ranks

not

only

the

strong-

est

potential

ally

within

Germany

against

the

Nazis

but

practical

helpers

today.&dquo;

The

elements

besides

labor

which

make

up

a

minor

but

still

important

part

of

the

anti-

fascist

potential

in

Germany

are

the

pro-

ductive

intelligentsia

and

a

great

part

of

the

three

million

farmers

and

their

families.

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