TORRÈS, HENRY. Campaign of Treachery. Pp. 256. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1942. $3.00

• Author: Albert Guérard
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222400142
• Date: 01 November 1942
• Published date: 01 November 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

205

Therefore,

the

author

comes

to

the

con-

clusion

that

the

cracking

of

Germany

could

be

hastened

if

these

forces

were

recognized

as

partners

in

political

warfare;

even

the

number

of

exponents

of

anti-fascism

in

Germany

could

be

multiplied

by

such

a

recognition.

He

emphasizes

that

Hitler

can

be

beaten

militarily

only

when

his

mili-

tary

machine

is

confronted

with

a

stronger

one,

but

the

military

defeat

will

set

free

the

forces

of

democratic

revolution.

In

contrast

to

other

writers

on

Germany,

Hagen

recognizes

that

the

real

leaders

of

Germany

today

are

the

party

big

shots,

’ the

SS

and

police

generals,

the

bureaucratic

chiefs

of

the

army

and

the

ministries,

and

the

heads

of

the

powerful

economic

units.

He

gives

in

his

factual

report

on

Germany

ample

and

very

well

organized

evidence

for

his

conclusion.

The

reviewer

agrees

with

the

author

that

the

evaluation

of

the

anti-

Nazi

forces

within

Germany

has

been

neg-

lected.

Hagen

is

right

in .

relying

on

the

inherent

anti-Nazi

feelings

of

German

la-

bor,

and

not

on

the

occasional

house

trou-

bles

between

the

army

and

the

party

groups,

since

the

fate

of

both

these

groups

will

be

determined

by

the

outcome

of

the

war.

The

value

of

Hagen’s

book

lies

in

the

fact

that

he

has

shown

us

the

value

of

a

not

yet

discovered

army

to

be

formed

by

new

allies;

these

are

our

new

German

allies

from

the

rank

and

file

of

German

labor.

ROBERT

M.

W.

KEMPNER

University

of

Pennsylvania

TORRÈS,

HENRY.

Campaign

of

Treachery.

Pp. 256.

New

York:

Dodd,

Mead

&

Co.,

1942.

$3.00.

&dquo;What

a

marvelous

prosecuting

attorney

you

would

make!&dquo;

Maitre

Torres

quotes,

without

false

modesty,

this

well-deserved

tribute.

This

book

is

his

eloquent

and

piti-

less

&dquo;testimony

against

the

traitors.&dquo;

He

has

a

strong

case;

but

it is

a

case,

not

a

verdict;

he

is

the

attorney,

not

the

judge.

The

book

is

packed

with

personal

attacks

which

in

less

tragic

times

would

mean

a

series

of

lawsuits

and

duels.

Torres

is

a

master

of

vitriolic

epigram.

&dquo;X,

a

Jew

who

became

an

anti-Semite

from

close

associa-

tion

with

himself,

and

Y,

a

man

so

corrupt

and

so

proud

of

his

corruption

that

he

would

have

been

glad

to

pay

for

the

honor

of

being

bought....&dquo;

All

this

is

amusing-

for

the

malicious;

it

is

not

exactly

illumi-

nating.

Whether

a

noted

historian

of

our

Revolutionary

epoch

is

or

not

a

Charlus

is

irrelevant

to

the

main

issue.

Some

per-

sonal

references,

however,

are

not

vicious

attacks,

but

legitimate

challenges.

When

Torres

says:

&dquo;Andr6

Maurois,

like

the

timid

and

well-bred

Jew

he

is,

has

never

denounced

the

racial

laws

promulgated

by

Vichy

to

please

Hitler,&dquo;

he

gives

Maurois

another

chance

to

express

himself

un-

equivocally.

Will

Maurois

seize

the

op-

portunity ?

Perhaps

he

is

too

finely

bred

for

times

which

are

to

try

men’s

souls.

But

it

would

be

a

grave

injustice

to

France-and

incidentally

to

Maitre

Torres

-if

we

read

this

book

solely

for

its

trucu-

lence.

It

would

foster

the

notion

that

the

ruling

class

was

more

corrupt

in

France

than

in

other

countries,

and

that

the

whole

political

system

was

at

fault.

Now

the

constitution

which

failed

to

avert

defeat

in

1940

was

the

same

under

which

victory

was

achieved

in

1918;

and

I

cannot

see

that

French

leaders-capitalists,

politicians,

or

soldiers-were

morally

worse

under

Lebrun

than

they

were

under

Poincar6.

To

find

the

real

significance

of

this

book,

we

must

go

much

deeper

than

its

acri-

monious

surface.

Torres

does

point

out

the

obvious

cause

of

the

disaster.

In

1914,

there

existed

a

fundamental

&dquo;sacred

union&dquo;;

in

1939,

the

conservative

classes

had

frankly

declared

war

on

democracy-so

frankly

that

the

word

&dquo;treachery&dquo;

is

not

quite

the

proper

term.

&dquo;Rather

Mussolini

and

Franco

than

Blum&dquo;

led

inevitably

to

&dquo;Rather

Hitler

than

Blum,&dquo;

which

remains

the

watchword

of

Vichy.

And

Blum

stood

for

democracy,

not

primarily

for

socialism:

the

National

Revolution

of

the

Vichymen

is

socialistic

beyond

the

modest

dreams

of

the

defunct

Front

Populaire.

&dquo;For

L’Action

Française,

Gringoire,

Je

suis

partout,

the

Cagoulards,

Germany

now

represented

their

own

desire

to

negate

the

Rights

of

Man

and

the

spirit

of

1789.&dquo;

They

held

that

&dquo;a

coalition

of

philosophers,

Free-Masons

and

Englishmen

brought

about

the

Revolution

of

1789,

and

induced

our

country

to

deny

its

own

tradition.&dquo;

&dquo;Vichy

is

a

conspiracy

against

the

Republic

which

at SAGE PUBLICATIONS on December 4, 2012ann.sagepub.comDownloaded from