56. Lastly, we must not forget the German humour.... It sometimes proceeds from a firm faith in God, sometimes from a cheerful optimism, always from a serenity of spirit which nothing can disturb. Thus German soldiers out in the field, the moment there is a pause in the fighting, set about trying to ride on the camel which they have taken from the Zouaves.... So, too, a non-commissioned officer, during a fight, admonishes a soldier: "Shoot quietly, Kowalski, shoot quietly! You'll frighten away the whole French Army of the North with your confounded banging!"—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 59.
57. Apart from the fighting quality of these troops, their peaceful work behind all the fronts bears witness to a thorough spiritual culture (Bildung) and a living organization such as the world has never seen, and this again indicates an average level of culture in all grades—of spiritual development and moral responsibility—to which no people in the world can show anything in the smallest degree comparable.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 19.
58. Even when, for once, a Latin writer is favourably disposed towards Germany ... he can see in what moves his admiration nothing but animal vitality. "This terrible Germany," he says, "like a wonderful beast of the jungle, springs upon all its foes and fixes its fangs in them." How sadly he here misinterprets the nature of German heroism!—G. Misch, V.G.D.K., p. 9.
59. It is characteristic that our cruiser Wilhelm der Grosse, in order to spare the women and children on board, let an English merchant ship pass unharmed,[9] which by International Law it has the right to sink ... and then come Messieurs the English and repay this act of magnanimity by sinking the same cruiser in a neutral harbour, contrary to all International Law.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 23.
60. The absence of any sort of animosity towards other people is a striking characteristic of the Germans—and of the Germans alone.[10]—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 12.
See also No. [497].
The Great Misunderstood.
(After July, 1914.)
61. It has been said that it is un-German to wish to be only German. That again is a consequence of our spiritual wealth. We understand all foreign nations; none of them understands us, and none of them can understand us.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 135.
62. The historian and economist Sombart has said: "We understand all foreign nations, no foreign nation understands or can understand us." In these words he rejects all community of Kultur with other peoples, and especially the so-called "Western European Ideas."—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 124.