The Great Debate Begins
The topic is the rights of the Third Reich Vs. the rights of humanity. If Wachter wins, the two Jews, Lusia and Genia, can remain with him. If Wachter loses, Strassel will send them to Auschwitz and inevitable death.
To maintain continuity, the last few lines of dialog of Episode Six are repeated here--
Wachter: Agreed. But who’s to be the judge in this contest of logic?
Strassel: Come, we’re both fair men. It will be obvious to both as to the winner.
Wachter: And if it obvious that I am the winner…?
Strassel: I will leave and you will see me no more. Then you may have your Jews, Albert, though little good they will do you. Come now, like old times, I argue first, you follow, then a rebuttal by each.
Wachter: All right. You first.
Strassel begins his argument--
Strassel: [Rises, occasionally paces the floor.] Look forward to the future, Albert. Let me paint you a picture. Can you see a world without hunger, disease, or poverty? And best of all, can you see a world without war?
Wachter: Utopia?
Strassel: Yes, utopia--call it that if you will. Utopia--the ultimate dream of the perfect world--the age-old dream of mankind. But I ask you--how near are we to achieving this utopia? Hunger, disease, poverty, war--they are still with us. Do you see any solution, Albert, any resolution of these problems? Come, Albert, you consider yourself an intelligent man. Answer me. Tell me your solution.
Wachter: I can't, I really can't, offhand. Well, perhaps mankind will grow in wisdom, and all pulling together, we'll be able to achieve those goals.
Strassel: Splendid!--and as an aside, remember your words “…all pulling together…” I’ll get back to them. But right now, answer me--when will this Utopia come about?--one year from now?--a hundred years?--a thousand?--a million?
Wachter: I do not know.
Strassel: You do not know? You have no answer?
Wachter: I assume you do.
Strassel: Yes, I do. We—rather, the Führer has a master plan to achieve Utopia in our lifetimes.
Wachter: A master plan for the master race, I assume.
Strassel: Exactly, Albert. You are very sharp today. Think of it-- a master plan for banishing all those ills of mankind, even war itself.
Wachter: I know I won't have to prompt you, Heinrich. For the sake of our debate, what is this plan?
Strassel: First let me put a question to you--what single factor has prevented this Utopia from coming about?
Wachter: Well, I really haven't thought about it. I don’t know.
Strassel: Then let me tell you in a nutshell. Very simply, human beings cannot work together toward a common goal--they pull in all directions. There are too many different ones. No consistent effort is ever made toward a worthy goal because of those different ones--even toward a most worthy goal such as the abolition of war. And why is that?
Wachter: You have the floor.
Strassel: Thank you. But you put your finger on it when you said “all pulling together, we'll be able to achieve those goals." But as the human race exists now, we cannot all "pull together." We can work only at cross purposes, forever in conflict, one people against another--quarreling, persecuting, brawling and making war. Is it not so, Albert?
Wachter: Yes. We quarrel, we persecute, and we make war. What is your solution?
Strassel: My solution…our solution is one race of man, the only one on this earth--an homogeneous race with only minor individual differences. Then there would be universal harmony, and all can pull together to achieve that Utopia.
Wachter: I assume from that statement that you want to eliminate the different ones.
Strassel: Precisely. And that is why the Jew is the target now—the first target.
Wachter: But why? Surely there is no more peaceful, industrious, harmless people than the Jews. What is their crime?
Strassel: I can answer that very easily, Albert. Their "crime," as you put it, is that they are different. And what compounds the crime, is that they stubbornly persist in remaining different.
Wachter: But being different has made it possible for them to survive as a people over thousands of years.
Strassel: Quite true. But on the face of it, being "different" is an unacceptable fault in the master plan.
Wachter: And just for being different, you would kill them.
Strassel: Not them exclusively. Other persistently different ones are targets, as well--the Gypsies and the Slavs, for example, and those who are different by an act of nature--the deformed, crippled, the idiot, imbecile and moron, and those different by age--those will all be targets as impediments to the master race. And there is another type of "different one," if you will, and not different by race or condition alone.
Wachter: And who may that be?
Strassel Those who are different by taking take sides against us--the ones who work against the glory of the Third Reich--the internal enemies. Like the Jew, they can never be assimilated into the master race-- the Communist, the Freemason, the Protestant, the Catholic.
Wachter: Catholic? You were raised a Catholic, Heinrich. I recall you as being particularly devout as a boy.
Strassel: My dear mother…even today she is devout.
Wachter: How old is she?
Strassel: Eighty-six.
Wachter: Is she well?
Strassel: Well enough.
Wachter: She used to stuff us with apfelstrudel.
Strassel: [Laughs] Ja! But where was I?--oh, yes. I was a Catholic. But I soon saw the light. Christianity is contaminated by Judaism. Jesus himself was a Jew--all of them Jews--the disciples and the early saints--all Jews.
Wachter: So you've rejected belief in God?
Strassel: By no means, Albert. I worship gods fit for the Aryan race--the gods of old, chiefly Wotan.
Wachter: And no doubt Thor, the god of war.
Strassel: Those are magnificent gods, Albert, gods worthy of worship. None of your crawling humility, no fancied guilt of sin. These are gods for a man and for a super race.
Wachter: I agree. Gods for such as you.
Strassel: Albert, what about the ground rules? We agreed not to bring God into this debate.
Wachter: Sorry. God tends to intrude.
Strassel: We were discussing the different ones. Where was I?
Wachter: …those who cannot be assimilated into the Master Race—the Communist, the Freemason, et cetera….
Strassel: Oh, yes. Those who are different by choice.
Wachter: You will “dispose” of them?
Strassel: Yes, but only if they chose to remain different. If they go against us, we will dispose of them. That is what the concentration camps are for. And if they are different by accident of birth—crippled, for example—we will dispose of them as did the Spartans. We will dispose of all who are an impediment to the Master Race.
Wachter: What about those who are different because of age?
Strassel: Yes, those who are enfeebled by age, we will dispose of. Mercifully, of course. We are not savages.
Wachter: Your definition of different ones takes in a lot of people and a lot of territory, Heinrich.
Strassel: And that is what makes our Kampf—our struggle—so difficult here in the Reich. And what will be even more difficult—when we have solved our problems here, we must turn our eyes to the world. Today Germany—Tomorrow the World.
Wachter: A world of black men, brown men and yellow men, I might add. Are they candidates for your plan?
Strassel: Yes.
Wachter: And all the people living—left living, that is, will be homogeneous, I believe you said, able to pull together toward that Utopia.
Strassel: Oh, yes!
Wachter: Oh, brave new world that has such people in it.
Strassel: Ah! I couldn’t have put it better myself! “A brave new world…” I must remember that.
Wachter: It’s not original with me, Heinrich.
Strassel: No matter, it fits like a glove. But there are other considerations, Albert. About the Jews, you said that they are peaceful and “industrious.”
Wachter: Did I?
Strassel: You did. You could also have added “useful.”
Wachter: Yes. Useful, of course.
Strassel: But I believe you don’t apply the term “useful” in my context. You see—and now we enter into the dynamics of present societies—useful in that if we didn’t have the Jew, we’d have to invent him.
Wachter: Invent him! What in God’s name do you mean by that? Oh, sorry. God has intruded again.
Strassel: Yes, invent the Jew. I heard it from the lips of the Reichsführer himself. Albert, talking is a thirsty business--may I have another stein?
Wachter: Of course, excuse my neglect. [Exits to kitchen.]
Strassel: [Raises voice to reach Albert in the kitchen.] You are excused, Albert. I flatter myself that your neglect of my needs comes from fascination with my revelation. And how is your dear father these days. Still alive, you said?
Wachter: [Entering with two steins.] Yes. But then, being old, he wouldn't be alive in your utopia, would he? Nor would your mother.
Strassel: Well, this is all in the future--the near future, mind you. They will both be gone before that time comes.
Wachter: Conveniently so. But pray continue, especially with regard to having to invent the Jew.
Strassel: In any society that is changing--and you will agree that the Third Reich is a changing society--there will be certain pressures generated, certain frustrations such as food shortages, lack of jobs, and so forth. These are dangerous frustrations, Albert. What would you do about them?
Wachter: Why, try to supply foods and jobs, of course.
Strassel: That is only part of the answer--there may be not enough of those commodities to go around. So the frustrations remain. What do you do about the pressures those frustrations generate? Remember, those pressures are dangerous to the stability of your society, and if left unvented, they can destroy that society, even a society as powerful as the Third Reich.
Wachter: I believe I can foresee your “solution.”
Strassel: I believe you can, Albert. But let me tell you in my own words--You focus those frustrations on a target and throw all the blame on that target. And Albert, that target is …?
Wachter: The Jews.
Strassel: Yes. The Jews.
Wachter: But that is so unfair!
Strassel: This is war, Albert--war! All is fair in war. There is another consideration with regard to the Jews…
Wachter: Even more, Heinrich?
Strassel: You said that the Jews are industrious. That's true. So, when you root them out of their lairs, send them to ghettos and camps, much wealth is left behind--left for the taking. An invaluable people, really. Yes, we would have to invent them if they weren't already in place, ready to use.
Wachter: Heinrich, let me ask you--I assume that you have, ah-- disposed of many like Genia and her mother?
Strassel: Yes.
Wachter: Doesn’t your conscience ever bother you?
Strassel: Not when you take the longer view and look at the big picture. The present unpleasantness with the Jews is of little consequence in view of the magnificent future of the master race. Conscience--especially your Judeo-Christian conscience--doesn't enter the picture. Those who follow us will be the pure Aryan conquerors of the entire world. They will view us as saints those of us of the present Kampf.
Wachter: Including you, Heinrich? Will you be viewed as a saint?
Strassel: Yes, Albert, even me. I rest easy at night, no matter what I may have done during the day, nor what I may have to do in the days to come. The future will prove us right. I have finished, Albert, and I believe I have quite cooked your goose. Now it is your turn.
Strassel sits, settles back in the chair, and sips beer.
End of Episode Seven
So that is Strassel’s argument for the rights of the Third Reich as against the rights of humanity. Is it a convincing argument? Do you agree? Are such measures as Strassel advocates absolutely necessary to achieve his hypothetical Utopia, especially if it means the wholesale obliteration of at least two-thirds of the world’s population; not only the Jews of the world, but all those brown men and black men and the many other “undesirables” Strassel speaks of? In short, it means Genocide. That Hitler and his crew had that intent is without doubt for it was his goal to wipe out the Jewish race in Europe, and eventually in all the world. (And he nearly succeeded with the Jews in Europe!)
Today Germany…tomorrow the world was no idle boast.
These are topics that merit serious consideration, for there are those who adhere to this doctrine—even today-- and they could eventually have their way—unless all of us are acutely aware of Genocide and are prepared to fight it. For Genocide continues to this day. Need examples? Darfur and Rwanda.
And we’ll tell more about those actors you saw at the beginning of this Episode.
So, onto Interval Seven, which will appear on Monday, January 22!
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Brave New World is the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, one of the seminal books of the Twentieth Century. Another is 1984, written by George Orwell. Both will be discussed in the next interval, Interval Seven.
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