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What Do the Germans Propose to Do?
An Address to the German People
- Abstract
Meine Damen und Herren: I must tell you that the words I am about to say are painful words—painful for me to utter, painful for you to have to hear. But I would not be honest with either you or myself if I did not say them. I suppose I should also say that I speak not as a representative of any organization, or even officially for COMMENTARY magazine—of which I am the editor—but only as one American Jew, come here as a delegate to this Congress for freedom, speaking something of what is in his heart, as he finds himself standing, for the first time since the war, in Berlin.
I have been asked to speak on the theme of the drawing together, the reconciliation, of the German and the Jew. In all conscience, I must report the situation as I see it, not only among American Jews but among Jews everywhere. As for reconciliation, we still stand today at a point before the beginning. Between us there is a chasm as wide as an ocean—and over the abyss no sign of a bridge.
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