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Hokitika Guardian, 3 April 1928, Page 2

Till-; question of war guilt has been a burning issue in Germany, where it lias been sought to remove or mitigate any stigma which may lie in the matter agmst the nation as a whole. In 1919 the newly-established German Republic set up a Committee to discover “why Germany lost the war.” That Committee has just sent in its rejiort, and the cabled extracts from this docu-

ment, comments a critic, make very curious reading. Naturally enough the Committee could not find any facts to’ justify fixing upon Germany the respnsibility for the war. That might have been expected. But it is a little surprising to find that the Committee was equally unable to find anyone responsible for Germany’s defeat. The collapse of Germany was due to “a combination of various circumstances and events” —that is all. There is no truth in the -popular view that “a revolutionary movement caused the collapse on the home front.” Nor is it true that the mutiny in the navy was Socialistic or revolutionary in origin ; nor is it. possible even to ascribe tbo revolution itself to “any particular incident” or to “any organised revolutionary leadership.” In brief it has taken this Committee of experts nine 1 years to discover that nobody caused the war nobody caused Germany’s defeat and nobody caused 11 it? revolution. All these things just “happened” ; they tame about as a result of what somebody calls “a fortuitous concatenation of circumstances.” OF course it may salvo flic wounded pride of the German people to be assured not only that not e of them nts responsible for the war hut that they are equally guiltless of any resqxinsibiTity for their defeat. Out as a defence against foreign criticism this report is a singularly unconvincing pie’s* of evidence. Possibly it would be pleasant to live in a world where nobody is ever to blame for anything; lint we are not there yet.