WARSAW
Sir-The publishing of my not exactly appreciative letter regarding your attitude towards Warsaw proves that you do not resent criticism. Your postscript, however, shows at the same time that I have apparently not stated my point of view quite clearly, which induces me to write once more and make it more explicit. I wish to emphasise that I did not expect you to take sides or to pass a verdict in a case you consider doubtful. I wanted only to point out that in a case which seems to be of major importance, a _ responsible journalist should not remain silént, but raise his voice-if only to express his doubts. If the Dreyfus affair or the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti produced — and rightly so-such a stir-up of public opinion, then the case of a great city condemned to death with all its inhabitants deserves, according to my mind, a much more violent reaction. It is the Press, as the exponent of general feeling, that can contribute in such circumstances most effectively to the settling of the dispute; not necessarily by condemn-: ing one side or another, but by demanding the establishment of facts and by clamouring that justice should not be meted out posthumously. What would have become of Dreyfus if Zola or Clemenceau had adopted the passive, waiting attitude advocated by you in the case of Warsaw? Are they to
be classed as fanatics or frauds? They were perhaps fanatics in the cause of truth, but it should not be forgotten that it is to such kind of fanaticism that we owe a very large part of our moral, scientific, and social achievements.
L.
HARTMAN
(Wellington).
[If we are to rush round demanding victims for every act of injustice, on the principle that any decision is better than none at all, it is going to be a much more dangerous world for innocent people than it already is. Our correspondent should have asked what would have happened to Dreyfus if Zola and Clemenceau had not waited until they had the facts. He would, of course, have died in the prison to which fanaticism and fraud, with the aid of ignorance, had already committed him.-Ed.}.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 284, 1 December 1944, Page 7
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366WARSAW New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 284, 1 December 1944, Page 7
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