BREAD AND PEACE, - AND TEXTBOOKS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 441, 5 December 1947, Page 6

BREAD AND PEACE, - AND TEXTBOOKS

More Than Physical Hunger in Germany

ROM England early this year the Association of University ~ Teachers, at the request of the Foreign, Office, sent a delegation to visit the universities in the British zone of Germany. It had two tasks-to give advice on university reconstruction and to explore the possibility of establishing relations between British and German universities. One of-~.the delegates was David Martineau Tombs, a New Zealander, who is now lecturer in telecommunications at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. At present he is in Wellington on leave, ‘taking a holiday and visiting his parents. He told The Listener in an interview that the present generation of German students are exceedingly illinformed on contemporary social, political, economic and every other sort of development outside Germany. But the more intelligent among them are acutely aware of these deficiencies and anxious to overcome them. The delegation included Professor E. R. Dodds, Oxford (chairman); Professor Lord Chorley, Professor T. H. Marshall

and David Tombs, London; Professor J. A. Hawgood and Professor R. Pascal, Birmingham; Professor R. C. McLean, Cardiff; and RProfessor C. H. Browning, Glasgow. The party divided into two groups, one of which concentrated on the Universities of Gottingen, Hamburg and Kiel, the Technical High School of Braunschweig, and the Veterinary School of Hanover, while the other investigated conditions at the Universities of Bonn, Cologne and Munster, and the Medical School at Dusseldorf. Both parties finally met in Berlin. "I visited Germany as a Robert Blair Research Fellow from 1934 to 1936, to do research in telecommunications," said Mr. Tombs. "It was a profound experience to see the country in the hey-day of the Olympic Games, and later to visit Germany-completely shattered, with nearly every university building in rubble. No Common Policy "To-day there is intense disappointment in the work of our occupying forces which have had no_ concerted policy in Germany. The goodwill of the German people towards Britain was very high when the collapse came, but now it is as low as it has ever been. We slung out tens of thousands of Nazis and left them wandering about the streets. Germany is now a dangerous vacuum, ready to be filled by any fantastic little Hitler that may emerge. Some alternative occupation must be given to all these people lest the upstarts rise again. And for this state of affairs the British Government must take the responsibility. Nevertheless, some attempt has recently been made to rectify this.’ We asked Mr. Tombs what hope there was of democratising Germany through education. "There’s not much hope of doing anything radical inside some _ generations," he said, "but democracy, as a safeguard against future wars has a

great significance. The difficulty confronting our delegation was the lack of a sense of individual responsibility among the Germans. No radical and _ lasting reform of the universities is likely to come about on the sole initiative of the universities themselves." "Is democracy in the Allied Zone making the same progress as Communism is in the Russian Zone?" "No; certainly not. Communism has organised its region much more than we _ have. The- Russians are dropping the standards of university entrance qualification to let in people who have not even matriculated. But perhaps it is better to have a large number of competently-trained men than a small number of experts." "Isn’t it a good thing to teach the democratic

doctrine by giving equal opportunity to.) everybody?" "Oh yes, up to a point, and it is interesting to note that a real attempt is being made in Britain to open up the schools and universities to people of different social standing. In time we hope to establish in Germany some degree of individual responsibility, but it can’t be done by Act of Parliament or. by an occupying force. What is wanted ‘is an opening of frontiers to the exchange of. ideas and the feeding of the acute intellectual hunger." Divided Beliefs "Is there any concerted plan for dealing with the German problem?" "Unfortunately, the four occupying countries each have different beliefs, and so the Germans themselves are completely divided." "Do you think the principle of dismantling capital equipment: by way of reparations is a good one?" "Things are so chaotic that that is hard to answer. The Russian idea is to take away every nut and bolt they can find; the Americans say, ‘What the hell; that thing’s no use; blow it up.’ And the French think all Germans are rotten anyway. I must "say that the British are more constructive." "And how is Britain applying its more constructive policy?" "Well, for example, when the British come across one of the huge windtunnels used for testing aircraft in war-. time, they cut out the steel parts, but leave the building, which may be made to serve some useful purpose." Democracy’s Problem "Have you any idea of what percentage of German youth, or Germans of university age it is possible to reclaim for democracy?"

a "A small percentage only can be saved in the next ten years. They must be found a proper place within the community of nations;’ which is better than forcing them to fight for it." "How do the Germans themselves view the future?" "They hoped for some clarity as to thefr position at the Peace Conference and there was none. There can be no Germans in the future. They will be either Central Europeans with an eye towards the East, or Central Europeans with an eye towards the West. Germany to-day as a country is quite incoherent, and likely to remain so for many years." Anti-Social Reform Like many other people before 1939, Mr. Tombs had hoped that the outcome of the Nazi movement would not be war. ‘To-day, when the actual fighting was over, and the chaotic aftermath was being faced, the proper approach for the democratically-minded was to provide adequate safeguards, but also to recognise the qualities of the German people ‘and help them to get back on their feer, in much the same way as modern ideas of prison reform aided the rehabilitation of -anti-social types. "Can Germany," he was asked, "be reclaimed by bread and peace alone, or will text-books be necessary as well?" "The text-books must be re-written, but to suppress the works on Nazism would be ludicrous. It is the British policy to destroy them, but that is dangerous. Such action simply immortalises a work by making it scarce." "Would you say that German parents could be trusted to bring up their children in a democratic rather than a totalitarian form?" / (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "There is little ground for trust at this stage because parents and teachers were indoctrinated with Nazism for so long. But with the interchange of ideas between nations, as I have mentioned before, Germany will see the absurdity of her position." "One more question. Does Dr. Kurt Schumacher, leader of the Social Democratic Party, represent democracy in a limited way-democracy in a sort of iron lung?" "Dr. Schumacher is not as powerful as Britain would like him to be." Intellectually Isolated Speaking generally on what was hoped from the work of UNESCO, Mr. Tombs said there was a strong case for the appointment of an _ international educational commission to examine the fundamental problems of the German education system and to advise the Occupying Powers on the adoption of a common policy. Such a commission should be composed of leading European and American experts, and might with advantage work in collaboration with UNESCO. It was beyond question that one of Germany’s most urgent needs was to be freed from her intellectual isolation. If UNESCO fulfilled its founders’ intentions, it should be suited to the job, but at present it was excluded from action in Germany. The situation would be changed when a peace treaty was concluded, and it should not be necessary to wait till Germany could be admitted as a member of the United Nations for UNESCO to interest itself

in the educational problems of Germany -not to exercise control, but to give advice and to help in breaking down the barriers: between the German universities and the outside world. Scientific Research Mr. Tombs, who is a council member of the Association of University Teachers in Britain, is interested in the formation of a New Zealand National Group of the Association which, it is anticipated, will come into existence early in the New Year. Apart from his work as lecturer in telecommunications at Imperial College, he is concerned in a research contract which has been signed between the Ministry of Supply and the Electrical Department of the College (of which the new head is Professor Willis Jackson). This contract is dealing with the application of electrical methods of measurement to problems. of jet aeroengines. It involves the special application of a more general principle that Mr. Tombs is developing in the field of measurement-a principle whith has application in medicine, aeronautics and thermodynamics as well as mechanics. Shortly before leaving England, as a member of the Bach Choir, Mr. Tombs took part in the recording of the St. Matthew Passion. The thoir was under the conductorship of Dr. Reginald Jacques, and was assisted by the London Symphony Orchestra. The _ performances pf the Choir over the last few years, he said, had become one of the features of the London musical season in the Albert Hall.