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Hocking, William Ernest, Intro : THEY FOUGHT HITLER FIRST: A REPORT ON THE TREATMENT OF GERMAN ANTI-NAZIS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS FROM 1933 TO 1939 BASED ON CONTEMPORARY RECORDS

American Association for a Democratic Germany, New York, 1945

1st edition. Original illustrated paper wrappers, 8vo, 15 + 1 pages. Wolff I #181. American labor piece preaching an internationalist position on War crimes--punish the German Fascists, not the Germans. A good example of the pre-Nuremberg debates in the US and elsewhere about how to deal with nazi war crimes. Booklet includes a brief timeline of concentration camps in Germany from their beginnings in 1933 until the beginning of the war in 1939, based on period reports. William Ernest Hocking (1873-1966) was an American idealist philosopher at Harvard University. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce (the founder of American idealism) in revising idealism to integrate and fit into empiricism, naturalism and pragmatism. He said that metaphysics has to make inductions from experience: "That which does not work is not true." His 22 books included works on philosophy and human rights, freedom of the press, and human nature. Here he argues that we owe something to those Germans who fought against the inevitable until a million and a quarter had been in the Nazi concentration camps, 15 per cent of whom were Jews and 85 per cent non-Jews, while we of the Western powers smiled on and appeased their prosecutors. The American Association for a Democratic Germany included among its officers: Reinhoild Nieburh and Dorothy Thompson as Vice-Chairmen and William Ernest Hocking, Charles LaFollette, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, III, and Victor Reuther among the members of the National Committee. From its Statement of Purpose its aim was "To Foster the development of genuine democracy in Germany. Only if the common people of Germany get help in establishing democratic ways and educating their children to democratic living can Germany be a healthy, peaceful state, and can Europe and the world be safe. Democracy is possible in Germany. Seek out the proven democrats. They will come from the concentration camps and prisons where Hitler had to chain them. SUBJECT(S): Nazi concentration camps -- Germany. Camps de concentration nazis -- Allemagne. OCLC: 6203707. Very Good Condition. Important period early postwar document. (Holo2-160-19). Illustr: Illustrated by Picture Cover

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