The meeting of 13th June commenced with a short talk on the Battle of Delville Wood presented by Capt Ivor Little. A slide show, compiled by Sgt and Mrs Marks accompanied the talk and served to remind the members present of the 75th anniversary of the battle, which will be commemorated next month.

After the curtain-raiser, the Chairman presented the main speaker of the evening, Mr Simon Calburn, whose interest. in Military History may have been less well-known to members than his fame as an artist. Mr Calburn addressed the Society on the subject of "German Authoritarianism".

Mr Calburn commenced his talk by observing that no-one examining the course followed by Germany between the wars, can fail to be struck by the paradox implicit in the fact that one of the three most developed countries in Europe allowed to happen the campaign of racial persecution which ensued after 1932, and which culminated in the holocaust. He suggested that an examination of this question necessitated an analysis of the question as to whether Britain or France could have followed a similar path, had they suffered the same catastrophes of defeat, militarily in 1918, at Versailles, and economically in 1929.

Two premises underlined the topic, in Mr Calburn's view, the first one being that the holocaust actually happened and the second one being that the German people, as a people, were a party to what happened and that they shared responsibility with the National Socialists. Attempts on the part of various German apologists to invalidate these premises have never really succeeded. The weight of evidence shows very clearly the extent to which there was an attempt to annihilate the Jews and certain other racial groups. The Nazi Party did not inflict itself upon the German people by force, it gained and retained power through the support of the nation. Apologists also lose credibility, in that their assertions discount the substantial numbers of Aryan Germans who died resisting Nazism.

Since neither of these premises can be seriously invalidated, the question remains as to quite how the Nazi's activities were possible. Many af the conventional responses to this question have proved to be inadequate. For instance, it is possible to accept that the punitive conditions imposed at Versailles, may have lead to another war, but not necessarily to Nazism or to the holocaust. Other more satisfactory reasons are required therefore to pinpoint the causes.

Mr Calburn sought these reasons in a comparative analysis of the histories of Britain and France firstly, and then Germany, over a period of approximately 1000 years. In the histories of Britain and France, recurrent themes appear which do not appear in the history of Germany.

Both countries, for instance, became unitary kingdoms under a centralised authority and each of them developed a code governing the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. These themes can be traced through the histories of both countries and identified by means of salient points such as the English Revolution of 1640 and the French Revolution of 1789, where the respective kings lost their heads for overstepping the mark in their governing relationships with their people.

In Germany by contrast, the themes which appear over a comparative historical period, are diametrically opposed to the themes apparent in British and French history. Attempts at establishing a centralised monarchy broke down in the early middle ages and there was no emergence of a commercially based middle class. By the middle of the 19th century, Germany was becoming intensely nationalistic due to its impotence in Europe, and she had failed to make any progress towards representative government. German nationalism brought to a point, almost, of fruition by Bismarck's unification, received the two crippling blows of military defeat in 1918 followed by the Treaty of Versailles and then the economic disaster of the depression in 1929, both of which discredited the Social Democrats to the extent that the rabid nationalism of the Nazi's assured them their electoral success and the continued support of the German people.

The number of questions at question-time indicated the interest generated by this thought-provoking talk. Mr Charles Cohen thanked the speaker.

In view of the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Delville Wood, Society members are notified of the publication of a third book on the subject by Mr Ian Uys entitled "Roll Call". Copies of the book can be obtained at a price of R59.95 from Uys Publishers, Box 679, Germiston, 1400. Society members are entitled to a 20% discount if orders are received before 31 July 1991. The previous 2 books are also available at the above address.

Day Tour

Members are requested to provisionally for Sunday finalised, but full details make a note that a one-day tour has been planned provisionally for 25th August. The tour destination has yet to be finalised, but fill details will be supplied in the next newsletter.

Future talks

July 11th Mr L A Wildenboer - "Sannaspos"
August 8th Mrs J M Copley - "The Third Battle of Ypres, 1917"

Jennifer Copley