138. Contra “Lex Heinze”

It was an impressive rally of the Berlin art and literary world that we witnessed on March 4. Gustav Eberlein, Hermann Nissen and Hermann Sudermann strongly objected to the unheard-of bill, which, if it became reality and was applied in the spirit of its authors, would simply make any development of intellectual life in the modern sense impossible. The speakers found sharp, ironic, but entirely accurate words for what would become impossible. There is no doubt about it - once again, darkness stands against light, authority against freedom of thought, unreason against reason. German minds are not political raison d'être. Sudermann emphasized it sharply. For years they sat quietly in their studios, in their writing rooms, turned away from all political activity. Today, the representatives of medieval institutions have turned the most apolitical into lively political agitators. "Let us assume that the law has once been created," said Sudermann. "How would things turn out? Great dramatic galleries of ancestors would appear on the stage. How many princely houses there are in Germany! All their ancestors would pass by on the boards for our admiration. Our art would be shrouded in a fog of prejudice so that the truth would remain hidden. For those who make this law do not want the truth. They want their centuries-old prejudices."

This one protest is not enough. It must be repeated. For as true as it is that in the long run nonsense cannot drive out truth in the world, it is equally true that unreason can prevail for a long time. But we cannot tolerate that either. Life is too short. We have no time for the play of clumsy hands that want to veil the light from us.