ante semejante traición a nuestra infeliz patria estalló en una llamarada. En millones de personas brilló la convicción de que nada más que una purga radical de todo el sistema imperante en Alemania traería la salvación.
En este libro no puedo más que repetir la última frase de mi discurso en el gran Juicio de la primavera de 1924:
“Though the Judges of this State may be happy in their condemnation of our actions, yet History, the goddess of a higher truth and of a better law, will smile as she tears up this judgment, and will declare all of us innocent of blame and the duty of expiation.5’
I shall not attempt to describe here the events which led to and decided those of November, 1923 ; because I do not think it will be of any profit for the future, and because there is really no point in tearing open wounds which are still hardly scabbed over, or in talking of guilt in the case of persons who all, perhaps, clung to their nation with equal love in the depth of their hearts, but merely missed the common road or failed to agree together regarding it.