Judaism suffered a heavy set-back in my eyes when I got to know of its activities in the Press, in art, litera¬ ture and the drama. Unctuous protestations were no good any more now. One only had to look at their posters and study the names of the inspired creators of those hideous inventions for the cinema and the theatre which one saw commended on them, in order to become permanently hardened. It was pestilence, spiritual pestilence, worse than the Black Death, with which the nation was being inoculated.
I began to study carefully the names of all the creators of these unclean products of the artistic life as given to the people. The result was increasingly damaging to the attitude I had taken up hitherto in regard to the Jews. Though my feelings might rise against it a thousand times, my reason had to draw its own conclusions.
Then I began to examine my favourite 4 £world press” from the same point of view.
I saw the Liberal tendencies of that Press in another light ; its dignified tone in replying to attacks, its complete ignoring of them were now revealed to me as a cunning, mean trick ; their brilliantly written theatrical critiques always favoured Jewish authors, and their adverse criticism was given to Germans alone. Their light pin-pricks against William II showed the consistency of their methods, as did also their com¬ mendation of French culture and civilization. The general sense was so clearly to depreciate everything German that it could only be intentional.
Now that I realized the Jews as the leaders of Social Democracy, scales, as it were, began to fall from my eyes. My long mental struggle was at an end.