GERMANY: A Word to the Victors

Joseph Cardinal Frings (who replaced aging Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber at the Conference of German Bishops just ended at Fulda) spoke a Christian word to the victors last week. Bitterly criticizing Allied attempts to resettle 14 million Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia within the crowded borders of the chaotic Reich, he said:

"The suffering and poverty inflicted upon the German people bring hopelessness and are followed by radicalism, let us say Communism. Hopelessness is the keynote of German life today. . . . Many fine people are being ruined. I do not think a man should suffer a whole life because he was a party member. That is not democratic. . . . One must distinguish between moral guilt and liability. All Germans are liable, but they are not all guilty."