I
think that any one who knows Germany well will agree with me that
it is the influence of the teaching class, whether in school or
university, that has transformed the German mentality so greatly
during the last forty years. These two mild-mannered old Hentzes
must have infected scores and hundreds of lads with their own
aggressively militant views. By perpetually holding up to them
their own dream of a Germany covering half Europe, they must have
transmitted some of their own enthusiasm to their pupils, and
underlying that enthusiasm was a tacit assumption that the end
justified any means; that provided the goal were attained, the
manner in which it had been arrived at was a matter of quite
secondary importance. I maintain that the damnable spirit of modern
Germany is mainly due to the teaching profession, and to the
doctrines it consistently instilled into German youth.
The Hentzes took in eight resident German pupils who attended the
various schools in the town, mostly sons of wealthy Hamburg
business-people. Hentze was always urging me to associate more
with these lads, three of whom were of my own age, but I could
discover no common ground whatever on which to meet them.
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