In a barbed, satirical open letter to the present occupant of his Berlin house, which was seized by the Nazis two years ago, Lion Feuchtwanger writes:
"How do you like my house, Herr X? Do you find it pleasant to live in? Did the silver-gray carpets in the upper rooms come to grief while the S. A. men were lasting?…
"I wonder to what use you have #ut the two rooms which formerly contained my library. I have been told, Herr X, that books are not very popular in the Reich in which you live, and whoever shows interest in them is likely to get into difficulties….
"By the way, is our street still called Mahlerstrasse? Have the masters of your Reich overlooked that the composer Gustav Mahler, for whom the street is named, was a Jew, or has Richard Strauss brought this fact to their attention?…
"Doesn’t it sometimes seem odd to you that you should be living in my house? Your Fuehrer is not generally considered a friend of Jewish literature. Isn’t it, therefore, astounding that he should have such a strong predilection for the Old Testament? I myself have heard him quote with much fervor, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ (by which he may have meant, ‘A confiscation of property for literary criticism’). And now, through you, he has fulfilled prophecy of the Old Testament—the saying, ‘Thou shalt dwell in houses thou hast not builded.’…
"With many good wishes for our house.
"Lion Feuchtwanger."
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
