CONTENTS
Masses and men
Click here to buy the book
Author: Toller Ernst (1893-1939)
Year: 1921
In my political capacity, I proceed upon the assumption that units, groups, representatives of various social forces, various economic functions, have a real existence; that certain relations between human beings are objective realities. As an artist I recognise that the validity of the "facts" is highly questionable...
I see convicts in the prison yard, sawing wood with a monotonous rhythm. In sympathy, I think: these are men. This one may be a woodman, the next a farmer, the next a clerk... I see the room in which the woodman lived, his little peculiarities, the characteristic gestures with which he threw away a match or kissed a woman, or came out of the factory gates in the evening... Then – suddenly – they are no longer human beings, X and Y and Z, but dreadful puppets dimly aware of the compelling fate that governs them.
Two women once walked past the window of my cell, while I was clinging to the iron bars. Apparently two old maids. Both had short white dresses identical in shape, colour and cut; both carried grey umbrellas with white dots and both waggled their heads.
Not for one moment did I see these as "realistic human beings" going for a walk in the narrow prison lane of a "realistic" Neuburg. It was a dance of death by two old maids, one old maid and her mirrored death, that stared me in the face.
Preface
Print this article
Email this article