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Hauptmann, Gerhart, 1862-1946

"The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume I"

One need
merely step out on one's balcony to see the reflection of a fire
somewhere in the heavens. Now and then in clear nights I have counted the
reflections of as many as five. Contempt of judges and laws--that's what
it is! And that has taken such hold of these scoundrels that arson has
become a kind of diversion.--But they had better go slow. Just a little
patience, ladies and gentlemen! We know the tracks! We are on the right
scent! And the people in question will have a terrible awakening when,
quite suddenly, discovery and retribution come upon them. Any one who is
at all versed in the procedure of criminal justice knows that it goes
ahead slowly and surely and finally lays hold upon the guilty.--But as
Commissioner von Stoeckel quite rightly observed: The whole moral
downfall of our time, its actual return to savagery is a consequence of
the lack of religion! Educated people do not hesitate to undermine the
divine foundations upon which the structure of salvation rests.--But,
thank God, we're always to be found at our place! We are, so to speak,
always on our watch-tower!--And, I tell you, boy: There is a God! Do you
understand? There is a God in Heaven from whom no evil deed remains
hidden.


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