The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1945, Side 6

4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
June 1945
German scientists, men at the very top in training and experience, using
human beings as guinea pigs in their experiments.
This is what awaited humanity.
As we look back and realize what we were saved from, V. E. day be-
comes a Day of Deliverance rather than a day of victory. For that we have
given thanks and offered prayers.
But in a way it was only a day of deliverance. Dr. E. M. Howse of
Westminster Church in Winnipeg, in one of his inspiring sermons on the
Sunday of prayer and thanksgiving, very realistically said: “Hitler is de-
feated but not Hitlerism; the thinking which produced Hitler and the
powerful German army has not been destroyed; the way of thinking in
Germany and Japan has to change.” I would go a step further back and say
that the teaching which created that thinking in the youth of Germany and
Japan must be uprooted.
It is reported that Hitler’s last order to the German people was
that on the tomb of Germany’s unknown soldier the following words were
to be inscribed:
“And yet you were victorious.”
That type of thinking must be destroyed. Only then can there be
unrestrained rejoicing.
Another day of victory—and of deliverance—has yet to come: V. J.
day, victory over Japan. To us of North America, which borders on the
Pacific, which in the world of today is but a narrow stream of water, the
defeat of Japan will be a real deliverance.
But the war of ideas has to go on. We see now, even more clearly
than at the beginning of the war, that in the final analysis there are only
two ways of life: Tyranny and the varying degrees of totalitarianism lead-
ing up to it on the one hand and on the other, Freedom, based upon the
principles of true democracy and the teachings of the Bible in their
widest sense.
Some day we will have a V. I. day—victory over ideas. Then complete
victory will have been won.
Then it will no longer be a day of thanksgiving for deliverance but
a day of exultation over the permanent peace that awaits mankind.
—W. J. L.
READERS are invited to send in news of people of Icelandic ex- j
traction, especially our soldiers overseas. Original articles
and poems as well as translations from the Icelandic would be ap-
preciated. Letters to the Editors may be published. You are invited
to let us know what you think of our publication. !
THE EDITORS [