The Stranger1946

Mr. Wilson:
Do you know Germany, Mr. Rankin?

Professor Charles Rankin:
I'm sorry, I...I have a way of making enemies when I'm on that subject. I get pretty unpopular.

Mr. Wilson:
Well, we shall consider it the objective opinion of an objective historian.

Professor Charles Rankin:
Historian? A psychiatrist could explain it better. The German sees himself as the innocent victim of world envy and hatred, conspired against, set upon by inferior peoples, inferior nations. He cannot admit to error, much less to wrongdoing, not the German. We chose to ignore Ethiopia and Spain, but we learned from our own casualty list the price of looking the other way. Men of truth everywhere have come to know for whom the bell tolled, but not the German. No! He still follows his warrior gods marching to Wagnerian strains, his eyes still fixed upon the fiery sword of Siegfried, and he knows subterranean meeting places that you don't believe in. The German's dream world comes alive when he takes his place in shining armor beneath the banners of the Teutonic Knights. Mankind is waiting for the Messiah, but for the German, the Messiah is not the Prince of Peace. No, he's... another Barbarossa... another Hitler.

Mr. Wilson:
Well, then you have no faith in the reforms that are being effected in Germany.

Professor Charles Rankin:
I don't know, Mr. Wilson. I can't believe that people can be reformed except from within. The basic principles of equality and freedom never have and never will take root in Germany. The will to freedom has been voiced in every other tongue. "All men are created equal", liberte, egalite, fraternite - but in German...

Noah Longstreet:
There's Marx. "Proletarians, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains."

Professor Charles Rankin:
But Marx wasn't a German, Marx was a Jew.

Judge Longstreet:
But, my dear Charles, if we concede your argument, there is no solution.

Professor Charles Rankin:
Well, sir, once again, I differ.

Judge Longstreet:
Well, what is it, then?

Professor Charles Rankin:
Annihilation. Down to the last babe in arms.

Mary Longstreet:
Oh, Charles, I can't imagine you're advocating a Carthaginian peace.

Professor Charles Rankin:
Well, as an historian, I must remind you that the world hasn't had much trouble from Carthage in the past 2,000 years.