"Dirty Asiatic"

Literary circles in many countries have hummed for months with praise of Arnold Zweig's The Case of Sergeant Grischa, sharp, beautifully written novel of War life on Germany's Eastern Front. But the praise of literary circles meant little to portly highbuttoned Lieut. Col. Walther von Bogen, editor of the sedate Journal of German Nobility, who, reading novelist Zweig's book, found to his horror and amazement that it was vulgar, pacifistic, shockingly outspoken, likely to cause discontent among German troops. Editor von Bogen wrote a review in which he said that Novelist Zweig was a "dirty Asiatic fellow whose book was an insult to many noble German ladies."

Novelist Zweig sued for criminal libel. Last week a Berlin judge listened gravely to Lieut. Col. von Bogen's patrioteering defense, fined him $150, ruled that "no writer need be subjected to such scurrilous personal attacks."