After the Kapp Putsch, interest in politics flagged among us boys. All parties had been compromised and the entire topic lost its attraction. The Rennbund Altpreussen was dissolved. Many of us sought new interests: stamp-collecting, for example, piano-playing, or the theatre. Only a few remained true to politics, and it struck me for the first time that, strangely enough, those were the more stupid, coarse and unpleasant among my schoolfellows. They proceeded to enter the ‘right sort’ of leagues: the German National Youth Association or the Bismarck League (there was still no Hitler Youth),
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