August 23, 1937.

Dear Jawaharlal Nehru:

Thank you so much for your letter of July 19th. How very very kind of you to take so much trouble. I am deeply grateful for your efforts. You can imagine what a great joy it would give me if my work were published in Hindi and Marathi.

Did you get my comedy “No More Peace”? I asked my publisher to send it to you.

My wife is living with me in Hollywood. She was very ill but fortunately she has been able to leave the hospital and is recovering speedily.

I am following the events in China with passionate interest. It looks as if in spite of strong resistance on the part of the Chinese, Japan will be able to get the territory it wants. What a tragicomical spectacle the League of Nations offers. Originally founded to protect the rights of peoples and to prevent attacks on peoples, it has become so helpless that it does not even dare to discuss the urgent problems of the hour, let alone make a decision.

The trouble of our times is that the fascist and semi-fascist states know what they want and use every means to enforce their will, while the democracies are on the defensive with a bad conscience and inclined not to face facts but to escape them through compromises that do not solve anything. Spain is another example. We are in the midst of an upheaval which will embrace the national and social problems of the whole world. The world war which started in 1914 has really never ended, and we do not know how long it will go on. We can only hope that things which necessarily will happen, will not find all the essential parts of the world in ruins.

The news which I get from Germany tells me that the anti-Nazi opposition continues its heroic fight but is not strong enough to affect the present regime. Unless an actual crisis arises one has to reckon with the power of the Nazis who are relentlessly preparing Germany for war. That does not mean that I believe they want war in the near future. Through terror and bluff they are trying to make conquests and to avoid a war which may end for them disastrously. In the meantime they are endeavoring to organize the Fascist powers. A few days ago I read an article in the New York Times which contained amazing facts about their influence in certain parts of South America.

My wife and I send you and your daughter our good wishes and our affectionate regards.

I hope to hear from you again.

Yours ever,

Ernst Toller