I have read with much interest the article on "Captive Words" by [Mustapha] Khayati in issue #10 of Internationale Situationniste [March 1966] and was very satisfied by the explanations that it provided concerning Dada, because I was one of the founders of Club Dada in Berlin. From 1916 to 1924 I was a collaborator on the journal Die Aktion[1] for an anti-authoritarian Socialism and was always opposed to the glib manner in which the majority of the Dadaists treated the revolutionary renewal.
In any case, Khayati's article expresses -- after such a long time -- a point of view that must be formulated today, when so many futilities are offered on the occasion of the 50th "anniversary of Dada."
I have made a translation of this article into German,[2] which I will send to a friend at the progressive art journal A-Z, and to several friends in Germany. Obviously I indicated the author and the journal I[nternationale] S[ituationniste].
Please accept, dear Mr Debord, my thanks [and] my best wishes.[3]
Raoul Hausmann[1] "The Action."
[2] Hausmann would also translate the SI's On the Poverty of Student Life into German. In Courrier Dada (Editions Allia, 1992), Marc Dachy reports that, in a letter dated 7 September 1988, Debord said: "This translation, the historical value of which we strongly appreciated, was not used; and soon thereafter was unfortunately lost. Actually, it was communicated to our bilingual situ[ationist] responsible for German publications, someone named [Herbert] Holl, who disappeared a few days later, justly included in the proscription of the 'Garnautine' tendency. In sum, all this was quite Dadaist."
[3] Guy Debord would respond to this letter on 25 April 1966.
(Given to Marc Dachy by Guy Debord and deposited at Fonds Guy Debord, created by Christian Bourseiller at the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! July 2007. Footnotes by the translator.)