Germany: past and present

I see no reason to believe that President Reagan has lost popularity because of his trip to Europe. I urged him to place a wreath on the grave of the unknown German soldier, but evidently the German government had a procedure followed by the President of France and others who visited Germany. And that policy was probably approved by the Germans in both East and West Germany.

[The laying of the wreath] may help restore to East Germany freedom and democracy -- which are the main issues in the world today. Hamilton Fish New York

Dimitri Simes (May 8) correctly points out that the Soviets continue to maintain a not-so-discreet silence about the Nazi Holocaust against the 6 million Jews [Holocaust: the Soviet denial]. And Simes was correct in pointing to Soviet mistreatment of Jews in the USSR. But a reader was left with this question: What about the Soviet holocaust, with or without a capital H?

It is hard to forget about the tens of millions of victims -- liquidations and deaths in the labor camps -- in the successive Lenin and Stalin holocausts. No hard figure is available for this toll in lives, to my knowledge, but independently working researchers have come up with figures ranging between 30 million and 60 million! Albert L. Weeks New York

It was thrilling to read the touching story of Gerda Weissmann, the survivor of the Nazi ``death march,'' and how Kurt Klein, the American soldier, found her at Volary, Czechoslovakia [``A story of courage, tenacity, and hope that has a happy ending,'' May 7]. It was a real romance -- they both lost their parents and family, but they found each other. It would make a super movie! I liked the happy ending to an otherwise tragic story. Richard K. Winter Chicago

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