Reagan’s Visit to West Germany

In explaining why he went to Bitburg, Reagan has portrayed the soldiers buried there as victims of Nazism, separating them from the government that used them as instruments of war and terror. But would Reagan be as quick to forgive the soldiers of communism?

Can anyone imagine Reagan visiting a North Vietnamese military cemetery, or bowing his head in memory of the Russians who have died in Afghanistan? Of course not, as he would not wish to separate the soldiers from the cause for which they fought.

Yet this is just what Reagan has done by going to Bitburg. It is a fine and noble thing to recognize the millions who died in World War II, on all sides. But by going to a German military cemetery, Reagan has honored the dead buried there in their role as soldiers, thus implicitly giving respectability to the cause for which they fought and died.

Reagan’s visit to Bitburg has not simply reopened old wounds, it has whitewashed one of the most revolting chapters in human history. For this he should never be forgiven.

STEVEN J. RENICK

Beverly Hills