Glemp’s Remarks on Auschwitz

I want to commend to readers who may have missed it The Times’ editorial “A New Low in an Ugly Dispute” (Aug. 30). The editorial treats with candor and fairness the complex and sensitive issue of the convent at Auschwitz aggravated by the insulting statements of Poland’s Catholic Primate Cardinal Jozef Glemp.

In a concise and forthright manner the editorial presents the historical record leading to the impasse between the cardinal, who now seeks to nullify the Geneva agreement entered into last year with members of the European Jewish Congress, and four cardinals from France, Belgium, and Poland. The editorial was unequivocal in its repudiation of Glemp’s provocative and barely-concealed defamation of the Jewish people, and identified the root causes of a tragic event that needlessly polarizes two communities who share a kinship of suffering. I applaud the courage and empathetic intelligence of the writers of the editorial whose words are healing.

HAROLD M. SCHULWEIS

Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom

Encino