Bombing of Dresden
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Why is anyone surprised by the persistence of European anti-German feeling arising from World War II? Why are the former East Germans, who unlike the former West Germans never acknowledged any responsibility for World War II, angered by Queen Elizabeth’s reserve during her visit to Dresden? It is this enduring belief that ordinary individuals are absolved of the consequences of their actions in wartime that leads the German Veterans Assn. to expect the French to invite them to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D-Day. And it is this belief that leads succeeding generations to such acts of murder, rape and destruction as we witness today in the former Yugoslavia.
Perhaps ultimately all of us would be less inclined to make war if we returned to the expectations of Roman times, when the victors either slaughtered or enslaved the losers.
MANFRED E. WOLFF
Laguna Beach
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