Russia’s WWII Role

In response to “Russian Troops Bid Farewell to Germany, Baltics” (Sept. 1):

leussians lost 20 million human beings during World War II. Hundreds of Russian cities and 70,000 villages were burned to the ground. Few countries paid so much for the victory over Hitler. But every time Americans start talking about the war, they cannot find a single word on Russia’s sacrifices. Just Stalin’s crimes and the damned Berlin Wall. And they are not pleased that Boris Yeltsin “chose to concentrate on the Russian role in defeating Adolf Hitler’s Germany.”

It is incontestable that no sacrifices may justify an occupation of other states. The issue is that I am bitterly surprised reading my daughter’s school textbook. Here, the Soviet army role in World War II looks like a reserved regiment for the triumphant liberators from the West. I care that my daughter study the truth. I came to this country because I was sick of the lies in the Soviet Union. I understand Americans’ desire that their children grow up as patriots. But that has nothing to do with concealment of the truth.

VLADIMIR BOGORAD

Van Nuys