Schine Visit to Germany

The death of G. David Schine (June 20) brings back unwelcome memories of his trip to Germany in 1952 or 1953 with Roy Cohn, top aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

The appearance of these two young gumshoes on behalf of the demagogic, red-baiting McCarthy struck fear and loathing in hundreds of government clerks and officials.

I was working for the Stars & Stripes, the U.S. Army newspaper, in Darmstadt, Germany, when we received the alarming news that Schine and Cohn were arriving to investigate alleged Communist influences in U.S. installations.

Now, we were a patriotic group who worked for low wages and most of us had served for years in the U.S. Army in World War II, but we were worried at being the targets of lies. The young colonel, head of our newspaper, was terrified since our newspaper sold thousands of books at 450 newsstands to Army personnel and also sold books used by the University of Maryland’s educational program for the U.S. Army. Surely Cohn and Schine would find something wrong! The colonel had us gather scores of books and hide them in the cellar in case Schine and Cohn visited us! We often received letters from irate customers who demanded to know why we sold books by well-known Russians, such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, possible Communists.

To our great relief the two celebrities visited State Department offices and the Amerika Haus libraries, which provided free public libraries, and they left the Stars & Stripes alone.

JERRY BRES

Covina