There’s More at Stake Than a Flag

* Re “Flap Over Flag Unfurls,” (Oct. 16):

Reading about the issue of an individual displaying the Israeli Flag at Old World Village in Huntington Beach and the fallout regarding its removal made me wonder how things like this could be resolved.

I am a vexillologist (flag researcher), and I proudly display a multitude of flags at my home. Therefore I can understand how easily meanings can be misread into flag displays.

As it seems apparent that the merchants of Old World Village do not wish to come across negatively, it seems appropriate to come up with a flag that would espouse unity as well as pride. With this in mind, perhaps the 12-starred European Community flag should be used there instead of any one national flag to fly alongside Old Glory. That, plus the United Nations flag, would be more appropriate.

Let’s be proud of our diversity, but let’s ensure that the emblems we use espouse the things we have in common.

DEAN THOMAS

Downey

* I was distressed by the insinuation of Dolores Bischof that only Holocaust survivors should be concerned about the Holocaust. In a few years, all of the Holocaust survivors will be gone, but the Holocaust must never be forgotten.

Furthermore, the world must remember the ultimate goal of Nazi Germany. The Nazis tried to destroy everything and everybody standing in their way. The Jewish people were the primary target, and Hitler used them as a convenient excuse for any problems in his country and elsewhere.

However, history must remember that he did not stop there. Millions of non-Jews suffered during his reign of terror. Nobody in my family was Jewish, yet my uncle in Nazi-occupied Czech Republic, together with eight other young teachers and students, were taken out of bed and shot without trial in 1939. My uncle was shot only because he was a student leader and a history professor at the University of Prague.

Today’s Nazis are taking advantage of our Constitution while promoting Nazism. The same Constitution certainly gives the right to a person to display the Israeli flag among flags of other nations.

DARIE S. REINHARDT

Orange