4 JANUARY 1946, Page 18

Sm,—It was with pleasure and a sense of relief that

I read Dennis Bardens' article " Czechs and Germans "' in The Spectator of Decem- ber I4th—pleasure that at length someone who knew the situation in Czechoslovakia accurately had written about it ; and relief that I would not have to attempt to do it. I, too, had read the statement Mr. Bardens refers to—not in Prague, but in Bratislava—and bad been moved to look into the matter for myself. Although my investigations were not as exhaustive as your correspondent's, my conclusions were identical. Dur- ing the war I have seen internment camps in five countries, and, with the exception of Switzerland, nowhere were they as clean and well run as in- Bohemia. It is not revenge which motivates the Czechs and Slovaks ; rather a conviction that the existence of so large an alien minority presents a grave danger.

The Germans found it comparatively easy to lead the Anglo-Saxons up the garden path after the last war by appealing to our easily aroused sentimentality. If we are not on our guard they will do it again. Articles such as Mr. Bardens' help to protect us against our own misplaced and

uninformed sympathies.—Yours, &c.„ ROBERT C. DEXTER. The Church Peace Union (Founded by Andrew Carnegie), err Maiden Lane, London, W.C. 2.