Communist crimes
From Mr Andrew Wilski Sir: Mr Nemec's complaint (Letters, 6 May) about Taki's call to remember and not to deny the enormity of communist crimes is totally unjustified. At no point in his article did Taki sug- gest that 'the honors caused by communist criminals should be used to excuse the deeds of the Nazis'. In fact, for more than 60 years the Nazi crimes have been persis- tently used as a smokescreen for the com- munists' crimes, despite the fact that the latter preceded, succeeded and exceeded the former. One can even perhaps under- stand — without by any means justifying any atrocities — the attitude of many ordi- nary German soldiers and officers going to war against the Soviet Union (not Russia) in 1941, who quite rightly believed that they were fighting against a monster responsible for tens of millions of deaths and other suffering.
To match Mr Nemec's credentials I would mention that my mother in 1944 was dragged by the Nazis into a labour camp and my father, as a Polish cavalry officer, fought against the Bolsheviks in 1920 and against the Germans in 1939, and in 1949 was imprisoned and tortured by the com- munist secret police.
Andrew Wilski
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
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