Brave Czechs
Sir: Richard Bassett (`Waldheim and the Nazis', 15 March) is unwise to drag in the Czechs in order to denigrate Waldheim. Whether or not his family was once Waz- lavek (significant that Bassett should use the German spelling?), the myth of Czech cowardice has remained at the level of the Bterkeller and the saloon bar. The Czech Performance in the Hussite wars — Habs- burgs or no Habsburgs — must have come to Mr Bassett's attention when he was at school, though he may well know nothing of the Czech Legion which fought the Red Army to a standstill in Siberia in 1918, nor of the Czech airmen of Bomber Command in 1940-45; nor, conceivably, of the only European to set fire to himself in protest against Soviet domination. That we deserted the Czechs in 1620 and preached at them in 1938 hardly entitles us to lecture them about heroics.
Ronald Scrivener
38 Lysia Street, London SW6
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