A chara, - In this year, the 60th anniversary of the victory over fascism, it is important that we remember the millions of victims of that evil system.
Those victims lie from the Atlantic to the Urals, from the Baltic to the Balkans. This week, being the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, particular attention has been paid to the victims of those camps. It is only natural, given the murderous ideology behind the "Final Solution", that most media coverage has focused on the scale and brutality of the massacre of the Jewish population in Europe. While never forgetting the fate of the Jews, we must also remember the other victims. The Aryan ideology of the Nazis (as highlighted in your paper last Monday) also regarded Slavs and the Roma population as an inferior race and the Roma, in particular, suffered massive extirpation.
However, we must also remember the first victims of the Nazi concentration camps - the political opposition. The first occupants of the first concentration camp at Dachau in 1933 were the communists, the socialists, the trade unionists, and other active opponents of fascism. The elimination of this political opposition facilitated all the other horrors unleashed over the next 12 years.
They should not be forgotten. - Is mise,
PADRAIG MANNION, Research Officer, Workers' Party of Ireland, Hill Street, Dublin 1.
Madam, - With reference to the letter from the Polish Ambassador (January 26th), "Nazi" is probably the best way to describe the death camps in Poland and elsewhere. There were Nazis of many nationalities. - Yours, etc.,
HELEN CARRAGHER, Dargle Wood, Knocklyon, Dublin, 16.
Madam, - At a time when the world is mourning the annihilation of innocent men, women and children at the hands of the Nazis, and our President is representing The Republic of Ireland at Auschwitz, a vandalised statue of Nazi collaborator Seán Russell which stands in Fairview Park is the subject of a stand-off between the National Graves Association which insists it should be replaced and Dublin City Council. To our collective shame, the council has remained silent to date. - Yours, etc.,
NIALL GINTY, Howth Road, Dublin 5.