European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday september 6,1989 Haynes Johnson Wii anniversary is one that Means something there s an old saying in the news paper business that a sob Story the kind that brings tears to a Reader s eyes is the most difficult for a Good reporter to write and for a bad reporter to avoid writing. Only second in the to be avoided category is the anniversary Story. Naturally it has become the most unavoidable journalistic Story replacing the sob Story in its ritual appearance portraying old news As new. As Russell Baker wrote the other Day in one of his delightfully iconoclastic columns. Nowadays America seems afflicted with hardening of the  else explain this senescent preoccupation with the largely meaningless Detri Tus of the past this morbid interest in the Long ago is reflected in the steady Stream of anniversary stories with which the press routinely stuffs  he gave As worthy examples the ridiculous recent outpouring of stories commemorating the 20th anniversary of Woodstock an Insign fical and wildly inflated event if Ever there was one the50th anniversary of the Stalin Hitler pact and the regularity with which anniversaries of Rock concerts similar Media happenings and deaths of celebrities from Marilyn to Elvis arc routinely give exhaustive and exhausting press notice. The effect of All this Baker said is to make the Public feel old and Mcl Ancho the series of major and minor conflicts that have flared around the Globe in the last half Century Korea Vietnam Cuba one Bay of pig scuba two mis Sile crisis Israel versus the Arab world Afghanistan and countless guerrilla actions Are part of the ideological Divi Sions left by the War. Out of that conflict came the partition of Germany the appearance of the Iron curtain sealing of the Eastern bloc and the cold War that has defined East West tension for dec Ades. And of course the War inflicted a Flora Lewis ghastly Price and especially for euro peans one extracted for the second time in a generation. World War 1 had resulted in 38 million casualties figures dwarfed by the carnage that began 50years ago. In the soviet Union about 20 million military and civilian lives were lost in China More than 7 million Pri Marily civilian in Germany almost 7million, and in Japan about 2 million. The United states which virtually alone among the warring nations escaped untouched at Home by the destruction lost 405,399 lives from Battle and other causes. Another 670,846 americans were wounded. From the . Standpoint the warhead three profound consequences. It thrust the nation into the position of world leadership that it continues to hold though less securely and wit new uncertainty. It reinforced the mythology of american invincibility an superiority which in turn created costly complacency for which the nation now is beginning to pay in the face of far stiffer Competition. Finally it kindled a Unity of Spir it and National purpose that lasted for years and helped the United states tomake stunning advances though this Unity has eroded steadily in recent years making National consensus More difficult to achieve. Melancholy wallowing in nostalgia perhaps. But As anniversaries go this one hardly is meaningless.  Pope must help Stem Rise of new anti semitism Paris the ugly Issue of the car Melite Convent at Auschwitz has flamed into an International disgrace amid the 50th anniversary of the nazi invasion of Poland which started world War h. The shameful speech by Poland s Pri mate Cardinal Jozef Glymp came As a new polish prime minister a Catholic intellectual and a dedicated Democrat is trying to Lead Poland out of the Long Nightmare of totalitarianism brought on by the War. Has nothing been Learned in a mass at Poland s National shrine Glemp complained that the feelings of All poles and our sovereignty were being assaulted by jewish groups that insisted the nuns be moved away from the death Camp silent Symbol of the Holo Caust. Dear jews he said do not talk with us from the position of a people raised above All others and do not Dic Tate conditions that arc impossible to Ful  providing an extreme example of cart before horse he said when there is no More anti polish feeling there will be no More anti semitism among  and he added your Power lies in the mass Media that Are easily at your Dispo Sal in Many countries. Let them not serve to spread anti polish  the Cardinal thereby spread a painful Issue of respect for the victims Ofa monstrous doctrine into a renewed Issue of Christian jewish relations. There arc Only a few thousand jew left in Poland from a prewar Community of 3.5 million. He showed the endemic persistence of anti semitism even with out jews. Glemp purported to speak in sorrow and sympathy but he came near echoing one of his predecessors who As primate said in 1936, there is a jewish problem which will last As Long As the jews Don t Stop being  True Many Catholic poles including priests and nuns died at Auschwitz along with 2.5 million jews. True the carmelite nuns established their Convent in 1984 to Pray and mourn. True seven american jews who scaled the Convent Walls in july an were beaten and thrown out by polish workers were aggressive in the Way they chose to protest. But Glymp s remarks have escalated a dispute theoretically solved by agreement in 1987 into a problem the Vatican can no longer evade and have cast a Shadow on Poland s new politics. Tadusz Mazowicki the new prime minister was chosen in part because he was one of Solidarity s leaders with the closest tics to the Church. The newly legalized Union not really a political party but an association rep resenting a variety of views ices obliged to rely heavily on Church support As it tries to organize transformation of the regime. Mazowicki who founded an influential Catholic monthly in 1957, also founded a network of Catholic intellectual clubs. Among other things they organized dialogues on the polish jewish past As we As groups to look after jew ish cemeteries since so few jews still live in Poland. Clearly Solidarity is embarrassed by the Cardinal whose relations with the Vatican Are known to be Cool. Vatican sources say Pope John Paul ii the first polish Pope is himself embarrassed. The Pope has said that hostility or worse hatred toward Judaism Are incomplete contradiction with the Chris Tian vision of the dignity of  but he has not spoken out on Glymp s diatribe nor on the Convent and he recently declared that the jewish people had broken their covenant with god there is too much history of anti semitism in Poland for All this to be set aside As an unfortunate incident. The Pope swell aware of it. He has made some important gestures toward Catholic jewish conciliation. There is too much history of anti semitism period and events in Poland Are providing a pretext to revive it in West Ern Europe. The French right Winger Jean Marie la pen denounced the jewish International for undermining National Spir it and his fellow National front Leader Bernard Antony a Deputy in the euro Pean parliament said the Glemp speech had filled him with Joy and raised tothe world level what la pen is producing on the National  it is horrible that cloistered nuns at such a tragic site should become an excuse for rekindling the very evil they claim to expiate. But it is happen ing. The Pope has the authority and needs to show the will to put a Stop to it. The opinions expressed in the column Sand cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to reconsidered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United slates government