European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Carol j. Williams los Angeles times y Elena Yershova a glance shifted nervously from the 30 children in her charge to a steely eyed policeman keeping watch Over the silent procession to View . Lenin a embalmed and enshrined  they should Bury him Quot the nurse from provincial istra imparted in a whisper shielding her Young Sanatorium patients from an opinion that her fellow pilgrims might consider sacrilege. Quot he was a Normal Man Quot she said reluctantly nudging along the ritual summer Field trip to Moscow. Quot and its abnormal to display a Corpse for so Many years.�?�. A a a a a such an assessment of the soviet unions founding father Only a year ago could have been condemned As an act of heresy. / but As soviet citizens struggle through an ideological identity crisis in a world that has All but abandoned communism they have been forced for the first time since the 1917 bolshevik revolution to re examine Lenin s theories his role in history and even what to do with his deified remains. For some soviet citizens the reassessment is a Welcome outgrowth of the reforms that have broken longstanding taboos against honest reflection on How the nation founded by Lenin has evolved into a state in perpetual crisis. But for the vast majority of soviet people schooled to Revere Lenin in the place of the god he disdained As the Peoples opiate Lenin a reduced standing in world esteem is the final indignity to be borne by a nation mired in a failing political Experiment. Bronze and Marble images of the soviet founding father have been firebombed in Poland Hung in effigy in Romania toppled in Hungary defaced in East Germany and wrapped in a cardboard cocoon of anticommunist slogans in Bulgaria. In his native land the ubiquitous Lenin statues have been clandestinely vandalized and his revolutionary philosophies publicly attacked. Even in the Halls of the Moscow City Council a giant bust of Lenin that has adorned political sessions for decades was turned to face the Wall a few Days ago. Emotional assaults on his figurative presence in the newly Democrat t sized Nat ions of e astern Europe Are understood by some soviet people As the venting of pent up rage by victims against a Symbol of the system that repressed them. But mounting Calls from within the country to reassess Lenin a legacy have embedded doubts in the devoted masses who see the shift from official idolatry As a denigration of their last unblemished hero. Quot maybe he made mistakes and some May have had serious consequences for us and not All of his policies were appropriate even to the times Quot historian Roy a. Medvedev observed in an interview. Quot but no one can change the fact that he was the founder of the soviet Union. That fact will not allow his role in history to be radically  while Lenin faces no serious Challenge to his Domestic standing Medvedev argued his Tumble abroad was preordained because of the soviet party s hand in imposing dictatorship in Lenin a name. A for the soviet people the attacks on Lenin in Eastern Europe have not had any tremendous effect. Soviet people Are consumed with their own problems Quot Medvedev said. Quot these events might have upset the politicians and diplomats but not the general population. If they Are concerned about foreign Public opinion it is that of America not Eastern  no Broad scale trimming of Lenin s historical stature is needed Medvedev said. But he applauded recent disclosures in soviet periodicals of Lenin s political misjudgments and even that he had a mistress As a necessary humanizing of the figure too often placed above mortal weakness. Hardly a City in the soviet Umon sacks a Lenin Square soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev at the podium beneath huge image of Lenin during the opening session of the 28th communist Perty Congress at the Kremlin in Moscow last week. I it. I r a 5 or a towering figure of the founder at its Center countless towns ships Oil Fields and collective farms Bear his name. Lenin s fall from Grace abroad was triggered by the spread of anti communist revolution that began peacefully in Poland fast Spring and swept through to Romania by the end of 1989. His memory in the soviet Union was seriously Quot punctured tast Spring with posthumous publication of Vassily Grossman s 1963 novel everything flows tracing Stalin s terror Back to the foundation Laid by Lenin. A Quot bolsheviks did not believe in the value of personal Freedom Freedom of speech and press a Grossman wrote. Quot they like Lenin himself considered those freedoms.  in the months leading up to the crucial party Congress the search for socialism a earliest errors has repeatedly cast aspersions on the teachings of Lenin. A Book by a top playwright blames Lenin for the Quot crime of the Century Quot the 1910 murder of ousted Czar Nicholas ii and his family. Deputies to the russian republics parliament have demanded investigation of the revolution led by Lenin. Quot any crime must be investigated Quot Deputy Viktor Mironov told the weekly journal Kommer Sant the accusations prompted an outcry during april observations of the 120th anniversary of Lenin a birth an occasion that Drew words of caution even from president Mikhail s. Gorbachev. Quot it is High time we put an end to the absurd idol nation of Lenin Quot Gorbachev said Quot now we know the aim of this too Well. But we condemn wholeheartedly the desecration of his memory whatever form it takes in this country or  Gorbachev alluded to the cunning of Stalin who transformed the departed Lenin into a figure of worship to place party doctrine a and the dictator s actions a beyond reproach. It was at Stalin a insistence that Lenin s remains be embalmed and displayed for future generations and Stalin was enshrined alongside Lenin in the red Marble mausoleum for eight years after his death in 1953. Much of the recent controversy Over Lenin s place in history has been channelled into debate Over whether to Bury his remains and break with the 66-year tradition of preserving his image in the manner of an icon. Quot no matter How much we hate a person no matter How much we love him we done to have the right to deprive a person of burial Quot theater director Mark Zakharov urged during a televised talk show last year. Parliamentary Deputy Yuri Karyakin proposed a month later that authorities give serious consideration to interment. Quot a Man of Lenin s stature should be preserved by special Means for All to see Quot said Khz Hanoi Yusupov a 31-year-old chemical worker from Uzbekistan who As thousands do each weekday stood for hours to be admitted to the mausoleum snaking Wilh the masses through the Alexander gardens then along the cobble stoned expanse of red Square Quot they could never close the mausoleum Quot insisted Larissa Orel of Dnepropetrovsk shocked at the very suggestion of a burial. Quot he was our Leader and children should be taught 1o respect him. Conditions in our country Are terrible now but Lenin is in no Way to  preservation of the body which some contend is a Wax replica is becoming an increasingly difficult task requiring periodic closures for cosmetic adjustments. Quot the embalming of Lenin was not just Stalin a wily action to make a place of worship for the party to has become a cultural tradition and a Symbol of an Era and that is something we have to respect Quot said Ivan i. Antonovich a prominent social scientist on the staff of the parly Centra committee. He said he personally advocates a closed Tomb to end the indignity of Public display that Lenin has been exposed to but Antonovich said the Issue is beyond the party a Resolution a the Broad masses will never allow the reburial of  wednesday july 11, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 13