Re: "Heroization of a German Who Shot Hundreds of Americans on Omaha Beach"

Alas Larry,

Methinks you are (like me) thinking through Jewish eyes -- something we used to talk about. I remember being in a carpool with a guy who couldn't understand why the Jews couldn't put the holocaust behind them. Yesterday, I played golf at Congressional Country Club (yuk) and my partner offered that Israel was as much as terrorist country as Iraq. While I was his guest, I confronted him with facts. Still, his sensitivity(?) was not mine. I also read the article you referred to and was sickened by the pure number of soldiers this guy killed. I was also floored by the fact that only 37 Germans were defending Omaha Beach and that our guys were simply cannon fodder. My first though was, "Couldn't there have been a better way to invade France?" But to your point -- well taken -- but I'm afraid that with time gone by, that German soldiers will now be looked at simply as soldiers -- doing their jobs just like us.

So if you assume that this guy was not political, didn't really want to be in the Army, was scared just like everyone else, and was put in a position where he had to defend himself -- well, you see what I mean. But quite frankly, it really doesn't matter. No matter what the issue, we Jews (collectively, if not individually) will always look at things a little differently than others. Our neurotic thoughts are born out of thousands of years of persecution and the knowledge that we are hated the world over.

On this wonderful note, I bid you a fond farewell.

Harvey