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Sir: . "Bitter Aftertaste," the title of TIME'S gloss on student unrest in Germany [April 26], describes what at least one German conservative had in his mouth after reading it. You assert that the students had "found neither violence so romantic nor West German society so weak as they had imagined." What evidence is there that they had imagined violence to be romantic—a few months after one of them had been shot in Berlin? I see diverse ingredients in our students' attitude toward violence. Of romanticism I see no trace. Also: Is society's strength measured by the volume of tough talk emanating from (mostly confused) officials? You state: "The radical students charge that Springer has manipulated public opinion in order to create a repressive society and an atmosphere of hate against them." Not only radical students charge that. Almost everybody I know does. Some liberal politicians do so publicly. And most German editorial writers and columnists do. Unless, of course, Herr Springer owns their paper.
EBERHARD PELS Professor of Statistics University of Munich Munich
Sir: In June it will be 20 years since the airlift began to Berlin that saved that city after the Russians and East Germans had blockaded all surface communications. The city, as one man, hoped and prayed that the Allied airlift would be successful. In 1961, the Wall went up between West and East. One must wonder what would happen if once again Berlin was in danger, a city that has thrived under the protection of the Allies. The students should realise that they are using the democratic freedom of West Berlin to champion a cause that, if victorious, would withdraw their freedom of expression from them immediately. If they still feel that this is what they want, they certainly have an option—to move from West Berlin into East Germany, where the government would surely welcome them with open arms to offset, in a small way, the millions who, voting with their feet, left the East to seek protection under a system of government that allowed them the right of choice.
PETER FRANKEL Melbourne, Australia
More than Paint
Sir: Having participated in "The Thing in the Spring [April 26]" I am now absolutely certain that white people cannot hide a slum with a coat of paint—even if the suburbanites are the painters. The poor need low-cost housing—white America cannot paint that fact away.
NANCY MCMAHON Purchase, N.Y.
Sir: Deo gratias for Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle of Washington. As a Catholic, I am greatly excited about the idea of one of our prelates halting his building programs in order to use the funds to alleviate the immediate problems of the poor. For too long the ludicrous situation has existed where the poor have trudged from country hovels and slum cellars to worship in million-dollar edifices of stone, marble and gold leaf.
LORCAN J. BOWDEN
San Francisco
Trouble from the Tube