Christian Spirit

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

A Special to the New York Times called my attention to the Editorial in the Harvard CRIMSON which ". . . . attacked the university corporation for permitting the name of a German chaplain to appear on a memorial to the 697 students, alumni, and faculty who died in World War II."

The writer of that editorial could not have been present at the dedication of the memorial. He would have known that the blunder did not lie in the addition of the name of the German soldier, but in the fact, which must have shocked many people that Sunday morning, that the German chaplain's name carried the totally irrelevant addition "enemy casualty." It might have been appropriate to omit the name altogether, but anyone who heard the hymns, readings, prayers and sermon that morning would have noted the great contradiction between the meanings and any inscription which would remind those dedicating the memorial that this man remained an enemy even in death. One need accept neither the cynical policy that it is time to rearm Germany if we would be "saved," nor a sentimental attitude of forgive and forget, to believe that a memorial in a Christian church, dedicated in the spirit of a Christian philosophy of life, should be free of the spirit and connotations of the word "enemy." Sincerely yours,   Robert C. Baldwin   Professor of Philosophy   University of Connecticut