France Today Not a Repeat of World War II

October 13, 1993

As a French foreign exchange student in America, I must respond to the article ``Anti-Foreign Measures Herald France's Retreat From the World,'' Sept. 29.

It is offensive that the author compares France today with France during the Nazi occupation. I am only 16, but I really feel bad about what happened during those years. The author is not implying that French people in general are more xenophobic but that they are racist. During the occupation, anti-Semitism was not xenophobia, it was one of the strongest forms of racism.

This is clearly not the France that I know. Lionel Gilot, Fayetteville, Ga.

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