Planes with covert ownership or false registrations were supposed to have landed in Prague at least 20 times. Czech Television, for example, repeatedly offered us a story of how there were abducted persons on board, transported to countries where they face the threat of being tortured. We all know that the United States is in a "war against terrorism." The Czech Republic did not declare war on anybody, but nevertheless remains a U.S. ally. A military alliance means not only cooperation between armies and general staffs, but also between the secret services. And since these services really are secret (in order to be at least somewhat effective in their activities), their cooperation is secret as well. As a naive loyal citizen I don't want to know anything about this cooperation. Without being secret, their work would be pointless. And thus, being simply curious, I can only ask: Why didn't the planes land more discreetly, for example at Czech Air Force bases at Prague–Kbely or Čáslav, and why was anyone present at Ruzyně at the time of their landing able to take photos of these planes, Macháček asks.

Nazi Germany destroyed our state in March 1939; the war brought hatred, which was understandable, writes Emanuel Mandler in Lidové noviny April 7.

Sixty years after World War II, some of the hatred has disappeared and some has persisted. We have learned, at a time when our country is at peace, that there are containers with the remains of 4,000 German soldiers stored in Ústí nad Labem.

After the war, German soldiers were on the run from Wehrmacht and were hiding from Soviet soldiers and from Czech citizens. They were regarded as culprits and were interned and killed. This could have been justifiable if they were SS officers and also given the hatred that was present just after the war.

Sixty years after the war, it's different: There is a presumption of innocence for dead soldiers. They were forced to go fight and nobody asked them whether or not they wanted to. The soldier either survives with honor or dies. Dead German soldiers deserve peace in our lands as war victims do anywhere else in the world.

Yet, despite the fact that Czech society is different now, some hatred remains. How does it persist? There exists an old political party, the communists, whose activity has always been based on hatred. The communists don't even want to give peace to those 4,000 dead German soldiers. From the start, the communist press remained faithful to its tradition and changed 4,000 dead soldiers to 4,000 members of the SS unit. If we believed in spiteful demagogy it wouldn't be possible to bury those soldiers.

European tradition demands from us the ability to forgive all in death. If we were successful in the case of 4,000 dead German soldiers, it would also benefit us. The ability to forgive is something that our society still can't muster.