HITLER’S REDEEMING QUALITY

Regarding “The Rape of Europa” (Book Review, June 12): It’s a mistake to assume that because a man is a psychopath and monster, he’s corrupt in every respect. Your reviewer states: “Hitler established an ambitious acquisition program--both for himself and for the Reich.” That’s incorrect.

Albert Speer, one of Hitler’s closest associates, states in “Inside the Third Reich”: “Hitler did not utilize his authority for his private ends. He did not keep in his own possession a single one of the paintings he acquired or confiscated in the occupied territories.”

It’s true that Hermann Goering stole paintings; but Speer reports that “Hitler was outraged by the way the Second Man in the State appropriated valuable works of art.”

CRAIG BROUDE, LOS ANGELES