AJN fell in with other publications and governments of the time. The world ignored the plight of the Jews prior to and during most of World War II. It was a different time and we were a different people. It wasn't only AJN that failed to publicize the genocide in Germany but also the Vatican, other European countries, and the United States.

AJN's support of the post-war needs of nurses in the war-torn countries was appropriate. But maybe four or five years after the war, AJN should have, as the author suggests, published articles on the crimes committed by nurses during the war and reported on their war crime trials.

Where is AJN now? It and other nursing journals have published articles by soldiers and nurses about the nursing care provided to troops and civilians in the Middle East. But what is AJN doing to support nurses who refuse orders to force-feed (via nasogastric tube feeding) prisoners in Guantanamo Bay on hunger strikes? What did military nurses say about waterboarding and other interrogation techniques? And what were the consequences if they voiced opposition to those techniques? Yes, where was and is AJN?

Suzanne Brugman, MSN, RN, CNS

Whittier, CA

Editor's Note: AJN seeks to provide varying perspectives on nursing during wartime, actively seeking nurses who will tell credible stories about their experiences. Unfortunately, one of the main difficulties in trying to learn about these experiences is in finding people willing to discuss them on the record.