To the Editor:

Your Feb 22 ''Lyons Journal'' on the regrets of Interpol for its shady past, omitted important facts about Interpol's past Nazi affiliations.

The Interpol hierarchy has had an unhealthy history of close connections to National Socialism. Not only did Interpol share its headquarters with the Gestapo during World War II, but it also officially operated as a division within the Nazi Security Police. Two Nazi war criminals, Reinhard Heydrich and then Ernst Kaltenbruner were the agency's wartime presidents.

The right-wing bias continued after the war. In 1963, Jean Nepote was elected Interpol's president. He had collaborated with France's collaborationist Vichy Government during the war. In 1968, Interpol elected Paul Dickopf as its president. Although it was discovered that he had been an SS officer in the war, having worked in the very villa where Interpol and the Gestapo were headquartered, he nevertheless remained president until 1972.

Although the current secretary general, Raymond E. Kendall, is well intentioned, Interpol's interest in Nazi war criminals during the crucial 1950's and 60's was nonetheless virtually nonexistent. Admitting its past mistakes is the first step in making Interpol the vaunted police organization that the public often perceives it to be.