August 3, 1986

WORLD WAR II continues to haunt the French. Unprepared, the French military capitulated almost immediately to Germany, and France was the only major European power to be occupied. The coming trial in Lyons of Klaus Barbie, the head of the Gestapo in that city, will resurrect France's deepest trauma: its noble and ignoble history during the German occupation. The Barbie affair, in particular the accusation that in 1943 he tortured and murdered Jean Moulin, the head of the French Resistance, has threatened to destroy the myth of the Resistance because of the claim that Moulin was betrayed by his fellows. Last month the public prosecutor of a French court ruled that three war crimes against Resistance fighters allegedly committed by Mr. Barbie fell into the category of crimes against humanity, which carry no statute of limitations. As a result, Mr. Barbie will be charged with those crimes, in addition to crimes against Jews: the deportation to death camps of almost 800 people, most of them Jews. A trial date is to be set this fall, and many observers expect the trial to take place early next year.

The leaders of six Commonwealth nations gathered here today to meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and step up their calls for her to put economic risk second to ''moral principle'' and end her opposition to sanctions against South Africa. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada called on Britain to change its position and exert its ''moral leadership'' so that the Commonwealth can ''rise above balance sheets and commercial trading matters.'' Heads of Government from Canada, India, Australia, Zimbabwe, the Bahamas and Zambia are to open an intensive three-day Commonwealth meeting on Sunday with Mrs. Thatcher, who has taken the lead with President Reagan in resisting world pressure to isolate the Pretoria Government economically. A Growing Sentiment The meeting comes against a background of growing sentiment in the United States Congress for action against Pretoria. On Friday, the Sentate Foreign Relations Committee voted, 15 to 2, for strict sanctions, including a ban on any new loans or investments by American businesses.

A Government scientist has reported the discovery of a hitherto unknown virus among AIDS patients. Other scientists say the finding has opened up wide possibilities that need to be explored in further research. The Government scientist, Dr. Shyh-Ching Lo, who works at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, said it was too soon to know what relationship, if any, the microbe has to AIDS, the lethal disease that paralyzes the immune system. The new virus is a large one. It has not been given a name and has never been found in any patients other than those with AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The virus appears to belong to a new family because it bears no relationship to any known virus, Dr. Lo said in a report in last week's issue of The American Journal of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

FOUR years ago, Paul W. Ogle visited his old hometown and was disheartened by what he saw. True, the Ohio River still looked as pretty as it did some 55 years ago when his big band, the Royal Dictators, played aboard cruise boats. But the town itself had become old and weak.

A confrontation seemed to be looming today between a bipartisan group of Senators and the Reagan Administration over Congressional access to sensitive papers written by William H. Rehnquist when he was a high-ranking Justice Department official in the Nixon Administration. At a meeting on Capitol Hill late Friday, the Senators gave department representatives a revised, more narrowly focused request for opinions and memorandums written by Mr. Rehnquist, the Associate Justice who is President Reagan's nominee to be Chief Justice of the United States. An earlier, broader request was rejected Thursday by the President under the doctrine that the executive has the privilege of withholding information from Congress or the courts to guard the confidentiality of executive branch deliberations, the reason cited in this case, or to protect national security. No Need 'to Change Position' But today a spokesman for the Justice Department said officials would probably not comply with the new request.

MORE than 200 high school football and basketball players scheduled to receive athletic scholarships to college this year have failed to meet new minimum academic standards and thus are ineligible to compete, according to a New York Times survey of Division I colleges and universities. About one out of every 20 athletes selected for scholarships in each of those two sports failed to meet the standards, including some of the most sought-after high school players in the country. The total could climb much higher, with other would-be college athletes in a kind of limbo because, the survey found, their colleges have yet to receive proof that the athletes have met the requirements. The new standards, approved by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1983 but not effective until now, require athletes to attain a minimum grade average in a core curriculum of high school courses and to meet minimum test scores on either of the national aptitude tests to be eligible for competition. The survey, which dealt only with male football and basketball players, found that nearly all of those who are ineligible had a sufficient grade point average but did not score high enough on either the American College Test or the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Such athletes may receive scholarships, even though they cannot compete in their freshman year.

It so happens that two of the first people I ever met in Washington were Duncan Phillips and his wife, Marjorie. With his pencil-thin silhouette, his very high collar, his even higher brow, his luxuriant mustache and his ever straight and ardent gaze, he was an impressive figure. He was not, however, a man who talked about himself. If someone at the table implied that the Museum of Modern Art in New York had done a job without precedent when it opened in 1929, he said nothing. And if someone else implied that, as far as great painting was concerned, Washington, D.C., had been a desert before the National Gallery of Art opened in 1941, he did not demur.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee took a step last week toward the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa. After defeating a proposal to mandate the withdrawal of all American investment from South Africa, it approved other sanctions by a bipartisan vote of 15-2.

IN the six months since the Court of Appeals struck down the payment of a ''flip tax'' by New York City co-op owners, there has been consternation and uncertainty in the co-op community. Not surprisingly, the Court of Appeals decision triggered lawsuits by sellers seeking refunds. It also created a problem for cooperative corporations, many of which were fearful that they might have to take on additional financing to be able to return money that had already been spent. Last month, the State Legislature apparently thought it had solved the problem when it passed a bill, signed by Governor Cuomo July 24, intended to overcome the weaknesses that led the Court of Appeals decision.

WITH two and a half years remaining in his Presidency, Ronald Reagan appears to have concluded that if he is to leave a legacy in foreign policy it will be in the achievement of significant arms accords with Moscow and a more realistic relationship between the superpowers. In recent weeks, the President's tone toward Moscow has been conciliatory. He has said repeatedly that the United States and the Soviet Union may now be at ''a turning point'' on the road toward signficant arms control agreements. And he added the other day that the two sides were now engaged in ''a work plan'' for preparatory meetings ''that could lead to a productive summit later this year.''

For more than 30 years, a 2 1/2-story brick building in Lynbrook, L.I., served as the village hall. Then the Nassau County District Court moved in, helping to preserve the 55-year-old structure for more than a decade.

Spurring Growth Overseas Last week, the Government, reporting the trade deficit's continuing record-breaking pace, again entreated America's trade partners to stimulate their economies to make room for more American goods. Some economists say it may not be too much longer before some nations take such action. ''But they will do it primarily because they perceive it as being in their own interest,'' said Lawrence A. Veit, an economist with Brown Brothers Harriman & Company. West Germany, says Mr. Veit, has been reluctant up to now to cut its discount rate. Such a move, it says, would expand its money supply - already growing above targeted ranges - and destabilize its currency, which has been trading low. Now ''there is evidence that the money supply is growing less fast over the past month,'' said Mr. Veit, ''and the Deutsche mark is stronger.'' As for Japan, he said, ''the new finance minister is reportedly much more willing to use fiscal incentives than his predecessors - and he may choose to do so with a supplemental budget this fall.''