18th June 1940

First there was a very silly article by Simon Jenkins (one of a tranche of silly articles he has written) in the Guardian saying it was time to stop mentioning the Second World War because the Germans and other foreigners (or British people of foreign extraction) supposedly found it offensive.  Then there were letters to the Guardian and comments on the web agreeing with the Jenkins position.  Which makes me ask, from a moral point of view, how long do we need to keep mentioning the Second World War?

To reach that decision we need to go back to a statement made by the then Prime Minister in the House of Commons on 18th June 1940.

At that time our main ally France had been defeated and over-run, and was preparing to collaborate.  Russia had a peace treaty with the Germans and had shared in the looting and devastation of Poland.  The Americans were neutral and pretending the war was nothing to do with them.

In June 1940 the United Kingdom and its territories had the choice of continuing with the war (and risk losing everything), or reaching a settlement with the Germans.  There were many influential political voices saying the government must do a deal with the Germans.  If the matter had been put to a national referendum probably the majority would have voted for "peace".

As we know, the government decided to continue the war.  In his statement to the House of Commons on 18th June the then Prime Minister talked not only of national interest but also freedom, Christian civilisation, and the rights of small nations.  He also said that if the British people prevailed against the Germans and won the war their efforts would be remembered for a thousand years.

Therefore to answer Simon Jenkins we still have another nine hundred and twenty-four years to go.

I know this is a very literal interpretation.  Almost everyone who took part in the Second World War has died so we can probably disregard any idea of hurt feelings.  And I know we live in a world where everything is endlessly malleable and politicians tell so many lies that their dishonesty is regarded as a matter of course.

But for Simon Jenkins, or anyone else, to break the national pledge made on 18th June 1940 is a new low in an increasingly depraved pan-European society.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/22/britain-nazi-obsession-insecurity-history