Horrors of persecution.

HERE'S my thoughts on Boris Johnson's misrepresentation of European history.

I was born in 1933, the year that Hitler seized power after democratic elections. I grew up with the images of the Nuremberg rallies where Hitler promised the German people simple solutions to the perceived injustices of the Versailles treaty of 1919. His message was simple: 'Give us back our stolen lands',' 'Reinstate greater Germany', and 'Let us create a pure Arian race'. Hardly the messages emerging in the modern EU whatever its faults.

I grew into a teenager during the Second World War, experiencing the bombing of Coventry and Birmingham and all its horrors. During this period I also grew to know a Jewish family of intellectuals who lived near to us and who had fled Austria in 1938 after the Anschluss when Nazi officials stole all their possessions in return for an exit visa. Their university professor father taught me classics and also a great deal about the persecution of the Jews and the nature of central European politics - real life memories that have never left me.

I was there, Mr Johnson wasn't, so perhaps he has chosen to misrepresent modern history based on a personal latterday interpretation of his lectures at one of our most prestigious university colleges.

The future of the UK perhaps needs an advocacy based on truth not fanciful delusions designed to appeal to the worst instincts of some within our society. Fortunately, our nation has always believed in the principle of tolerance and fair play and hopefully it will remember this on Thursday, June 23.

Dr Richard Etheridge BSc, CENG, FIET Marsden