Chapter 4 Chapter 1 Fun childhood stories in border towns (2)

One day my father bought our family's first radio, a Philips that is still sometimes found in less fancy antique shops.Knowing my father's plan to buy a radio, I ran home from school excitedly.I was not disappointed, radio changed our lives.Since the advent of the radio, the rhythm of our lives is no longer just the Rotary Club, church and our store, but the news broadcast on the radio.And not just news.During the war, after the 9 o'clock news on Sundays, there was an "after-broadcast commentary," a short feature talk, often presented by J. B. Priestley, who had a peculiar genius for turning the left The views are packaged so tightly that they sound like a northern family philosophy.Sometimes it was given by an American journalist named Quentin Reynolds, who derisively referred to Hitler by one of his family surnames, calling him "Mr. Hicklergruber."There is a column called "Think Tank" which is an hour-long discussion on current affairs by four intellectuals, most notably Professor C.E.M. Joad, whose answer to any question is " It depends on what you mean by . . .There's a Friday night discussion series called "Meet" hosted by Norman Burkett and others.I love the "It's Him Again" radio comedy series and its still useful jingle, and its characters, like the melancholy maid "Mona Lauter" and its gimmick: "Have fun, have fun in."

Radio broadcasts were very timely for important events, especially those about battles.Such broadcasts have been felt especially deeply by many families.I remember sitting by the radio with my family over Christmas dinner one year, listening to the King's 1939 Christmas message.We knew full well he was struggling with his language barrier, and we knew it was live broadcast.I thought he must have been upset because he knew he was going to be doing a radio talk and not having Christmas dinner.I remember him reciting the following quote in slow tones: I said to the people standing at the gate of the New Year: "Give me a lamp so that I can walk safely into the unknown world."

He replied, "Go out into the dark world and let God hold your hand, which is brighter than a lamp and safer than the road you know." I was nearly fourteen when the Great War broke out, and I was able to understand the background of the war and knew a lot about it.During the next six years I closely followed the major events of the war.I don't know enough about the political world of the 1930s.But some things remain in memory, such as the years of the Great Depression.This was the first but not the last economic catastrophe caused by faulty monetary policy.Grantham was less affected by the disaster, but nearby agricultural areas were more affected, while towns in the heavily industrialized north were more affected.Most of Grantham's factories were still open, the largest being Ruston and Hornsby, which produced locomotives, steam engines or tractors.Our town also attracted new investment, some of which my father won.Our family's business remains stable: people have to eat, and our shop is very good at running.The people in the town are clearly divided into two parts. Those who receive a monthly salary, which is what people call "white-collar" employees today, live a relatively stable life; unstable.On my way to school, there was always a long line at the labor market, where people were either looking for work or asking for benefits.We are lucky that no one in our family or friends is out of a job, and naturally, someone we know is out of work.And we remember, and we never forget, how neatly dressed the children of unemployed families were.Their parents were determined to make the necessary sacrifices.In the towns and cities of the East Midlands the spirit of self-reliance and independence is strong, even among the poorest.This means that they never break away from the ranks of residents here.Those who can give silently what they can, and Grantham's resident community remains cohesive.Looking back, I realize even more what a wonderful place Grantham was.

So I grew up without a sense of class divides and class conflicts.Even in the years of the Great Depression, there are many things that bind us together.The royal family is certainly a factor.And our family, like many families, is extremely proud of the Empire.We feel that the Empire brings law, good administration, and order to other lands, things that would never have been known to the people there otherwise.I used to be filled with romantic fantasies of what we English could do to those remote countries and continents.As a child, I listened with curiosity to a story told by a Methodist minister.He said he was working with a tribe in Central America that was so backward they didn't have a script to write their language and he created script for them.Later, I seriously considered going to India as a civil servant.The Indian Empire is, in my opinion, one of Britain's greatest achievements. (I have no interest in being a civil servant in England.) When I discussed this with my father, he said that by the time I did join the Indian civil service, perhaps the Indian civil service would no longer exist.Facts have shown that his words are very prophetic.

As for the international situation, anyone's memory of the 1930s is largely shaped by later events, and so is the memory of children.But, as I recall, my parents expressed concern about the weakness of the League of Nations when it failed to support Abyssinia when it was invaded by Italy in 1935.We have great mistrust of dictators. We didn't know much about the ideologies of communism and fascism at the time.However, my father was not like a lot of conservative people.Some people who supported Franco argued that the Fascist regime should be supported, believing that this was the only way to defeat Communism.My father vehemently opposed this view.He believed that a free society was better than either system.I quickly established this belief myself.We had our own opinion of Hitler before war was declared.Watching a newsreel in a movie theater, disgusted and incomprehensible by the blackshirts swaggering at their rallies.This is very different from our suave, self-restrained civilian life.We also learn a great deal of savage and absurd facts about the fascist regime by reading it.

All of this doesn't mean we don't think war with dictators isn't a dire prospect.This prospect should be avoided if possible.We have a bunch of magazines in our attic with some famous pictures of the Great War, a group of British soldiers, blinded by muon gas, are walking to a healing station, each with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them people lead the way.We hoped for the best and prepared for the worst.Back in September 1938, when the Munich Agreement was signed, my mother and I had bought many yards of fabric for bombing windows.My father put a lot of energy into organizing the air defense of the town.He later said that "ARP" (an acronym for Air Defense Measures) stood for Alf Roberts' Purgatory (an abbreviation of his name).Since air defense takes up so much of his time, he has no time for other things.

Perhaps the most pervasive myth of the 1930s was the claim that the right, not the left, was most enthusiastic about appeasement, judging from my own experience in a politically highly right-leaning family, and from what I can remember when the Germans had entered Prague Looking at how Labor actually voted against conscription at the time, I can't swallow that view.But it's important to remember that the atmosphere of appeasement was strong and people's political views were limited. The wide-ranging impact of this issue was shown in the 1935 general election.I was 10 years old and got my political workout in this election.The facts will show that our family was originally a political family.Politics is also fun, despite the serious obligation involved.I was too young to be promoting my father's candidacy for city council.But I got a job folding those bright red leaflets promoting Sir Victor Warlund, the Conservative candidate.The red color of the flyer stained my wet fingers.Someone said, "That's Mrs. Warlund's lipstick." Sir Victor's election is very important, I firmly believe that.On election day, a big part of my job was to word-of-mouth the voting situation between the Conservative Party committee office and the polling station (our school).In the end, our candidate was elected, although our majority was reduced from 16,000 to 6,000.

I didn't understand the arguments about rearmament and the League of Nations at the time.It was a tough campaign, with "Vote for Peace" activists competing against the backdrop of the Abyssinian War.Later, when I was a teenager, I would often argue bitterly with other Conservatives about whether Baldwin misled voters in the election campaign, which is widely believed to have failed to inform them of the dangers facing the country.In fact, had the National Coalition not been re-elected to power in that election, there would have been no possibility at all that the revival should have been faster; if Labor had come to power, it would probably have done worse.It was impossible for the League of Nations to prevent the outbreak of the war.

We have mixed feelings about the Munich agreement of 1938, as do many opponents of appeasement.At the time, people were pushed in two directions, one or the other.On the one hand, we are quite clear about Hitler's regime or his intentions, especially our family has personal experience.Hitler outlawed the Rotary Club in Germany, and my father always thought that was the highest reward a Rotary Club could get.We learn that dictators cannot tolerate voluntary organizations that organize civil society, such as Burke's "Squads," nor individual rights within the bounds of the law.Dr. Roche was of German descent and probably the best doctor in town.He got a lot of news from Germany, and told my father about it, and my father discussed the matter with me.

I have my own awareness of Hitler.There is a fish fillet shop near our house that I often go to for our family's Friday supper.People lining up there often form a nice forum.The subject of one debate was Hitler.One said that Hitler had at least given the Germans some respect and made the trains on time.I vehemently disagreed with this view, and some people older than me were appalled and no doubt annoyed.The lady who opened the store smiled and said, "Oh, she's always debating." Our family was especially aware of Hitler's mistreatment of Jews.Our school encourages students to establish pen pal relationships with foreign students.My pen pal is a French girl named Claire.God, I didn't keep in touch with her.My sister's pen pal was an Austrian Jew named Etis. In March 1938 Hitler annexed Austria.Her father was a banker and wrote to my father asking if we could take care of his daughter.He had clearly foreseen the development of events.We have to run the store, and we don't have the time or the means to do it alone.But my father was supported by the Rotary Club of Grantham, and Edith came to our town and lived in rotation from house to house until she went to South America to live with her relatives.She is 17 years old, tall, beautiful, and well-dressed. It looks like she comes from a well-to-do family, and she can speak English very well.She tells us about the living conditions of Jews under an anti-Semitic regime.One incident she told sticks in my mind: Jews were sent to scrub the streets.

We want an end to Hitler's evil, including war if necessary.From this point of view, the Munich agreement is nothing to be proud of.We know that Britain acquiesced in treason against Czechoslovakia because of the Munich agreement. Fifty years later, I visited Czechoslovakia as Prime Minister and spoke to the Federal Parliament in Prague.I said, "We did not stand by you in 1938 when Hitler's disastrous policy of appeasement wiped out your independence. Although Churchill quickly scrapped the Munich agreement, we still have the memory of shame." That is the worst form of foreign policy when it comes to the territory of other countries. But at the same time, we remember the sad situation in which Britain and France were unprepared for a major war.During the Munich crisis, when war seemed so imminent for a time, we were relieved when it was announced that the crisis was resolved and that there was no more war.Unfortunately, some people were duped by German propaganda into believing that Hitler was defending the Germans in the Sudetenland oppressed by the Czechs.We cannot have the support of all the Dominions if we go to war then. When the Germans dismembered what was left of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, almost everyone realized that appeasement had been a disaster and that war had to be fought to thwart Hitler's ambitions.Even then, Labor voted against conscription in the following month's vote.There was also strong anti-war sentiment in Grantham: many in the Methodist Church opposed the government conscription in May 1939.And, right up to and even after the outbreak of war, the pacifists continued to promote their cause in the town. War is still coming to us soon. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. At 11 am on Sunday, September 3, according to the British ultimatum, the Germans should withdraw their troops. We stood by the radio and waited, but Hitler refused to withdraw.It was the only Sunday in my teenage years when I didn't go to church.Neville Chamberlain's fateful speech was broadcast live from the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street.He told us the war had begun. By this time, people will naturally ask themselves how things have come to such an ordinary state.My father checks out two books from the library every week, a "serious" book for himself (and me) to read, and a novel for my mother to read.Turns out I was reading books that girls my age generally don't read.It didn't take long for me to know what I liked to read, that is, books about politics or international affairs.For example, I read John Strachey's The Coming Struggle for Power.First published in 1932, the book predicted that capitalism would soon be replaced by socialism.Many in my generation found this book exciting and original. But my nature and my upbringing make me a "true" Conservative.No matter how much left-wing books I read, no matter how much left-wing commentary I listen to, my political beliefs have never hesitated.It might not be trendy for me to say that.But I've always had a clear sense of myself, even though I have some amazing friends in politics who are often internally shocked about where they stand and why they take them, even though it took me many years to understand the context of the political philosophy I believe in.In that regard, it now appears that I am unusual.In the 1930s and 1940s, the left dominated the political agenda, although this was glossed over when Churchill led the government during the war.Many books published during this period show this.The left wing has described the right wing as appeasers, and the propaganda has been quite successful.Most notable among them is Victor Golanz's left-wing book club, the so-called "Yellow Books".One book was particularly influential: The Sinner, co-written with Michael Foote and authored under the pseudonym "Ketu", was published shortly after the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. After the signing of the Munich Agreement in the fall of 1938, Robert Bruce Lockhart's best-selling book Weapons or Cream? "publishing.Lockhart traveled throughout Europe, going to Austria (under Nazi control) and later to Germany during the period of Hitler's triumph.He is reported to have been told by the editor of a national German newspaper, "Germany needs peace, but she needs peace on her terms." The book ends with, "The neat footsteps of 2,000 The sound" woke author Lockhart, who looked out of the window, and in the misty dawn, "Nazi Germany has moved." A more original book on the same subject is Douglas Reed's Field of Madness.This book left a deep impression on me.Reed witnessed the persecution of Jews as the Nazi influence expanded.He described the character and psychology of the Nazi leaders, sometimes eccentric, sometimes gaffe, sometimes scheming.He analyzed and thoroughly condemned the appeasement policy adopted by Britain and France to pave the way for Hitler.Written on the eve of the annexation of Austria, this book is very prophetic. German communist Richard Klopos wrote Out of the Night under the pseudonym Jan Walting.Future congressman Dennis Kendall lent the book to my father, it was a difficult read, and my father wouldn't let me read it, hiding the book in a bookcase.But he didn't make it, and while he was out for a meeting, I took it out of the bookcase and read it.Indeed, this book is not suitable for a 16-year-old girl to read.It's full of gruesome descriptions of totalitarianism, with scenes of sexual abuse and violence, and the author's authority makes it all the more chilling to read.The appalling nature of the abuse the victims suffered by the Nazis is certainly a powerful theme. I was particularly influenced by The Age of Splendor by the American Herbert Agar, published in 1944.This book is a wonderfully powerful analysis of how the moral decay of the West enabled Hitler's rise and led to the wars that followed.It calls for a return to Western liberal-democratic values, and there are quite a few descriptions of left-wing social activism, which I don't really like.For me, the book's significance lies in its message that the struggle against Hitler has the meaning of defending civilization and human destiny, which transcends national interests, spheres of influence, access to raw materials, or other conflicts of power politics , although these conflicts are also significant. Aga also wrote that as part of the moral revival that had to take place after the war, what he called the "Negro Question" had to be addressed.I've never heard of this issue before.No Negroes lived in Grantham, although I had seen Negroes when I visited London.Our friend once invited two GIs stationed in Grantham, one white and one black, to tea.They were surprised to find that the relationship between the two soldiers was tense and even hostile to each other.We were equally surprised afterwards when our friends told us about it.Such prejudices are simply unexperienced and unimaginable to us. Like any other girl in the war years, I read Barbara Cartland's Ronald Cartland.The book describes the life of her brother, a young idealistic Conservative MP who had been opposed to appeasement and who died in the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940.This book is in many ways the most romantic book she has ever written.It is a powerful testament to those who firmly believe that it is not only necessary but right to wage this war.In the short life of the protagonist, his thoughts and understandings are consistent, which I will always admire.But about the moral implications of the fear and suffering that people endured in this war.Or in the case of our home in Grantham, with the monotony and lack of materiality we encounter with war, Richard Hillary's "The Last Enemy" perhaps conveys this message best , People read it for a long time and can't forget it.The author, a young airman, describes how the war claimed the lives of many of his friends and, in less than a year, his life as well.He also described the struggle as a struggle within people.It's a struggle for a normal, slightly better life. The generation that came out of the Great War, unlike Richard Hillary, had a desire to put things right, for themselves, their country, and the world.In my later associations with older political colleagues, I found that those who participated in the Great War changed.What people don't often understand is that war has a profound effect on people like me, if not as deeply as the people who fought in it.I am old enough to be able to understand the events of the war, but not to have served in the military myself.The generation that grew up in war was a serious generation.But we view the catastrophe of war differently, and therefore are affected differently.For example, it affects me differently than many others.They believed that the "lesson" of war was that the state must assume the primary role in national life and that the spirit of collective action must be evoked in both peace and war.I never think so. The "lesson" I learned was very different.First, life in Grantham before the war was decent and healthy.Their values ​​are forged by the population, not the government.The second point is that since a developed country like Germany, which believes in Christianity and is rich in cultural traditions, can also fall under Hitler's hands.Civilization should not be dismissed as a natural thing, it must be constantly cultivated, which means that righteous people must maintain their beliefs.Third, I draw the obvious political conclusion that the appeasement of dictators leads to war.This kind of thinking comes from wrongly motivated people, like the Grantham Methodist pacifists, but also from people with bad motives.Regardless of whether it is a big or small matter, it is impossible to leave common sense.Finally, I must admit that I have such a patriotic belief that with a leader like Winston Churchill, as we hear from the radio, there is little that the British people cannot do. Before I went to Oxford in 1943,.Our wartime life in Grantham was like that of countless other families.There is always volunteer work of one kind or another in places like service restaurants.Our minds were on the front lines, and we hungrily picked up every piece of news we could get our hands on.We are safer ourselves, and are grateful for that.But we know that we are effectively placed on the sidelines.However, we were also bombed, and our town was bombed 21 times by the Germans, killing 78 people.The town's munitions factory, the British Manufacturing and Research Corporation, was an obvious target.The factory, which had come to the town in 1938, was located at the junction of the Northern Railway and the Northern Railway, and our house was within a few hundred yards of the railway line.My father often went out at night as an air defense watchman.When the air raid came, we hid under the table and crawled out after the all-clear.We don't have a garden, so there are no bomb shelters outside.Once, my friends and I were on our way home from school when a German plane came, and we put on gas masks and ran under a big tree to take shelter. After our town was bombed in January 1941, I asked my father if I could go and see the damage, and he wouldn't let me.Twenty-two people were killed in that air raid.We are very worried about my sister Muriel who works in Birmingham where she works day and night at the plastic surgery hospital.Birmingham was heavily bombed. Grantham actually played a much more important role then, I didn't know it then.The Fifth Bomber Command is based here.Many plans to bomb Germany were drawn up from a large house on Harrowby Road.Their officers' mess is in Elm Hall on Elmer Street, which I used to pass by when I went to school.The Dambust took off from near Grantham.My dad once met Guy Gibson, their squadron commander.I always thought the Harris bomber unit that was stationed at Grantham early in the war didn't get the credit it deserved.I still remember the letter Winston Churchill wrote to Harris at the end of the war: For more than two years, Bomber Command single-handedly fought the war into the heart of Germany, brought hope to the peoples of occupied Europe, and gave the enemy a taste of the power of those who were rising and fighting. All your military operations were carefully planned, carried out against desperate resistance and staggering danger, and made a decisive contribution to the eventual defeat of Germany.Your military operations demonstrate the fiery valor of your airmen and the high sense of responsibility of those under your command.I am confident that Bomber Command's tremendous accomplishments will forever be remembered as an example of the high spirit with which the mission was accomplished. Winston Churchill Politics, at least in Grantham, were not static during the war years. Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 dramatically changed left-wing attitudes to the war.The voice of the pacifist fell silent suddenly.Anglo-Soviet friendship organizations developed rapidly.We attended the Anglo-Soviet Friendship Evening at Town Hall, albeit feeling a little unnatural.The party introduced the sufferings and bravery shown by the Russians in Stalingrad from 1942 to 1943. These introductions have a great influence on us. It can now be seen that Hitler's attack on Russia in June 1941 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into the war in December, sowed the seeds of Germany's eventual defeat, but the news at the time was generally bad, especially In early 1942.He almost certainly said it had an effect on the result of the Grantham by-election on 27 February 1942.That by-election was due to the vacancy that arose after Victor Warrender was promoted to Lord Brentisfield into the House of Lords and became spokesman for the Navy.The desirability of our town being the first constituency during the war to reject a candidate put forward by the government was doubtful.Dennis Kendall is running as an independent against the Conservative Party's candidate, Sir Arthur Longmore.Kendall's campaign was popular, and he cleverly used his position as managing director of Max UK to emphasize that the production support war was going all-in, and that the work needed to be driven by "pragmatic" people.To our surprise, he won by a majority of only 367 votes.Conservatives have remained poised since.Carefully analyzing the few by-elections, we should realize that in 1945 the socialists were likely to win a landslide victory in the election. I usually do very little campaigning as I am nervously preparing for my entrance exams, which I hope to study at Somerville College, Oxford.In the evenings I had to study desperately Latin, which was a compulsory subject for the entrance examination.Latin was not taught at our school, but luckily our new principal, Ms. Gillies, a classics scholar, found me a Latin teacher at the boys' school.She also lent me books.There is a textbook written by her father.The intense preparations distracted me from the increasingly depressing news of the war, especially the series of blows in the Far East, the loss of Malaya, the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Resistance, the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore, The retreat from Burma, the Japanese threat to Australia, etc. One evening in the spring of 1942, I went for a walk with my father and I asked him when and how the war would end; he was very calm and he said, "We don't know how it will end, nor when it will end, but there is no doubt, We shall prevail." Despite my efforts to get into Somerville College, I didn't get the scholarship I needed.It's not surprising because I'm only 17, but it's still a shock.I knew that if I hadn't been able to go to university in 1943, I would have had to do a two-year "wartime diploma" because at 20 I would be called up for National Service.But I had no choice but to enter the third year of the sixth grade in the autumn of 1943 and became one of the two female guardians of the school.Suddenly there came a telegram offering me a place at Somerville College in October.One freshman did not register.In this way, I suddenly found before me the exciting and daunting prospect of leaving home, almost for the first time, into a completely different world.