Criticising the actions of our forefathers is unwarranted

DR. CARR and her apparatchiks have without question, a down on the Bailiwick and those of us who lived through the Occupation. With their revisionist theories they seem hell bent on proving that we were either Quislings, collaborators or even Holocaust deniers. So to save them a lot of trouble, I hold up my hands and admit here and now that I was a collaborator. We had German soldiers stationed in the house behind ours and I was always in and out of their billet. They used to let me play with their weapons and I even accepted food from them. Now I know that even though I was only four years old at the time that is still, in some people’s eyes, inexcusable but one did what one did to survive. So Dr. Carr can, if she wants, stand me up alongside the then Bailiff, Sir Victor Carey, and use me for target practice. But she won’t though, will she? She only snipes at the dead as they can’t answer back and I’m still alive. Well I think so. It’s all too easy with the power of hindsight to criticise the actions of our forefathers but I wonder, how would our gallant band of historians have behaved back in the day had they had to deal with the German authorities? It is easier to hold on to your principles, even to the point of martyrdom, if you are acting on your own behalf but if you are acting with the interest of others in mind then that I believe is a different story. Should you be prepared to let thousands suffer because of your personal beliefs or should you act for the common good?