In June 1940, my grandfather, an Italian-born Baptist minister of a church in Bromley, was arrested and interned on the Isle of Man as an “enemy alien”. Along with a great many of his fellow internees, his arrest and imprisonment without any form of trial or interrogation made him question the basis for his love of Britain and support for this country, and caused him to wonder if his belief in British “justice” had been misplaced.
Six months after his release, he wrote a fascinating (unpublished) account of his experiences of life as an internee, which includes the following: “We eagerly scanned all the papers for news about our prospects of release. The Manchester Guardian and the News Chronicle were favourites, for they had taken up our cause … we felt that all was not lost when it was still possible for anyone to take up the cause of ‘enemy aliens’ in the way in which these papers did.”
I offer this as further support for the Guardian newspaper, as it so rightly celebrates its bicentenary this year.
Mike Garnier
Bristol
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