FOR KSJ Hill’s information, the UK declared war on Germany in 1939 not simply because the Nazis had invaded Poland, but also because that country was an ally of ours and we respected the treaty, as they would have, I dare say.

This was not, therefore, a matter of “fighting other people’s wars”.

Besides, on what authority does he claim we “were not threatened by the Germans” – or that we would not soon have been?

He may also care to note, in passing, that his letter was printed on the date that Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) began at sunset, as indicated on my multilingual calendar, printed in Germany, now part of a fairly free and civilised Europe, as it happens.

DAVID DIMENT Riverside Court Oxford