THE BELSEN TRIALS
SIR,—Thousands of people must be grateful to " Janus " for his para- graph on the Belsen trials. It is maddening to see these accounts day by day when the guilt and horror has been already abundantly proved, and to feel what a bad impression our peculiar views of " justice" must be making throughout the world. I am now seeing something of a Jersey woman, on the island during the occupation—she saw the bare-footed Russian prisoners flogged through the streets•—and they all were aware of the numbers who died under the intolerable treatment they received. She is very bitter at our mistaken " softness." She says the British soldiers on landing had to protect island " Quislings " and informers— one of these known to her had by her " information " caused the death of two islanders at the hands of the Germans, and while being " pro- tected " by us was actually hiding a German soldier in her house.
We seem now to take torture, sadism and cruelty of all kinds as inevitable, and our trades unionists and others who are so ready to condemn " profit motive " have themselves been blatantly out for profit all through the war. We even submit tamely to our tormented P.o.W.'s from Japan and the Far East being delayed in their home-coming by the greed of our dockers.
Our misplaced desire to give German criminals a chance to escape justice makes the ordinary fair-minded man and woman furious. The longer the powers that be dawdle in coming to a verdict the more likely it is to be lenient.—Yours gratefully, L. W. KEMPSON. St. John's, Moat Road, East Grinstead.
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