18 SEPTEMBER 1999, Page 29

Pogrom unparalleled

From Lord Moyne Sir: Paul Johnson, as a distinguished histo- rian, should know better than to suppose that the ethnic cleansing of the Ulster Protestants, if it occurred, would be 'the most ruthless and successful act of ethnic cleansing in modern European history' (And another thing, 11 September). There are only a million or so Ulster Protestants. In 1945-47 the German popu- lation of East Prussia, Danzig, Pomerania, Silesia and the Sudetenland, totalling about 16 million, was successfully expelled. A mil- lion or two died in the process, which surely makes the event qualify as ruthless. Cer- tainly nothing that has happened in Bosnia or Kosovo can compare with it.

Moyne

Penhallow Farmhouse, Truro, Cornwall