Sir: I have been reading, with growing con- cern, the
correspondence, articles and com- ments which resulted from the ill-advised and rather immature article by William Cash which had the appearance of anti- Semitism ('Kings of the deal', 29 October).
It is interesting that in none of the articles, even in the excellent background piece by Dominic Lawson himself (Taboo or not taboo, that is the question', 19 November), was there any comment about the swift reac- tion today against anything that might appear to be tinged by an anti-Semitic brush.
In 1932, when Hitler was elected, and 1933 when he came to absolute power and commenced his horrific attack on the Jews, the world stood by and did not believe it. Even German Jews whose families had been living in whatever was Germany then, for hundreds of years prior to 1871, could not believe that they, who had served in the first world war and received medals and decorations from the Emperor, could possi- bly be singled out by anyone for no other reason but that they were Jewish.
Concentration camps were opened, but nobody believed they existed. I, as a refugee in London in 1938, working at Woburn House, was not believed when I said that such terrible things were happen- ing in Germany.
Even after the Kristallnacht on 10 November 1938, there were some doubts, except by great thinkers like Winston Churchill.
The message took too long to sink in, the reaction was too slow, and that slowness brought about the second world war and the persecution of the Jews which we all know resulted in 6 million dead, not counting the soldiers of the Allies who gave their lives to eliminate from Germany Hitler's philosophy.
All this resulted in a reaction which still exists today and one hopes will exist for ever. Jews have become thin-skinned towards anyone making anti-Semitic com- ments, or anyone attacking Jews just because of their Jewishness, and the reac- tion is swift and all-embracing. That is how it must be.
That is the reason for the immediate reaction against William Cash, whom I do not know but believe not to be anti-Semitic, rather, a young journalist who tries to find things to write when very often they are irrelevant and of little importance.
I happen to know his father well and con- sider him a friend, and anybody who lcnows Bill Cash can rest assured that there is not a trace of feeling against one religion or another in this very courageous and inde- pendent individual. I could not possiblY imagine his son to be anti-Semitic, but that he is silly, ill-informed and inspired by the motive of journalistic one-upmanship, I have no doubt whatsoever.
I would be much happier if William Cash would simply acknowledge that he was wrong in the way his article was framed. Peter Frankel
Elmstead, Chapel Road, Limpsfield Common, Surrey
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