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In these days when we are partners with Germany in the European Community, it must be difficult to realise the intensity of anti-German feeling that was generated by the government and the press during the war, particularly once the ‘phoney war’ was over. As a schoolboy, I and my schoolmates were somewhat at a loss as to how to find an outlet for this feeling. I am not sure that we realised at the time that the ‘Schuco’ clockwork toy cars we played with were of German origin; if we had, we would probably have ceremoniously destroyed them. As it was, we did discover that Opel cars were made in Germany and, what is more, with their characteristic badge and styling they were easy to identify. So, until our parents found out what we were up to, our contribution to the war effort comprised scouring the parked cars in neighbourhood streets for Opel cars; when we found an Opel, we fortunately stopped short of doing any actual damage, but we did release an amount of energy kicking the tyres and spitting on the bodywork!
Years later in the 1960s, when living in Denmark, I was sent on a business trip to Germany, and all the subconscious hatred was reawakened. I found I had to make an extreme effort to exorcise my war-time feelings and approach the German people with equanimity.

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