WWII recollections

On March 17 a letter by Alexander Morana from Toronto made very interesting reading. I do not know whether this gentleman is of an age to remember anything at all about the events prior and during World War II. If he is not old enough to remember, I am certain that most of the ideas about the events have been passed on to him by his ancestors, who must have definitely not been pro-British. I, and many other Maltese, have always cherished our connection with the British.

Almost every great European nation had colonies. Admittedly, conditions in the colonies were far from ideal, but the British were by far the least oppressive of all of them. If for nothing else, most Maltese can speak English, which is one of the reasons why hundreds of thousands of Maltese are scattered all over the former British Empire, especially Canada and Australia. Very few, if any, ever emigrated to any of the former Italian colonies such as Abyssinia or Libya. In fact, some even changed their name to make it sound more English.

The main reason why I am writing this letter is to find out from Mr Morana whether the British documents, which he says were made public in recent years, stating that the British were willing to surrender Malta to Benito Mussolini, on condition he did not join Adolf Hitler, really exist, and if so, where? I hope this is not just a figment of his imagination.

All this nonsense about a pro-Italian culture admired by so many Maltese, so many years ago, is just a red herring. I, for one, and most Maltese, admire immensely Italian culture in all its forms. What was worrying at the time was the pro-fascist culture. Many homes shamelessly displayed symbols of fascism, such as busts of Mussolini.

After the lapse of so many years, it would have been better if this polemic had not resurfaced. In recent years, governments have been boycotted by various groups, such as the hunters, etc. In order not to lose thousands of votes, the party in power has had to avoid stepping on their toes.

There are many thousands of former Constitutional Party members who are now within the Nationalist Party. Perhaps they choose to remain silent about this matter of erecting monuments at public expense at the moment but when it comes to casting their vote they may stand up to be counted. Maybe someone will come up with the idea of a Borg Pisani monument too!