I read with interest Mario Dingli's letter (August 15) regarding the German offer to rebuild the Opera House after the war. My late father, who lived through the war years and well beyond, when quizzed about the remains, recalled that between 1945 and 1948 there was a sizeable community of German soldiers in Malta waiting for repatriation. They were not really prisoners of war as they did have restricted access to the immediate areas of Pembroke where they were quartered. They had a lot of time on their hands (their sculptures and other works of art are today very much sought after by collectors) and offered to rebuild the Opera House.

Their offer was not taken up because the then fledgling General Workers' Union had objected, claiming they would be usurping work which would otherwise be given to Maltese workers!