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Lydia Rivlin		April 25, 2002

In the digest of Edwin Black's book the author says that "The war broke out on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland." I would like to point something out. The war did not 'break out'. It was declared--by the British government. Why is it so difficult for most North Americans to admit that it was a horrified but unprepared Britain which rushed to arms to honour a treaty with Poland? Britain, already nervous about the way Germany was treating its own citizens felt duty bound to keep this pact even though the government of the day realized that it was a conflict which would probably bankrupt its huge empire. While the US sat back and debated which side it should support-- and companies such as IBM and Ford enriched themselves-- Britain fought on alone for two years before a direct attack forced America to weigh in on her side. Had it not been for Britain's heroism and quite literally its self-sacrifice, I doubt I would be here today to write this letter and certainly the whole world would have been much worse for the Jewish people as well as everyone else. Although they ignore it, all Americans and American Jews in particular owe Britain a very great debt of honour.
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