We have passed the 100^th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the beginning of the interwar years, the events of which brought my parents, Alex and Essie together. Despite the futility and lethal vanity of these historical events it is also brings opportunities and new beginnings.

Today, 11 November 2018 is the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War.

I have mixed feelings about this day as I am sure many have. In my mind no one has summed up the conflict better than Wilfred Owen in Dulce et Decorum Est:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

 

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

 

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

 

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

 

This not only summons up the futility of war but this war in particular which was the apotheosis of European wars with European powers having been enriched by their colonial possessions vying for top dog status.

It could be argued that this war was not satisfactorily concluded and required a second war to bring about full catharsis. Nevertheless the number of soldiers needlessly sacrificed had a profound effect on Britain and accelerated Her decline as a major power.

My Grandparents on my father’s side were more affected by the Russian Revolution, which along with the First World War was a symptom of a World in transition.

They were based in Kiev, They were Jews although not especially religious. My Grandfather moved to Gdansk (Danzig) on the Baltic in 1921 when my father was a baby to start a business importing tea most probably because the regime establishing itself in the Ukraine was dangerous to business and the middle class.

My Great Grandparents and the rest of the family moved from Kiev to Kazimierz Dolny in Poland where ultimately they were exterminated by the Nazis.

The terms of peace after the First World War meant that Danzig was no longer part of the Weimar Republic but became a Free City under the auspices of the League of Nations.

The City was populated mostly by Germans and a minority of Poles with whom my family identified. My Grandfather employed many Germans and my father went to a local German Gymnasium (Grammar school) where many of his mostly German friends joined the Hitler Youth. Father was assaulted on a number of occasions.

Ironically my Grandparents’ lives were saved by an ex-employee who had joined the SS and had the grace to tell them to flee when they were in imminent danger of arrest.

Dad, Alex came to England in 1938 to learn the language and work in the British side of the business. War broke out and Father was rejected by the Polish Air Force in Exile for not being Polish enough. Through his ex English tutor from Gdansk he was able to join the RAF and there he met my Mother, Essie.

Despite owing our existence as a family to Hitler, Stalin and Clive of India (another story) there is residual grief in the family as a result of the upheavals of the early 20^th Century. Nevertheless these events created new allegiances from humble families to new nations.

As we pass the 100^th Anniversary of the cessation of hostilities of “the war to end all wars” and as we enjoy nearly three quarters of a century of relative peace in Europe we must turn our concern to the future for our children and grandchildren.

I feel that their challenge will be to stem the on-going destruction of the environment and to head off the danger that competition between nations for dwindling resources is bringing.

By Jonathan Lawrence