But don’t forget that the British Leftists prior to WWII were anti-Hitler because they were pro-Stalin, not because they were pro-Britain. Once the Hitler-Stalin pact happened, in September of 1939, they were against the British war effort, since Hitler was now Uncle Joe’s new buddy. Then when Hitler attacked Stalin, they all turned against Hitler again. So it was not really a very pretty picture back then, either.

The German Studies department at her school would probably greeted the onset of the war by running seminars focused on the oppresson of Germany by the British and French. The causes of the war would have been identified as Churchill’s belligerence and French lust for coal.

If I get over to England again, I am going to go to Bletchley Park to pay my respects to the people who broke Enigma and saved thousands of Allied lives, and among other things, sent dozens of u-boats to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Are we encouraging people to stick with their Arabic studies these days, in the same way Miss Lever was encouraged to stick with German? I don’t think we are, but we ought to be.