Right to free speech

I feel duty-bound to come to the aid of Mrs Petitt, who was so mercilessly criticised by Dr Michael White and David Quarrie (Letters, April 5) for daring to report on the anti-British versus pro-German bias which she encountered when on a recent foreign holiday.

Mrs Petitt was, after all, only exercising her right to free speech. Something we would have lost had we not beaten the Germans in two world wars last century.

Dr White and Mr Quarrie will no doubt criticise me when I say that I was horrified to learn that there may be some Germans buried in La Delivrande British Cemetery in France, where my husband lies with his comrades who were mown down by a German Panzer Division on Sword Beach in Normandy in June 1944. The nearness of German graves could be one of the reasons why I have never felt able to visit my husband's grave - to my everlasting regret, and no doubt to the astonishment of Dr White and David Quarrie.

Ida Mary Goodrick,

Woodlands Avenue,

Tadcaster.

...How much I agree with David Quarrie's remarks regarding the hospitality people receive when visiting Germany (Letters April 5).

I have had the pleasure of visiting Munster twice through a church exchange.

On each occasion their friendliness and generosity was outstanding. I believe they actually subsidised our outing.

A nation should not be judged by some unpleasant people; even we in England have some folk we would rather not know.

Lilian Bramfitt,

Lawnswood Drive,

York

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