I STARTED this week watching some of the events to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 and an end to the Nazi Holocaust that had led to the extermination of more than six million people, mainly Jews but also Roma Gypsies, Christians and many more.

What happened in Auschwitz and many other camps to the Jewish people of Europe must serve as a lesson to all who call themselves “civilised” and must never be forgotten.

These acts of remembrance starting the week bring me to Brexit Day today, and I remembered the efforts of post-World War Two leaders who vowed to make Europe a better place by bringing European nations together, starting with the Council of Europe.

Giants like Konrad Adenauer, himself a prisoner of the Nazis; Robert Schuman, France; Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgium; Alcide de Gasperi, Italy; Ernest Bevin and Winston Churchill, much to the chagrin of some Tories. Their efforts had been frustrated by the Soviets shutting off all land access to the Allied zones of Berlin, but as we know the Allies responded with a massive airlift to supply the residents of West Berlin, totting up more than 300,000 flights from 1948-49, which would be a major achievement today with modern air traffic control.

The other and completely unintended spin-off was that it endeared the Allies to the defeated German in the street.

I remember a Berliner telling me: “In 1945 those planes were blowing and burning us to bits, yet months later they were risking their lives to feed us and keep us warm.”

The Soviets admitted defeat on May 12 1949 and the Council of Europe was agreed on August 12 1949. From this we progressed to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), but even by this stage some now well-known anti-Europe “red tops” were stirring-up their Little Englander approach to Europe. They were still at during Brexit. One of them being the posh “red-top” that had advocated support for Nazi Germany in the mid 30s!!!

The UK never joined the ECSC or its natural evolution the European Economic Community (EEC), for by this time the UK was a financial and industrial mess. Eventually the UK was allowed in, but the SNP had grave doubts about the Common Agriculture and Fisheries Policies (CAP and CFP). But as other social benefits including workers’ rights were introduced, the SNP saw that there were real benefits for all, and right up to the end we hoped that the CAP and CFP could be renegotiated. However, Wastemonster was determined to protect the City of London casino, which always trumped any other proposal.

I will not be celebrating tonight and I will not be listening to more lies from Bojo, Farage or Gove, who gave as his reason for ditching the EU that it caused his father to lose his fish business when the truth was that Gove senior sold up; just another lie.

I will be sorry to see the end of freedom of movement, the ban on genetically modified food, the end of the Erasmus scheme and much, much more, but most of I will worry about the almost inevitable damage to the Good Friday Agreement.

I will continue to proudly fly my EU flag, and as 23:00 strikes I will be belting out Ode to Joy as high as my amplifier will go and looking forward to the day when Scotland rejoins the EU as an independent European nation.

Charlie Gallagher
Sullom, Shetland

FARAGE and his tiny, drooping flag on a little plastic stick, gurning up at a camera lens, says 100% of everything about Brexit and what Brexit represents and what Brexit means for our future…

Amanda Baker
Edinburgh