"Margaret Thatcher, growing up in a bombed and battered Britain, derived a distrust which has grown with the years not just of Germany but of all continental Europe"

This quote by Douglas Hurd speaks to the suspect that Margaret Thatcher had for continental Europe. Growing up in a Britain that had been bombed and damaged during World War II, Thatcher developed a deep-seated distrust of Germany and the rest of continental Europe. This distrust was likely rooted in the destruction and suffering that Britain had sustained during the war, and it only grew more powerful as Thatcher aged. This quote recommends that Thatcher's mistrust of continental Europe was an outcome of her experiences maturing in a war-torn Britain, which this wonder about just heightened as she grew older. It is a testament to the lasting impact of war and the power of individual experience in forming one's views.