Another Hitler Question

[Ironweed]

I have no clue who has the "right" of this issue, so I'm pestering y'all with an article that ran in my local paper (apparently re-printed from the Washington Post), that generated a rather sharp letter to the editor from a German veteran of WW2. (How the heck did he wind up in CT? I have no idea.) Somebody is full of beans here, and I'm just curious who is. No source listed for the story in the original article, but that typically wouldn't happen in an op-ed piece. Thoughts?

Note to the mods: I think the letter was short enough to reproduce in full? If not, please edit it. Thanks.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op...artapr18.story

Be Careful What You Knock Down
April 18, 2003
Adam Michnik

Nothing is less permanent than monuments.

In September of 1946, the great Polish sculptor Xawery Dunikowski was traveling through Silesia, a southern province of Poland that had recently been part of the Third Reich. One of the Nazis' customs was to construct monuments to Adolf Hitler in every city, town and settlement. That September, every city, town and settlement was haunted by disfigured stumps of the pedestals that had once supported busts of the German chancellor. Dunikowski started to reflect upon the condition of his profession and the nature of the world. And then he said: "Nothing is less permanent than monuments."

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/le...artapr24.story

Which Statues Were Toppled?

I appreciate The Courant's efforts to present us with other opinions on its op-ed page, but The Courant should also scrutinize them before publication. Case in point: "Be Careful What You Knock Down" [April 18] by Adam Michnik.

Mr. Michnik tries to compare the toppling of Saddam Hussein statues with the toppling of Adolf Hitler statues and writes about a trip through Silesia in 1946: "One of the Nazis' customs was to construct monuments to Adolf Hitler in every city, town and settlement."

But Germany never had any such monuments of Adolf Hitler. Not trusting my memories alone, I have checked with more than two dozen Germans from every corner of the former Reich, including Silesia. The consensus: There never were any public monuments of Hitler. Germany had statues of Bismarck, Fredrick the Great and others, but never of Hitler. Mr. Michnik's tale is pure fabrication; worse than that, it is misinformation.

Mr. Michnik's article was originally printed in The Washington Post. Perhaps such a piece can go unchallenged in the informational smog of that big city, but here, in the rarified air of Hartford, such misinformation is caught immediately - if not by The Courant, then by its readers.

Tido H. Holtkamp
Avon

The writer served with the German navy during World War II.

[RedLine99]

I don't recall ever seeing a statue of Hitler. Even at the museums in Berlin and Munich that i have visited.

Besides...he was a painter.

[Sulla the Dictator]

While I do not know of any statues of Hitler, I have seen many BUSTS of Hitler, including some in WWII footage.

And of course, pictures and photographs everywhere.

[Cd.]

Originally posted by Ironweed

Note to the mods: I think the letter was short enough to reproduce in full? If not, please edit it. Thanks.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op...artapr18.story




http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/le...artapr24.story

Feel free to do so. The Evil Bossman is mostly conserned about copywright infrindgemnets but the rules of the History Forum are less strictly observed.