'Jarring' Nazi headstones removed from Fort Sam Houston

[TexasTowelie]

SAN ANTONIO -- A pair of headstones bearing Nazi swastikas were removed from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery on Wednesday, the final chapter in a long controversy over whether the grave markers were historical artifacts worth preserving or emblems of hate that should be destroyed.

Led by the cemetery director, Aubrey David, several workers went to the site of graves for German prisoners of war Alfred P. Kafka and Georg Forst at around 8:15 a.m. It took a little more than an hour for the crew to replace the two headstones.

David shot photos with a mobile phone as the crew removed and replaced the memorials.

The founder and president of a civil rights group that mounted a nationwide campaign to take down the gravestones called the action an early Christmas present.

Read more: https://www.lmtonline.com/news/local/article/Nazi-headstones-removed-at-Fort-Sam-15824562.php
(Laredo Morning Times)

[3Hotdogs]

1. Winners of wars get to write the history. Did the deceased believe in their country, no matter how

dishonorable their cause? Should their belief be honored in their death?

This one is gray. I knew an Austrian P.O.W. who was inducted into the German army. He was captured at the Battle of the Bulge and sent to Indian Town Gap, Pa. He stayed in the U.S. after the war and became a public school teacher in N.J. If he had died at the Gap, I don't know what symbol he would have wanted on his headstone.


But no matter. These were soldiers who fought for what they believed. I believe the symbols should have remained.


Somehow, feckless is the term I would use to describe the V.A. for removing the stones.

[needledriver]

2. The symbols I see on American military headstones are usually religious.

Not political symbols. You don’t see headstones with donkeys or elephants on them! Unless you think naziism was a religion why would you bury someone with a swastika on their headstone?

[Chainfire]

4. My Grandfather, born in Alabama during the Civil War, died 1927

Has, "Gone but not forgotten" on his headstone. Should that be removed as well?

[needledriver]

5. I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that.

Is your grandfather buried in a Federal military cemetery?

[Chainfire]

7. There is a reason you may not have gotten it, Gone but not forgotten

had a double meaning in the South. The slogan referred to the lost cause of the Confederacy. Of course, on a tombstone, the message reflected that lost cause as well as being a statement that he would be missed. It was a wink and nod among those who knew the code.
So, in fact, his headstone was, by design, a Confederate monument.


You don't get to pick where you came from.

[Paladin]

3. I'm afraid I have mixed feelings on this one.

On one hand, my late father told me of a couple of German POWs who worked for him at a medical lab in San Antonio, during the war years. He said they were first-rate workers who had good technical skills and who never posed any disciplinary problems. Perhaps one or both of those individuals are the subject of this controversy.

On the other hand, I had an uncle who fought the Nazis all across Europe, gaining several decorations for valor. I thought the world of my uncle. He's buried there at Fort Sam.

Like I say, mixed feelings...

[Chainfire]

8. And we should have mixed feelings on the subject

I think that the issue is a little more complicated than it first seems.

At some point, the denying of the past in the destruction of monuments we have to ask ourselves are we acting like ISIS when they were destroying ancient artifacts that did not meet their religious ideals. I don't know where lines should be drawn.

I want to make it clear that I don't support Fascist or Confederate monuments on public properties, but a tombstone probably should not be defaced because it doesn't meet our current political standards. A cemetery is not a place that is likely to offend anyone who isn't looking for a cause. It is not like you need to go to a cemetery to buy your marriage license or pay your taxes. We should probably consider that the people who were fighting the Fascist at the time apparently had no problem with the Germans marking their graves with their political symbols.

I collect WWII artifacts, but I will not own anything with Fascist markings on it. I don't want any Swastika in my house; it is a personal choice. It is not even a strictly rational choice, because I do have stuff with Soviet markings and I am not a big fan of the Soviets either...like I said, it is complicated.

[KatyMan]

6. While the question on whether

They should be buried there is up for debate (i don't think they should), there certainly shouldn't be swastikas on their gravestones.