From Germany’s Frankfurter Rundschau: On Obama’s Speech, and the Nazi Past of the Victory Column …
The controversy over Barack Obama’s upcoming speech in Berlin just keeps on going.
Now that the decision has been made not to hold the speech near the Brandenburg Gate, moving it instead down the road from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column, some German politicians argue that because the Tower was moved to its present location by Hitler, it, too, is the wrong location for Obama’s speech.
With evident exasperation, Stephan Hebel writes for Germany’s Frankfurter Rundschau:
“We recommend blowing it up! And not just the Victory Column! Berlin was Hitler’s capitol and so it’s impossible to find any historically untainted place.”
By Stephan Hebel
Translated By Suzann Angelow
July 20, 2008
Germany – Frankfurter Rundschau – Original Article (German)
When he visits us this week, the most promising candidate for the U.S. presidency will deliver a keynote address on the principles of his foreign policy. This is a great expression of high regard. But many of those who have been following the German debate about Barack Obama’s appearance have come to a more-surprising explanation of why he’s here: Perhaps the candidate enjoys visiting us so much because there’s so much to laugh about in our country.
Probably nowhere else in the world would people debate the correct location for such a speech with such seriousness. The latest news: some second and third tier politicians have now realized that Berlin’s Victory Column , the place where Obama intends to deliver his speech, possesses a martial past – from the Nazi period no less.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
-
RememberNovember
-
Neocon
-
DLS
