Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

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Geoff Walden
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Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

#1

Post by Geoff Walden » 17 Apr 2014, 08:56

http://www.thelocal.de/20140416/petitio ... tiergarten

Petition fails to remove WWII Russian tanks

The German government rejected on Wednesday a call by two newspapers to remove Russian tanks from a World War II memorial in central Berlin in protest against spiralling tensions in Ukraine.

The German government rejected on Wednesday a call by two newspapers to remove Russian tanks from a World War II memorial in central Berlin in protest against spiralling tensions in Ukraine.

The top-selling daily Bild and local tabloid BZ launched a petition drive Tuesday to urge parliament to send a message to Moscow against last month's annexation of Crimean peninsula and the military build-up on Ukraine's eastern border.

However, Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy spokesman Georg Streiter quashed the bid Wednesday, noting that Berlin had signed a 1990 treaty with Russia pledging to "respect, maintain and care for" the Soviet war monuments in Germany in their current form.

"The German government complies with this commitment and honours this particular way of commemorating fallen Red Army soldiers," he told reporters.

The Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten park, one of three large Russian monuments in the German capital, is dedicated to the 80,000 Red Army troops killed during the Battle of Berlin in the spring of 1945.

It was erected just months after the end of World War II and stands near the Reichstag parliament building and the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of Germany's post-Cold War reunification.

The memorial features several columns, a giant statue of a Russian soldier and two T-34 tanks.

Germany's criticism of Russia during the crisis in Ukraine, a former Soviet state, has at times been muted by the countries' close trade ties but also by the weight of Berlin's war-time guilt.

An estimated 20 million Soviet citizens are believed to have died in the conflict unleashed by Nazi Germany.

Sid Guttridge
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Re: Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

#2

Post by Sid Guttridge » 17 Apr 2014, 12:00

Ridiculous proposition.

Firstly, there is absolutely no direct relationship between the two issues and, secondly, what difference is it likely to make to current Russian actions anyway?

This would be displacement activity of the most pathetic sort.

Sid.


MLW
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Re: Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

#3

Post by MLW » 17 Apr 2014, 13:26

Here is an interesting US report concerning the protection and condition of the WWII Soviet Tank memorial in the 1950s.

http://854534263155010103.weebly.com/up ... n_1952.pdf

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Geoff Walden
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Re: Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

#4

Post by Geoff Walden » 17 Apr 2014, 20:48

This troublesome tank and its plinth on the Potsdamer Chaussee were removed in 1955. See -

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/vatryk/view/703809?page=0 (LOTS of good pics here, including the offending graffiti and the US Constabulary forces on guard at the monument)

http://www.otherimages.biz/resultsframe ... imagepos=5

Also more on the meeting in 1952 -

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bi ... isize=text

Question - Was this the so-called "First Russian tank to enter Berlin," which was later displayed elsewhere, and then taken back to Russia when their forces left East Berlin after the fall of the Wall? (Sometimes one of the T34s at the memorial near the Tiergarten is described as this "first tank," but that's an error.)

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wenty
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Re: Petition to Remove Russian Tanks in Berlin

#5

Post by wenty » 20 Apr 2014, 03:44

That's the media for you. It just makes a good story. As has been said, the two situations have nothing to do with each other at all - the history and relics of wars past should be protected.

Cheers,
Adam.

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