A very good idea.
Being myself a fan of historic machinery(this including, but not limited to, classic automobiles & World Wars weapons) I can only praise the determination and the technical skill this gentleman had.
However, there is a thing that
must be outlined:
Despite the suffering of the Soviet(including Ukrainian) population because of the German invasion, despite the long rule of Communism(which plenty of people still think it has been a sound idea), the Ukrainian authorities and the propaganda machinery did not deter the builder from painting the historically correct markings on the airplane, this including but not limited to the Hakenkreuz.
While the American company which had built the modern copies of the Me-262 did not dare to mark them with the Hakenkreuz. (And plenty of hypocrites around, beginning with Moderator Timo Worst, approved).
The thread on the Me-262 is here:
http://www.thirdreichforum.com/phpBB2/v ... php?t=1377
locked as expectable. My comments are on the second page.
I've said plenty of times that Communist(and post-Communist) regimes, despite their publicizing of the "monstrosity of the Hitlerian regime", did never dare to bring it to the level the Western propaganda machinery did and won't be limited to it. Nobody answered. Despite this, I'm going to say it again, and I'm going to say it until you'll know it by heart: with all the natural hatred the Communists had for the Hitlerian Third Reich, they did not do what Hollyweird does. Not even the fiercest Communist (Ehrenburg himself was not a CP member therefore he doesn't count) ever compared to a guy named Steven Spielberg(and to plenty of bastards like him).
Now since few people will be tempted to follow the link above, I'll repost below my Off-Topic(!?) comments, up to date:
"I prefer it Historically Correct than Politically Correct.
In Romania and other former Eastern Bloc countries, the model airplanes can have any historical markings(which is irrelevant, because most model kits available on the market are low-quality Russian ones, which have wrong markings and details anyway). The fact is that Political Correctness does not apply to this mere level of nitpicking as in West.
The reasons may be deeper, however. Up to 1990, the Communist regime did not allow for any serious info outside the official line to be published about the pre-1945 times. About the military operations of the Royal Romanian Army, only Stalingrad was quoted - to show how "Fascists lost". After the 1970s, President Ceausescu had allowed a certain degree of relaxation - for example the historical novel authors were allowed to describe Marshal Antonescu as "being a misled victim", therefore humanizing his image.
After 1990, the sides had changed - the period from August 1944 to May 1945 was suddenly forgotten. The authors, journalists etc began to spoke about the deeds of the Romanian military forces in the Anti-Soviet War, which was an expectable reaction against the former Communism - a way to show that we were not communized without defending our interests first. After all, the Soviet Union had been openly our enemy for decades - first Bessarabia, that the military occupation, then the economical harassment etc. This led to the re-positioning of the heroes of the Anti-Soviet War on their rightful places. There were even streets to bear the name of Marshal Antonescu, and statues of him built.
Neither in Communism, nor afterwards, had been the Holocaust publicized - just a few paragraphs in books dealing with the war. Thoughtcrimes Laws did not exist as such - just some obscure and never enforced articles of the Criminal Code dealing with "propaganda for totalitarian systems".
Suddenly, this spring some events happened:
1. a low-level journalist had made a documentary trying to show that Romanians are Anti-Semites; to the question of the TV moderator "How can be Anti-Semitism where there are almost no Jews?" he answered by showing a poll in which the people asked on the street what Holocaust was, answered "I don't exactly know, something about Hitler and war". The documentary had been broadcasted at an inconvenient hour, so I can bet neither Victor, nor other Romanian members here had seen it.
2. very soon after, US Ambassador Michael Guest had held a speech in which he condemned the "cult of Fascist war criminals";
3. soon after #2, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase had tried to impose a Government Order banning the "signs displaying extremist political doctrines" and stuff,
in all public places except museums.
4: the historical magazines suddenly changed their tone; in articles dealing with the Eastern War appeared "disclaimers" telling that "we did not want war, we were forced into it". It's obvious what did provoke this change.
What I wished to outline is the fact that the Political Correct noose had already begun to tighten even around our necks, here in Romania, where we enjoyed the illusion of "free" speech for a decade. Thoughtcrimes are not allowed to remain unpunished, not even here. I bet soon the Hackenkreuz markings on the models will vanish here as well. "
Now I expect this thread to be also locked.
Big deal. Another similar event will happen. Maybe after a month, after a year, whenever.
Until then, the ostriches around are free to dig their heads into sand.
~Regards,
Ovidius
