Randy Haskin wrote:
tom d. friedman wrote:
being jewish i have always questioned why anybody would want to portray or wear an ss uniform at an air show or military history gathering. it makes me wonder what lurks in the back of their heads.
I'm equally as bothered as the people who what to make that all go away and pretend it does not exist.
Recently I visited a museum in Munich that had a substantial aircraft collection....except it seemed to largely ignore that the years 1939-1944 ever existed. The Bf-109 and Me-262 displayed without Swastikas smacked of revisionist history to me.
So what if the Reich stood for evil and committed immense cruelty during its reign....it happened, regardless. Pretending it didn't by hiding the symbols of its existance doesn't help us "never forget".
That was the German Technical Museum, Randy? I visited last year, particularly with interest in their 'what about W.W.II' bit. I take your point, but also -
To be fair, there's a bit more historical context to the German public display on W.W.II - d@mned if they do, d@mned if they don't show the W.W.II era. I don't think it's so much a lack of will to address the issue, more that it is such a contentious arena there simply isn't the consensus to do so, yet. Bearing in mind the fuss over the
Enola Gay displays in the US, imagine what that kind of argument would be like
if the US had
lost the war and other countries were adding their victorious views? (NB: This is
JUST a comparative exercise, and isn't anything to do with restrictions on freedom of speech, or fascism or their criteria.)
Incidentally the Munich collection is an excellent
technical display of W.W.II era hardware, and a) must be seen in conjunction with the outstation at Oberslissheim (sp) and b) with the fact that most of the W.W.II era aircraft are imports (many in their donor countries colours) due to the original museum in Berlin being bombed to waste, destroying the Dornier Do X among others, and the rest of the collection being lost or sent to Poland (where much of it still is) and c) that the museum is a science and technology museum, not a war museum.
I think most Germans are
very aware of W.W.II and their role in it - better than most citizens of the victorious nations or the Japanese, certainly. The Germans went through a 'hair shirt' history, particularly in Eastern Germany, and some of the overbearing nature of some of these proscriptions have fed the modern German fascist movements recruitment.
Oh, and the British are always reminding them, as you'll find if you travel in the UK with a German. Not a nice experience.
Quote:
Displaying the swastika in Germany- even in a historical context such as a restored aircraft, is ILLEGAL under German law. It is not revisionist in that way- they are not trying to deny/hide that the period happened with their aircraft, just trying to keep them legal. I believe it is also illegal in Austria, for the same reason.
Not quite true. German registered
airworthy aircraft certainly can't. Museum aircraft
can, and elsewhere to the Munich German Science Museum, there are aircraft on display that do have swastikas on the tail - all recent (last decade or so) restorations, I think. However, my
guess is that these restorations date to the period when putting a swastika on a museum aircraft was either illegal or impolitic. Now, of course, they're in a double bind - they get castigated for leaving them off (by Randy!) and would get a hammering for putting them on (endorsing / resurrecting Nazism etc.)
Interesting thread, and I like Mustangdriver's point!
Cheers
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It was quite funny to me that I actually felt more useful on the ground than flying circles and jinking around up in the air (trying to avoid flak). And it was really neat to hear the guys talk and hear what they thought they were doing. I'd probably do it with them again if given the opportunity (I don't spend big bucks on the gear).
You gotta admit, seldom does anyone list that as their primary reason for being involved.
