Cut Down Hitler's Tree?
Tuesday June 23, 2009
Officials in the Polish town of Jaslo have a dilemma. They would like to cut down a 40-foot oak tree standing in a location where a planned roundabout would improve road safety. However, many in the town would like to save the tree. The tree apparently was brought to the town in 1942 as a gift from Adolf Hitler on Hitler's birthday. Two years later, the Nazis nearly razed the entire town. Many in the town wonder why they should bother keeping a tree with such a horrible history; while others say the tree is innocent of any crimes.
Comments
Let the tree not be cut. After all, it is not its fault that Hitler had gifted it. For 40 years, it has been an environmental asset to the community. Let it continue to exist. Perhaps it could be relocated. Giant machines are now available for digging out and relocating trees with a very high survival percentage. Best of luck.
No the tree should not be cut,as it is a great natural asset to the environment & planet.
If that evil thought comes/becomes decisive then by that parameter the entire austian nation should be wiped of from planet as Herr
Fuhrer was born in Austria.
Is it a shrine in Poland which is being workshipped by any one ?
Just build the roundabout around the tree, let it stand in the middle
I agree with Noleen, that was my first reaction. Design the roundabout so that the tree can be a centerpiece, an interesting “landmark” for the town. It shows imagination on the part of the designers and town planners to keep the tree in the middle of a road way.
On May 1st 1933 the NSDAP took over the International Labor Day and made it the “Celebration Day of National Work”.
Part of the celebrations throughout the country was the broadcast of Hitler’s speech at the central state in Berlin, with demonstrations, music and acrobatic performances, military exercises and a final night with gigantic fireworks. With this symbolic act, the Nazis wanted to delight the masses for their takeover of government.
Hitler planted a tree, the “Hindenburg oak” on the Tempelhof field in Berlin. This ‘propaganda tree’ was cut barely four weeks later by unknown persons.In many other places of the German Reich were also planted trees, the so-called Hitler oaks, during the “Maifeierlichkeiten” (May Celebrations).
Cutting down the tree was then a political and symbolic protest. But nowadays they don’t need to cut down a tree. The plant is not responsible for the crimes of the German National Socialists.
i agree about constructing the roundabout with the tree intact. it should be a no-brainer.
it’s not the tree’s fault.
Leave the tree we have cut down too many already.. the tree is just a tree!