From News Nation:
“Headstones
with swastikas removed from Nazi POW graves in San Antonio”
The graves of
two Nazi prisoners of war who died in Texas during World War II are now gone
from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio after years of
controversy. The headstones of German prisoners Alfred P. Kafka and Georg Forst
were removed without prior notice at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23, according
to San Antonio Express-News. The Jewish War Veterans of the United of States of
America, called the removal “the last gasp of the Third Reich,” while Michael
L. “Mikey” Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom
Foundation also praised the decision, calling the presence of the headstones,
“not merely an eyesore, it was an assault on everything that is decent and
moral and ethical.” The foundation began its campaign for the removal last May,
but the Department of Veterans Affairs declined, saying it had a responsibility
to protect historic resources, even ones that are divisive. The two headstones
showed a modified Iron Cross, which had a swastika in the center of a cross —
they also contained a German inscription reading, “He died far from his home
for the Führer, people and fatherland.” The headstones, which have been at Fort
Same since 1947, have courted calls for removal for several years. Southern
Poverty Law Center fellow, Eric Ward, said back in May: “The VA’s defense of
the swastika — the preeminent symbol of antisemitism — only gives oxygen to the
white nationalist movement.” Many Texan members of Congress supported the
removal, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Will Hurd and Kay Granger. In June,
the VA announced all imagery related to Nazism and Adolf Hitler would be
removed from the Fort Sam and Fort Douglas Post Cemetery in Utah, where there’s
one other swastika-bearing headstone. Rep. Henry Cuellar, of Laredo, compared
the debate over the headstone removal to that of debates over images of the
Confederacy — while noting a key difference, in his opinion. “They’re both
offensive, but this one is foreign country, foreign symbol — foreign symbol for
a regime that killed so many of our soldiers and caused misery to a lot of
families that lost soldiers during World War II,” said Cuellar. The VA
explained the unannounced removal was to prevent it from becoming a media
event, and out of respect for the cemetery. The department reports there are
133 German POWs buried at the site. It’s not yet known if the headstone in Utah
has been removed.
^ This wrong has
finally been righted. ^
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