Veterans Affairs tells Salon it intends to “preserve” swastikas in U.S. cemeteries
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- April 20, 2026 | 3 comments
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From the article: The headstones top the graves of two German POWs who died in 1943 as captives of the U.S. Army. Along with the soldiers’ names and dates of their births and deaths, the milk-white marble is engraved with a swastika in the center of an Iron Cross — the German army’s award for valor — and the phrase, “He died far from his home for the Führer, people and fatherland.”
Ok. They died far from their homeland. There should be some record of why they were caught, what they were doing when captured…. the military has records of everything, correct?
So why not annotate the grace markers? Place notices that these symbols represent a period of history that is shameful. I understand the VA’s position. I also am a human who feels very strongly that Nazism is an ideology whose time has passed. Humans have tried genocide more than once and it NEVER TURNS OUT WELL FOR ANYONE.
My concern is if the gravestones are just removed it will make these prisoners of war some kind of martyr for the Alt Right, um, NeoNazi, err, White Supremacists.
Whatever they are calling themselves these days, they don’t need any more air to feed their grievances. Annotate the hell out of history. Let our children know how We The People treat enemy combatants.
Oh – as for not wanting the gravestones removed because Some People will deny the Holocaust ever happened? That’s happening now and sad to say I’m related to some of them. ICK!!!’