germany to donate 60 million euro for auschwitz upkeep

BERLIN -- Germany will contribute €60 million ($87.2 million) to a new endowment for the Auschwitz memorial in Poland, half the money preservationists say they need for upkeep and repairs at the site of the Nazis´ most notorious concentration camp.​

United Jerusalem - - Israel-News Today -- 12/17/2009

 

After all these reports of war related camps, bases, etc having to shut down due to lack of funding, it's good to hear of this.

 

Lets make sure we keep that memory alive, and that we can show exactly what can happen under a dictatorship with the wrong leader.

 

That was nice that the German government is continuing to preserve Auchwitz. It's important the next generations will continue to understand the horrors of the holocaust. And that there will be less idiots like Ahmadinejad (iranian president) who denies the holocaust ever happened.

suzie

 

Does japan ever donate anything

 

Good move by the German government.

 

Looks like (as the other post points out) the donation should have been made earlier, and a little better security paid for. Loss of the iconic sign over the gate is deplorable.

 

I don't know about the government but Japanese war veterans especially those like Hiro Onada have started charities whose aim is to help people who live in areas the IJA conquered.

 

They feel that perhaps they can make up for the war, huh?

Well good on them for trying and I hope that it works.

 

That who can make up for the war? The Japanese?

Asking a veteran to apologize for serving for his country, that isn't right. (excluding war criminals, talking strictly of regular soldiers)

 

That's not what I meant, in every war there are casualites, and with every war a lot of those casualties are civilian, and in the Pacific war, the Japanese have a bad reputation for causing high causalities not directly connected to the war, including POW's. So for them to attempt to repair this view of a Japanese soldier of ww2 they need to show that they are regretful for the destruction they deliberately caused on civilian populations, show for them to assist in rebuilding these countries whether it be direct funding or simply giving them a hand it shows courage on there behalf to revisit these sites and assist in any way they can, even with these charities.

Just like the US and the Atomic bombs, there should be something to show there regret for all the innocent people that died, not the fact that it helped win the war, but just in terms of the civilians.

 

good move

 

Ahh I understand now, I don't think much is happening on the official level but on the smaller at times more personal level as stated above people have attempted to do things to "give back" to the communities affected by the war in Asia.

Even in the west when we look at the Pacific theater, there is a lot we can do. For instance, there has been controversy since the war ended about the contaminated war supplies used by some island natives. These water supplies were contaminated either through the sinking of ships, planes, etc or through things coming out of bases.

 

I remember reading something about the contamination of water due to the army simply dumping all there excess war materials into the ocean, it is a shame.

In some instances sunken ships, tanks or even aircraft can have a great effect on the marine life, giving the creatures room to 'build' new houses and it just works wonders. I remember also watching this film about these bunch of guys who deliberately sank a b-747 liner into a lake to give the fish more space. They had to build a tripod underneath it so they didn't damage any life forms currently there.

However at the same time, if there is any diesel, or paint, or any type of ammunition left under the sea it could cause trouble as well.

 

True, although if they aren't properly stripped first they can have devastating effects on the marine life. In the US they do this as well, in New York it is done with old train cars, in a more "national" scale old battleships and the like are stripped and detonated out at sea. I have trouble seeing how such objects can contaminate the environment they are placed in. (wouldn't they begin to corrode eventually?)

 

Well you can look at the Titanic as an example of what happens to a metal ship under the world for 100 or so years.