Germany to pay over £50 million to preserve Auschwitz

[nick]

Germany is to pay more than £50 million to help preserve the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland where over a million Jews were exterminated during the Second World War.

The money will help preserve the rotting watchtowers, barracks and other buildings that testify to the greatest crime in history.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Fund was set up in 2009 to gather money to maintain the original camp. The camp was operated by the SS in occupied Poland during the Second World War until it was liberated on 27 January 1945 by Soviet troops. More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died in the camp's gas chambers or through forced labour, disease or starvation.

"Germany acknowledges its historic responsibility to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and to pass it on to future generations," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement. "Auschwitz-Birkenau is synonymous with the crimes of the Nazis. Today's memorial recalls these crimes."

Most urgently in need of repair are the 45 brick barracks of the women's camp in the Birkenau section of the camp.

"They are in tragic condition due to the method of their construction and due to the water that is washing away the ground where they were built. They are crumbling away and could collapse at any time," said a spokesman for the Auschwitz Museum.


Source (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8209875/Germany-to-pay-over-50-million-to-preserve-Auschwitz.html)

[Peace God]

They've got it all wrong...

Let it decay.
Turn it into a haunted house.
Profit.

[ShaneK]

Auschwitz is a poinant memorial for one of the greatest attrocities the world has ever known. It is only fitting that it be preserved as a reminder for people and future generations. Something like the WWII must never be allowed to happen again, what better symbol of this than Auschwitz?

[Suicune]

Something like the WWII must never be allowed to happen again, what better symbol of this than Auschwitz?

Hiroshima maybe.

But anyway, despite what has happened, they're doing the right thing by keeping it preserved.

[Perseus]

Hiroshima maybe.

But anyway, despite what has happened, they're doing the right thing by keeping it preserved.

Hiroshima was to save lives. Auschwitz was to go do the complete opposite.

[Sugaree]

Hiroshima was to save lives. Auschwitz was to go do the complete opposite.

Yet they still stand as powerful symbols to remind us of what could happen again.

I find it great that Germany is preserving this. Besides that it's a symbol of what should never happen, it is an important landmark in world history. Preserving it for future generations will keep the memory of the Holocaust victims alive and well for many many years to come. It's also a grieving place for those who did survive the death camp, and let's face it, how many of those people are left? Keeping that memory alive is beneficial to world peace.


Let it decay.
Turn it into a haunted house.
Profit.

"I am Adolf Hitler and I will be your tour gui - LOOK OUT! IT'S A BURNING JEW!"

[Tristin.]

i say preserve it, what better a deterant than auschwitz? iv been there and the atmosphere is soo eree. I say preserve it for the future, the only way to learn is from the past

[Amnesiac]

It's a good thing they're preserving it. Like it or not, the Holocaust stands as one of the worst genocides in human history. It's important that we keep these monuments to it to remind ourselves of how badly people can lose their basic common sense.

[Sugaree]

It's a good thing they're preserving it. Like it or not, the Holocaust stands as one of the worst genocides in human history. It's important that we keep these monuments to it to remind ourselves of how badly people can lose their basic common sense.

>implying the genocides in Rwanda and Africa were nothing important

Though the Holocaust is one of the worst genocides in history, I find that the genocides in Africa in the past two or so decades to be worse. But I suppose one nation capturing and killing people of other nation's it deems to be "filthy" is worse than a nation killing its own people.

[Amnesiac]

>implying the genocides in Rwanda and Africa were nothing important

Though the Holocaust is one of the worst genocides in history, I find that the genocides in Africa in the past two or so decades to be worse. But I suppose one nation capturing and killing people of other nation's it deems to be "filthy" is worse than a nation killing its own people.

I never implied those genocides weren't important as well, however, they're also different from the Holocaust as they're still going on. It's important we devote our resources to resolving conflicts in Africa as well as preserving monuments to past wars and genocides.

[Peace God]

I never implied those genocides weren't important as well, however, they're also different from the Holocaust as they're still going on. It's important we devote our resources to resolving conflicts in Africa as well as preserving monuments to past wars and genocides.
Who's "we"?

[Amnesiac]

Who's "we"?

The human race.

[TDjinN95]

Preserve it, period.

[goat]

The German people are to be commended for how they face up to their past. However, the rest of the world should face up to how they ignored clear signs of what was going an and lived in denial. More could have been done to help Jews escape. I strongly recommend the movie "The Hiding Place". Its a movie about a Dutch family that hid Jews during the occupation of Holland and were sent to a concentration camp after a neighbor turned them in. Only 1 of them survived, Corie Ten Boom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom She wrote the book and speaks at the end of the movie.

[Peace God]

The German people are to be commended for how they face up to their past.
Why? Modern German people have nothing to do with the 3rd Reich or the holocaust.

What about white people? Should they be condemned for their ancestor's actions too?

[lenny774]

It's great that they're able to do this, and not just fir the general public but the survivors and non survivors alike

[Sage]

However, the rest of the world should face up to how they ignored clear signs of what was going an and lived in denial.

The world was well aware of the danger of the Third Reich as early as the 1930s, it's because of the Great Depression that people couldn't do anything about it until later. Everybody was, frankly, just too poor to declare war.

[Philleeep]

sorry have to do this because i learnt it today in RE ;)

11 million died and 6 million of them were jews, the rest were disabled, homosexual or twins.

I say we preserve it to remind us of why we have a human rights act and why it should never happen again. If the government of germany wouldnt pay for the upkeep then the Elie Weiler organisation would.

Its a good thing.

[Sage]

11 million died and 6 million of them were jews, the rest were disabled, homosexual or twins.

Or communists, or gypsies... You're forgetting a lot of groups.

[Philleeep]

Or communists, or gypsies... You're forgetting a lot of groups.

i knew i was forgetting 2