Wow...yeah, that would assuredly attract the neo-nazi types...

Still, I wish there was something funny or cheeky I could say...but I can't...can only say I'm glad they're getting rid of them.

Amusing, wonder how many hidden symbols there are other than these left in Germany? Maybe they'll cut down the forest and discover the soil for several square miles forms a giant swastika.

Now they will have a clearing in the shape of a swastika.

I thought they would clear out the whole thing so that they would have a clearing in the shape of a square.

I can't understand why they're getting rid of them. Hitler's dead. And chopping down a bunch of trees that grow in a formation isn't going to make him any more dead.

The German members of IW can speak to this better than I can, but Germany has done its best to eradicate not only the last vestiges of Hitler, but of the Nazi movement as well. It's illegal to sell or promote Nazi-related things in Germany, which eBay and other auction sites have discovered presents a challenge.

By leaving a giant swastika in the trees, they're leaving a symbol of that which they're trying to eliminate. So it has to go... along with any other such symbols that they might find.

Killing a person is easy. Killing an idea is hard. If you want proof, and treading as lightly as possible around forbidden subjects, consider the actions of a certain Jewish carpenter's son from a few years ago. He was only in the forefront of things for about three years, according to related texts... and his ideas have had quite an impact since then.

*sighs and hopes this doesn't go off-target*

Bungleau is quite correct. I think it's actually quite hard to overstate the sense of shame many German's still feel about this period - the tree has to go [img]smile.gif[/img]

Agreed with Shamrock and Bungleau here, as long as Germans, and everyone else for that matter, still understand and continue to be taught what Nazis were about.

Disagree completely. All this hullabaloo gives the whole thing more credibility than it deserves. It's a few trees.

As for eradicating any remnants of the Nazi ideas, I find that as offensive as the Nazis themselves, and I've long had issue with Germany in this regard. There is nothing so sacred as freedom of speech and ideas. If the ideas are wrong, the court of public opinion will kill them, the law doesn't need to.

And now we've all talked about Nazis 1,000,000,000% more today than we would have if they'd have just shut the hell up about those poor trees.