Expellees, Nuremberg and the CIA

The following comments reflect the views of our readers. Not all reader comments have been published. DW-WORLD reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content.

Merkel backs controversial expellee center

I think Angela Merkel is correct to support this memorial. My grandfather came from the Sudetenland near Trutnov, CZ. His other relatives were expelled after WW2. -- schneiderw, USA

Congratulations to Angela Merkel for having the backbone to stand up for the erection of the expulsion memorial to be build in Berlin. Thank you. -- theplateman

I have no problem with such a center in the abstract, but I have not yet heard the objections that have been raised. I don't think its right to consign these expellees to invisibility merely because they were on the wrong side. I would not support the concept of a center for unrepentant pan-German Nazis, but I suppose that most of those are long dead. We can be thankful that there is no movement to restore the ancestral lands of these expellees, attended by bombings of cafes and streetcars. Would the center expose descendants of those who were expelled to the events that preceded the expulsions and the military aggression and the extermination of Jews and Slavs? Would it -- while portraying with sympathy the plight of the expellees -- also point with shame to those in those communities who were ardent volunteers with the Einsatzgruppen? Would the permanent exhibit include documentation of the hundreds of thousands of Russians who died as POWs in German captivity? -- iggers

My wife was born in May 1933 in Sackisch, Silesia; she died in the USA in 1998. For her sake, please build the memorial. It would be what she wanted. My personal feeling is very much for the project. -- Harry Talkers, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

I don't think it is a good idea to build the memorial for Germans expelled from Poland. It sounds like something George Bush might have dreamed up if he were a German. When one contemplates the 50 million people killed worldwide in World War II, one can only think that most of those killed would have been happy to trade places with a German expelled from Poland at the end of the war. -- luthin

Every political strategy begins with doing something outrageous so that people can be at least excited about something. It helps to distract from some other more fearful measures such a government wishes to undertake. But there is one more reason as to why this turn in Germany from having committed so many crimes against humanity during 1933-45 ... to now playing the role of 'victims' is becoming so strong. Bush showed it already after 9/11: Americans who feel they are the victims of attacks no longer need to analyze why. It is a clear plan of any government to make so many people become passive victims of circumstances that they never ask if they could change their own destiny and not be unemployed. That this will strain the relationship to Poland is also a part of the calculated deal. It has helped already to put into power in Poland a nationalistic party seeking isolation from Europe precisely because it can play on the same tune, namely being endlessly victims of two powerful neighbors. That makes it also easy to forget that Poland has deployed troops to Iraq even though it has suffered so much under years of occupation. It just goes to show how politics is being played out and how the media plays along with it by not linking so-called facts with analysis. After all the German Welle is also a part of the game called 'public diplomacy.' -- hfischer

CIA "black sites"

Do you think the United States has a responsibility to inform European countries if the CIA used them for transporting terror suspects?

Should Germany take action against CIA and other US clandestine operations within Germany? Germany should not only take action, but arrest all CIA operatives now on German soil as an example to the Bush regime that they cannot operate illegally on German territory. The first line of action is to fine the US government directly to the tune of maybe $10 or $15 million. Then the US will pay attention. Otherwise it will be business as usual for the US in its kidnapping of foreign citizens in other countries. -- Kenneth T. Tellis, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

With host countries, yes! However, if the security of millions is at stake, then the answer is no. Terrorists don't play by the rules, so why should the US or the rest of the civilized world? Could it also be that key allies in the area were notified but instead decided to turn a blind eye? Individual human rights are vital but so is the safety of the masses. Where does one draw the line? -- mario_gtz

The CIA could have set up temporary torture facilities but not within military facilities. And the CIA has been touting its cooperation with other security agencies. Plus, Thailand and eastern European countries might be able to teach the CIA how to torture just so. -- noordijk

If the CIA had any secret prisons or countries to which they can transport people of unsavory reputations, then this is what they do best. However, if God, feels offended by all this, he will do his best to destroy and curse all those involved-including the CIA! -- nickolaus

Not only should the "host" country be notified, that country should inform its citizens. This is a matter of national sovereignty. It is a matter of the rule of law. It is a matter of common sense. -- hallmark_cl

60 years since Nuremberg trials

Can international justice be effective as long as the US remains opposed to bodies like the International Criminal Court?

I think the United States will continue with this for a long time, at least until the Bush's administration finish, but it's important for the world and the world justice an independent court that can judge war criminals and terrorists, in fact this court could be incidence in countries with poor justice systems. -- leibethra

I am an American, yet there are times when I am unhappy with the direction my country is going. I say to George Bush that signing on to the International Criminal Court is the Christian thing to do. Jesus taught us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We cannot hold other governments to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. As Christians, we must obey God's laws and have faith that God will look after us. -- leedavis

Schröder leaves chancellery

The view of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder good-bye ceremony by the Bundeswehr is the most pathetic thing I could ever have seen. The view of Schröder crying at the sounds of the song "My Way" played by the Bundeswehr band is reminiscent of those dictators that cry when power is taken away from them. I don't see why he should have been crying, because being deposed as chancellor it shouldn't be the end of the world to him. In that ceremony, Schröder should have been thankful for the opportunity that the German people gave him to run the federal government and not displayed that shameful charade of hypocritical sensibility. He should have displayed happiness that Germany is a democracy and not a dictatorship anymore, although people from East Germany may have not assimilated this concept altogether. Mr Schröder you are neither the beginning nor the end of Germany! Have more dignity! Schröder has been the most authoritarian and destructive chancellor in recent memory. All in all, the ceremony reveals the depth of the moral malaise into which Germany has fallen, and from where it will take Germany many years to rise itself. -- franco_kaiser