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Spat between Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin over German treasure
The Telegraph ^ | 6-21-13

Posted on 06/21/2013 1:21:10 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic

A dispute over ancient German treasure looted by Soviet troops at the end of the Second World War has overshadowed a visit by Angela Merkel to Russia.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: germany; godsgravesglyphs; gold; hermitage; merkl; putin; reparations; russia; stalinthethief; treasure; trojanwar; war
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To: dfwgator

“Silesia”

Silesia was German. Breslau too.


41 posted on 06/21/2013 2:52:33 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: JCBreckenridge

Wroclaw was a part of Piast Poland way back in the 10th Century.


42 posted on 06/21/2013 2:56:01 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

So they weren’t part of the ‘host countries’, at least not of Poland.

I am not excusing them for what they did do - but lets get it right. Silesia and East Prussia were not Polish territory, and certainly not Russian territory.

Russia still has an exclave today. Why has that not been returned to Germany or permitted to govern itself like the other Baltic States?


43 posted on 06/21/2013 2:56:55 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: dfwgator

So if you’re saying, “don’t lose a war”, and “losing a war means you lose the territory forever”, then it wasn’t Polish anymore then was it?


44 posted on 06/21/2013 2:58:17 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: Gay State Conservative

The Sword and Shield of the Party.

Is that NSA or DHS now.


45 posted on 06/21/2013 2:59:31 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: dfwgator

What about your concern for Brest, etc? There’s a reason why Russia wanted to keep the Polish territory they stole and take German territory at the same time.

Russia should return the Eastern Polish territory that they stole from Poland.


46 posted on 06/21/2013 2:59:37 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: JCBreckenridge

Much of those "German" lands were stolen from Poland in 1795.

47 posted on 06/21/2013 3:00:27 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: JCBreckenridge

Look, the lands changed hands many times over the centuries, if you are going to keep fighting those old battles, you’ll never get anywhere.

This is one case where “ethnic cleansing” was a good thing. As harsh as it was, it kept the old conflicts from rising up again in Europe.


48 posted on 06/21/2013 3:02:31 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: colorado tanker
The most accepted theory is that the Red Army destroyed the Amber Room inadvertently in the fires that raged in the seizure of Konigsberg.

Admittedly nobody knows for sure. But my real point is that Merkel is the last person to be complaining to others about looting national treasures.

49 posted on 06/21/2013 3:03:14 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: JCBreckenridge

No Poles are interested in that, they know Lwow and Wilno will never be Polish again. They’ve moved on.


50 posted on 06/21/2013 3:04:08 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

“This is one case where “ethnic cleansing” was a good thing.”

No, I’m sorry. Stalin’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ was wrong.

If ethnic cleansing of Germans was a good thing, why the hell was the US fighting?


51 posted on 06/21/2013 3:06:12 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: Snickering Hound

Wow, that’s one of the first pics I’ve seen of it.
Wonder how much of it had embedded insects in it, or
maybe that wasn’t considered valuable at the time?
A lot of Amber in any case.


52 posted on 06/21/2013 3:07:41 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: dfwgator

I find it interesting that Stalin ethnic cleansing Poles Wilno is a bad thing, but Stalin ethnic cleansing Germans in Koenigsberg is a good thing.

Go Stalin! Stalin should have ethnic cleansed even more to solve the problems of europe for all time!


53 posted on 06/21/2013 3:08:10 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: 0.E.O
I agree with you, especially given the savagery of the fighting on the Eastern Front and what they did to Soviet civilians, especially Jews.

But it would be a nice gesture for the Russians to give it back. The Treasure has nothing to do with Russian history and has no Nazi identification.

54 posted on 06/21/2013 3:08:38 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: dfwgator

Here’s a question for you - why didn’t the Americans ethnic cleanse all of Germany since ‘ethnic cleansing solves problems?’


55 posted on 06/21/2013 3:08:45 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: JCBreckenridge

The only possible “good” Stalin might have done was
to Chechens but I would wish the gulag on no one,
even muslims.


56 posted on 06/21/2013 3:10:41 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: JCBreckenridge

The point was to eliminate potential conflicts with minorities in the host countries...obviously not an issue with sending Germans back to Germany.


57 posted on 06/21/2013 3:10:44 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: tet68
Is that NSA or DHS now.

I'm fluent in Russian.The letters on that shield translate to "IRS".

58 posted on 06/21/2013 3:16:23 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Civil Servants Are No Longer Servants...Or Civil.)
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To: dfwgator

So why didn’t the Americans ethnic cleanse and eliminate the German problem for all time?

Why did Stalin ethnic cleanse?

This isn’t a hard question, dfwgator. Stalin ethnic cleansed because he was a brutal dictator and FDR bent over for him.

Those ‘solved problems’, lead to the annexation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, lands which were never freed by the allies. Free people who had done nothing to hurt any Jews whatsoever.

Yet they were abandoned to Stalin. Perhaps if Stalin had ethnic cleansed them too there would have been fewer problems. Same with Finland, btw, but I bet you don’t care about that either.

Finland fought hard to resist tyranny by Stalin and what did the Americans do to help? Nothing. Maybe Stalin should have ethnic cleansed them too. Since ‘ethnic cleansing solves problems’.

No, it doesn’t solve problems.

Poland should get Wilno because of what Stalin did to invade an ally. That’s how it’s supposed to work. If one of your ally gets invaded by an ally of Hitler, you work for the restoration of the territory conquered. Instead, FDR just didn’t care enough.

But it’s good to see FDR defenders here. “Ethnic cleansing is good because it solves problems”. I wonder if America should try the same thing with ‘troublesome’ minorities!


59 posted on 06/21/2013 3:17:33 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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To: dfwgator

“The point was to eliminate potential conflicts with minorities in the host countries...obviously not an issue with sending Germans back to Germany.”

Koenigsberg was German far longer than America has ever been around. What was done there was a travesty of the war. It was wrong. I’m sorry - if you go to war to fight people trying to exterminate the Jews, you don’t turn around and start exterminating the Germans. The Americans understood that. Stalin - did not. It doesn’t make what Stalin did right because FDR believed him to be on the same team. No, Stalin was never on the allied team. He took and took and took from FDR everything he could, money and supplies that could have been used by the Americans to free europe.

Would America have been better off with Stalin ruling all of Europe? I somehow doubt that. Patton got it, Churchill got it, FDR? Was only too happy to consign millions of people to Stalin.


60 posted on 06/21/2013 3:21:26 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Un Pere, Une Mere, C'est elementaire)
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