Touch of Albert Speer By Carlos Widman, Der Speigel..(WWII monument)..link

[diamond14]

http://www.savethemall.org/media/touch.html

A Touch of Albert Speer
By Carlos Widman
Der Speigel
2 June 2001, Nr. 23



"We are giving a banal war memorial the same importance as the most powerful symbols of our Nation," objects Judy Feldman, architectural historian and co-chair of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall. She fears that the veterans groups and the Pentagon may have come together in this effort primarily to polish the image of the U.S. military. This certainly is a plausible motive - even more, the sheer size of the Memorial embodies the American victory over Evil, as embodied in Hitler....George W. Bush last week gave his permission to build it.

It shows a certain naivete to choose an Austrian who came to the States as an adult and speaks English with Kurt Waldheim's accent, to build this monument. U.S. citizen Friedrich St. Florian, born in 1932 in Graz, Austria as FRIEDRICH GARTLER, has been chosen for this honorable duty in a national competition involving 404 participants. The inhabitant of the Steiermark with the elegant pseudonym came to the U.S. in 1961 thanks to a Fulbright scholarship which allowed him to study at Columbia University in New York. Soon he became an architect and taught at the well-known Rhode Island School of Design. He is still teaching there today. In search of a solution which would please the veterans, St. Florian had a sure touch, nothing too complicated, preferably familiar forms, cozily retro.

The problem is that this style - in a monument to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany -- reminds us right away of the architect Hitler himself discovered. Deborah Dietsch, Editor in Chief of the Magazine " Architecture" says it outright: She feels painfully reminded of the architecture of Albert Speer. And Judy Feldman sees consequences: "When the tourists come out of the Holocaust Museum and go to the WWII Memorial, they will be in for a shock. This is the same kind of aesthetic they would have just seen in photographs of the Third Reich."

By then, maybe the angry WWII veteran who recently talked to a reporter might have calmed down. His words were "It looks like Hitler won the War."

[dsc]

1. The man has been in America for 43 years

should he have to swear a loyalty oath too? He has been in this country six years longer than I have. And a Kurt Waldheim accent, nice touch. I guess the next black who this person writes about will have a Willie Horton accent, or the next gay will have a Dahmer accent.

[diamond14]

3. Friederich Gartler was a "Hitler Youth" from 1942 to 1945 (link)

HITLER YOUTH
Friedrich Gartler, born in Graz, Austria in 1932, now using the name of Friedrich St. Florian.....


He was born in 1932

He was 13 in 1945.

The Anschluss in 1938 made Austria a province of Das Dritte Reich.

Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) membership was made compulsory for youths over 17 in 1939 and for all over the age of ten in 1941.

So, Friedrich St. Florian, nee FRIEDRICH GARTLER would have been a Hitler Youth member from 1942 to 1945.


here's a link to more about "Hitler Youth"...many fought against OUR soldiers near the end of WWII....
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitleryouth.html

[dsc]

7. So he joined an organization he was made to

at age 11. Wow lets shoot him. I can tell you I look back at my actions in that age range and can't say I am hugely proud. I wouldn't want to be judged by my behavior at that age and I wasn't faced with a law compelling me to do immoral things.

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8. HITLER YOUTH fought against OUR soldiers near the end of WWII

it's a draft...no difference than American Soldiers who were drafted for WWII, which were MOST OF THEM....

if the guy had any integrity at all, he would NOT have submitted a design, knowing full well that he served hitler...the insult to OUR Veterans is beyond comprehension, and a honest man would KNOW that, and let someone less tainted design the WWII Monument...

read about HITLER YOUTH here...
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitleryouth.html

-snip-

As the war progressed, the group took on the work of men drafted into the armed forces, manned anti-aircraft defenses and also produced many soldiers, especially for the Waffen SS, notably the 12th SS Panzer division under Kurt Meyer. As Germany was invaded, members of the HJ were taken into the army at ever younger ages, and, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, they were a major part of the German defenses.

[Kellanved]

9. that is a difficult matter

I can recommend the Movie "The Bridge" (1959/1961), it gives a good insight on Hitler youths.

I met quite a few former Hitler Youths (Grandfather, Stepfather, Profs, ...) . I can say that every former Hitler Youth I've met carried a Trauma to the very end, but some turned out to be extremely good thinkers and democrats.


I'm a member of probably the last German Generation to know WWII survivors. I don't like the US WW2 Memorial, but I do not think that it should be humble. Nor do I agree on damning a Generation because of things done to them during adolescence(and by them, not to forget!).

[diamond14]

11. he should have had the morals to step OUT of the competition....

out of respect for OUR soldiers....

I know WWII survivors too....my own father bombed Austria, and caught flak that KILLED some of his crew..."As the war progressed, the group (Hitler Youth) took on the work of men drafted into the armed forces, manned anti-aircraft defenses..."
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitleryouth.html

the American WWII memorial was supposed to be for OUR American Soldiers, and those who served in HITLER YOUTH should have had the respect to step aside from the competition and leave it to others, who are not tainted by serving hitler....Friederick Gantler, former HITLER YOUTH, should have realized "no, it's not right that I do this"...this work is for someone else....


this MONUMENT was not the time or place for a HITLER YOUTH to design, and while I have empathy for his situation as a child, I have NO empathy for his failure to step aside as an adult knowing that he was drafted to served hitler....


approval for the design was made by g.w.bush* just a few months after stealing the White House...a ghastly monument to PERPETUAL WAR.....designed by a Austrian HITLER YOUTH member named Friedrich Gantler, going now under a Saint's Name, Friederich St. Florian....

[dsc]

10. and Oscar Schindler owned a municions factory

You have no earthly idea what this particular person did or didn't do. He was 11 for God's sake. Now if you have proof he actually shot a US or other allied soldier then OK but if you don't then sorry no dice.

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13. Photos of HITLER YOUTH....from the Holocaust Museum...

Front page of the Nazi publication, Der Stuermer, with a cartoon depicting a group of Hitler Youth marching forth to drive the forces of evil from the land. The caption under the cartoon reads, "We youth step happily forward facing the sun... With our faith we drive the devil from the land."

The headline reads, "Declaration of the Higher Clergy/So spoke Jesus Christ: You hippocrites who do not see the beam in your own eyes.



In Berlin, thousands of Party officials, Hitler Youth members, and Labor Service leaders take an oath of loyalty read by Rudolf Hess in Munich and broadcast across Germany...


American investigator George Atlas questions a member of the Hitler Youth arrested for blowing-up a U.S. Ninth Army jeep.


American troops of the US 7th Army force suspected members of the Hitler Youth to view the Dachau death train.

The Dachau death train consisted of nearly forty cars containing the bodies of between two and three thousand prisoners transported to Dachau in the last days of the war.

http://www.ushmm.org

[Vladimir]

14. It is a xenophobic argument, no doubt n/t

[Kellanved]

2. A little context

The Article was first published while the Berlin Holocaust Memorial debate was making Headlines.
The US WWII Memorial was the only other major Memorial Project and thus got a lot of attention.






The usual German Memorial is smaller, decentral and usually without frills. The "Neue Wache" is the only other central German Memorial I can think of (and Kohl did terrible things to it).

[diamond14]

5. that is a BEAUTIFUL and humble memorial....fitting and reflective...

it's really just sad that OUR WWII Veterans couldn't have gotten something more fitting....

[madrchsod]

4. i agree

a really ugly monument and it is a classic albert speer design..no grace ,no feeling, and no soul. the phallic symbolism along with the night lighting is frighting..who ever approved this design should be ashamed.
it is a disgrace to the men and women who gave their life so we could live free

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6. there's not even a bench to sit down on....IMO, all war memorials

should have PLENTY of benches for those whose legs were blown off from landmines or RPGs, or still carry shrapnel in their muscles to SIT DOWN and reflect...

the Vietnam WALL also has NO PLACE TO SIT...and I have helped those Veterans to walk along that VERY long walk, with canes, walkers, artificial limbs, etc....the pretty bricks are real difficult even to roll a wheelchair along, let most walk with a major war disability...

the Korean War monument has ONE small area near the water pool to sit, which doesn't leave you able to view much of the monument...it's not really a bench, and it's not the right height, but LOTs of OUR Korean War Veterans try to sit there to stop the pain from their war wounds....

[diamond14]

12. another photo from the WWII memorial...truly an imperial military

triumphal WAR WAR WAR monument....certain to inspire generations of Americans to solve all their issues with other countries by WAR WAR WAR....ahhhh, the GREAT GLORY OF WAR....

we'll soon be hearing the National Symphony Orchestra playing Wagner at the WWII monument in the evenings....bush* minions bought back Wagner to the Kennedy Center Stage just last year, after many years of NO Wagner...it's all very offense and designed for the BIG PERPETUAL WAR for war-profiteers....