Flack over Plaque

A fierce controversy has broken out in the German city of Paderborn (North Rhine Westphalia) about a plaque recalling the deaths of about 2000 people in a nearby Nazi concentration camp from 1941-43. The camp inmates were engaged in renovating an adjacent 800-year-old castle, the “Wewelsburg,” for use as an SS center and as a residence of Heinrich Himmler. Many were hanged, shot or tortured to death.

From 1964 to 1973 a memorial plaque provided by the “Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime” was placed in the inner courtyard of the castle, commemorating “victims of the Hitler dictatorship in the Wewelsburg concentration camp.”

In 1973 the local authorities controlled by Germany’s conservative opposition Christian Democrat Party (CDU) removed the tablet on the grounds that it was “historically inaccurate,” the prisoners having died not in the castle but in the now demolished camp below. Observers believe, however, that the real reason was that Wewelsburg had been converted into a youth hostel and local history museum. The CDU, they speculate, did not want local and overseas visitors to be reminded of the killings.

In October the CDU local council rejected a call by the Social Democratic Party, which rules in Bonn with the Liberal Party, for the plaque to be reinstated. One CDU councillor, Reinold Stuecke, justified his party’s opposition on the grounds of “the negative attitude of the population.”

Last month the SPD again presented a resolution calling for a memorial plaque. Apparently under pressure because of adverse publicity, the CDU referred the issue to the council’s subcommittee for culture. Last week the subcommittee, in turn, resolved to set up a special committee to look at the problem. Observers see this as another delaying tactic. One regional television commentator said the CDU wanted to “sweep the matter under a carpet, under the motto: Flach yes, Hitler no.'”