Der Speigel: Obama Speech Site Contaminated by Nazi Past
July 20, 2008
Finally, Barack Obama’s campaign has settled on a site for his Berlin speech. But some German politicians have now criticized his choice as being one full of Nazi-related symbolism.
Finally, it’s official. Barack Obama, when he arrives in Berlin on July 24, will hold his speech at the Siegessäule monument in the heart of the city, according to an announcement made by his campaign office in Chicago on Sunday. In his speech, he will speak about the “historic US-German partnership” and about the importance of strengthening trans-Atlantic relations, according to his campaign team.
The exact location of Obama’s speech had become a matter of intense speculation in Berlin after his campaign team originally suggested an appearance at the Brandenburg Gate. Many, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, questioned whether the site — where Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both spoke when they were in the White House — was appropriate for a candidate. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is a major figure in Germany’s Social Democrats, was in favor of the Brandenburg Gate site and the Obama visit quickly became yet another excuse for German politicians to fire off barbs at each other.
The Siegessäule is located about a kilometer down the Strasse des 17. Juni from the Brandenburg Gate. His speech is set to begin at 7 p.m. and Berlin is expecting a massive number of Obama fans to show up — between 10,000 and a million according to one city official quoted in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel.
Still, even as the issue of his speech’s location has now been settled, a number of politicians in Berlin are still dissatisfied with the site. The Siegessäule — or Victory Column — was erected in memory of Prussia’s victories over Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870/71). The column originally stood in front of the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building, but was moved by Adolf Hitler to its current location in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital “Germania.”
“The Siegessäule in Berlin was moved to where it is now by Adolf Hitler. He saw it as a symbol of German superiority and of the victorious wars against Denmark, Austria and France,” the deputy leader of the Free Democrats, Rainer Brüderle, told Bild am Sonntag. He raised the question as to “whether Barack Obama was advised correctly in his choice of the Siegessäule as the site to hold a speech on his vision for a more cooperative world.”
Andreas Schockenhoff of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats said, “the Siegessäule in Berlin is dedicated to a victory over neighbors who are today our European friends and allies. It is a problematic symbol.”
Obama’s stop in Berlin is part of a week-long trip which took him to Afghanistan on Saturday and Sunday. He is expected to travel to Iraq next before heading to Jordan, Israel, Germany and Great Britain. His trip to Baghdad was preceded by comments by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a SPIEGEL interview apparently supporting Obama’s timeline for withdrawing US troops from Iraq.
July 20, 2008 at 3:25 pm
What a fitting place for Obama to speak, given his fascistic bent. Of course, the irony of this won’t register with Obama, his devotees or his shills in what’s wrongly called the “news” media.
Perhaps he’ll unveil his new anthem: “Das Lied der Obama”–that is, “The Song of the Obama”–sung to the tune of “Das Leid der Deutschen.”
Instead of that German national song’s first few words–”Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt..,” Obama would use “Barack, Barack” instead of “Deutschland, Deutschland.”
And the narcissist’s true universal anthem will be sung: “Barack, Barack above all, above everything in the world…”
Sieg Heil, Barack.
July 20, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Interestingly, the German language version of this article goes further. It points out that in recent years, the area has become a gay scene. The Christopher Street Day Parade is held there and attracts huge crowds. It was also formerly the site of the Love Parade, a huge techno/rave event. There were squabbles with the city over paying for removal of the mountains of trash. The sponsors moved it out. This year’s Love Parade was held yesterday in Dortmund and attracted 1.6 million.
I read that they were planning to place big videoscreens along the street to the Brandenburg Gate, just as the did during the European soccer championship. For young Berliners, this area is definitely a party place. I hope they sock Obama with a huge garbage bill.
This whole Obama visit and speech thing has spawned 3 to 5 stories in every online paper I’ve checked. Is this really the way to sell a new, more modest America to the world? Some of the op/ed pieces are starting to talk about arrogance.
July 21, 2008 at 1:19 am
Why is this beginning to sound like San Francisco?
July 23, 2008 at 2:39 pm
[...] source of this story is, again, my own employer, so I know when bloggers inflate the details out of all proportion. Some minor German politicians have grumbled about the Siegessäule’s history, for [...]
August 14, 2008 at 8:04 pm
James Hoyt was one of the four U.S. soldiers to first see Germany’s Buchenwald concentration camp.
Hoyt had rarely spoken about that day in 1945, but he recently opened up to a journalist.
“There were thousands of bodies piled high. I saw hearts that had been taken from live people in medical experiments,” Hoyt told
“They said a wife of one of the SS officers — they called her the Bitch of Buchenwald — saw a tattoo she liked on the arm of a prisoner, and had the skin made into a lampshade. I saw that.”