Adolf Hitler marked his birthday 67 years ago by planting an oak seedling in the Nazi-occupied city of Jaslo in Poland. Almost seven decades later, the tree is the subject of heated debate as the city mayor, previously unaware of its history, calls for it to be felled.
Getting permission to chop down a tree for the building of an intersection is not unusual. What is slightly rarer is the discovery that that tree was bequeathed to the city by the most famous dictator of the last century. An oak tree that had been growing in the Polish city of Jaslo for almost 70 years now faces the chop as its links with Hitler are revealed.
Jaslo's mayor, Maria Kurovska, has reacted to the discovery with vehement demands that the tree be cut down and burnt publicly. She told SPIEGEL ONLINE, "If I have the choice between improving the traffic situation in our town and hosting a memorial to a mass murderer, then I choose the former."
Ironically though, just as much as the tree represents Nazism, so too does it symbolize Polish resistance. When Hitler ordered the destruction of Jaslo in 1944, the towering oak tree was one of the few things to survive the devastation.
Speaking to Polish newspaper Nowiny24, city councillor Krzysztof Czelusnik defended the tree, saying, "Hitler was the guilty one, why should the oak suffer for that?" And he is not alone in his opposition to Kurovska's plans.
The campaign to save the oak is led by 80-year-old Kazimierz Polak, who witnessed it being planted firsthand. He is organising a petition to challenge plans to fell the tree, which he watched being brought into the city in a box wrapped in the swastika flag in 1942. The oak, originally from Hitler's birthplace of Braunau am Inn in Austria, was given to the city on the occasion of the Führer's birthday and was part of attempts to 'Germanize' the town.
Above and beyond its historical significance, Polak argues that the tree should be allowed to stand as an example of natural beauty in the city. Appealing to local authorities he said, "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow."
Kurovska remains unconvinced and is concerned that Jaslo could gain publicity for the wrong reasons, arguing: "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree." She also claims to have received e-mails from local residents who are both for and against the tree's survival.
The town will decide the fate of Jaslo's oak over the coming weeks. One thing is for certain though: the tree that survived World War II will not go down without a fight.
I mean...seriously, don't they have anything better to do than this? It's not like there's a swistika branded into the tree. It's a plain tree that not even neo-nazis could tell apart from any other oak tree.
This is getting fucking ridiculous. An oak tree!? What's next?
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Assuming that it didn't participate in any warcrimes, I think the tree deserves a full amnesty.
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Great, even more ammunition for neo-con mouthpieces. Now all environmentalists are going to be Godwin'd.
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If they really wanted to, they could just transplant the tree elsewhere to improve traffic congestion.
Maybe to Israel, where Mossad can execute it. Or put candles on it for Hanukkah.
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Honestly, I'm usually against moving old trees, but if it's vitally necessary to move it and the costs for rerouting the new traffic pattern is too prohibitively high, I'd cut it down.
I like old trees, whether they're planted by normal people or genocidal dictators. And I don't think other people should care, either.
Ironically, if it was just an ordinary tree, it would have been cut down a long time ago.
But it's Hitler's tree, so suddendly, there's a controversy
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
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Well, if it was any old tree and it still survived the destruction of Jaslo, there would still be people calling for it to be saved.
Vendetta wrote:Richard Gatling was a pioneer in US national healthcare. On discovering that most soldiers during the American Civil War were dying of disease rather than gunshots, he turned his mind to, rather than providing better sanitary conditions and medical care for troops, creating a machine to make sure they got shot faster.
Hawkwings wrote:Well, if it was any old tree and it still survived the destruction of Jaslo, there would still be people calling for it to be saved.
It probably survived not because of God, but because Germans were unwilling to burn Hitler's Tree, though. And I could bet my ass that most local citizens would have no idea about it, anyway. There's exactly one guy who's campaigning against cutting it down.
EDIT: Oh, and most Polish news sources claim there's no intersection planned. The mayor wants to cut the tree down, burn it and then plant a new damn tree in its place to commemorate the victims of Katyn.
Talk about ridiculous and childish...
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
We need to resurrect the Fuhrer so he can replenish the rain forests.
Man, It is a fucking tree. It doesn't represent evil incarnate. It just makes oxygen. Talk about the sins of the father... fuck.
Edit: Whoa... I think I was channeling Bear with that joke.
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it. Blank Yellow (NSFW)
How pathetic.
A rather clear indication of a politician with to little to do to justify her sallary.
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Cue the morbidly amusing "Hitler's wood" jokes here.
Honestly, I find it oddly fitting to have it removed, as a purely symbolic gesture - "We will allow no roots of Hitler's safe refuge to grow, forevermore" or something. Melodramatic, maybe, but then again so is most politics.
An inquiry should be launched into the conduct of said tree during the period of 1942 to 1945, and all allegations of warcrimes perpetrated by the tree should be fully examined.
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If the poor oak has survived for almost 70 years why cut it down now just to prove a political point. Like there isn't more important issues to be dealt with.
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"
- PeZook
