# The Graf Spee's Eagle



## Foxbat (Dec 21, 2014)

I think this opens a bit of a debate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-30471063

Recovered in 2006, the next step is what to do with it. Personally, I think it should rest in a museum. However, there are other considerations (including a considerable amount of money).
Perhaps the most awkward point is that of the German Government who object to the displaying of 'Nazi parphernalia'.

As far as I understand it, the display of anything related to the Nazi party in Germany is illegal and they don't want this symbol falling into the hands of fanatics.

A couple of points - first: although, yes, it is a Nazi symbol, the Graf Spee was captained by Hans Langsdorf - a man who, upon his death, was honoured by both sides for his honourable conduct.
Second: We can't pretend this never happened. It's a part of the history of both Germany and the UK and artifacts like this can remind us of the price paid by honourable men on both sides of a conflict.

So, I say reimburse the salvagers (and Uruguayan government) for their efforts and let it reside in a museum in memory of those that lost their lives. Because it would cause problems for Germany, I'd like to see it in a British museum (Imperial War would seem most likely).


----------



## HareBrain (Dec 21, 2014)

I think $15m is too high a price to pay for a bit of insignia. And to justify that kind of money, the museum couldn't just stick it in a case with other memorabilia -- it would have to give it the kind of display which could be seen as intended to impress visitors or even invite awe, which isn't really what you'd want to do with a swastika.

I'm a bit puzzled by its supposed auction value, though. I suppose a private collector might pay that for it, but I'm not sure why, especially if they were Nazi sympathisers. As part of a ship that lost and then fled its only naval battle, wouldn't it rather reek of defeat and shame?

(And I've just realised where I got the name for a cruiser captain in my WIP. )


----------



## Brian G Turner (Dec 21, 2014)

When I originally read the piece, I wondered why they didn't just melt the eagle down, and let the salvage team have the sale value of the metal alone. 
If they need to display something in a museum, put up a replica that has less 'inspire nutters' appeal.


----------



## Ursa major (Dec 21, 2014)

It's hard to know what to think from one article. For example, the main cheerleader for auctioning the piece off, who said





> exhibiting a copy of the eagle and financing a new museum with the profits of an auction would help Uruguayans understand how close they were to taking part in World War Two.


is Alfredo Etchegaray, the man who is likely to benefit most financially from that happeneing. That doesn't mean his argument has no value, but it would have been better if someone who hadn't got a stake in the eagle being auctioned had provided arguments for that to happen. Similarly, Guido Westerwelle was hardly likely to say anything other than what he did, given Germany's extreme** views on such matters.


** - I can perfectly well understand that Germany doesn't want anything to do with Nazi artefacts and symbols, but the German government has been known to want to extend its laws on them to other countries, so that (for example) other EU countries would also be subject to them, which seems more than a bit mad considering how these laws have sometime*** been applied.

*** - CBS Action in the UK is running a digitally re-mastered version of Star Trek (the original series) and I watched the episode Patterns of Force, in which a planet had been encouraged to adopt a Nazi-like regime. This episode was banned in Germany for decades.


----------



## J-Sun (Dec 22, 2014)

I find that censorship is the best way to instill the values of democracy. Ignorance is always good and rebellious youths never find anything of interest in that which the authorities wish to make forbidden. And we have the proof in the fact that there are no neo-nazis in Germany.

But I agree with Ursa - fundamentally, this is a hunk of junk from something sunk that the scavenger is trying to talk up into being a multi-million dollar item when it's not. I like the museum idea.


----------

