Germany: full state honour burial for former Nazi Filbinger

The black forest city of Freiburg, in Germany's southwest, yesterday held a burial with full state honors for the former Nazi navy judge Hans Filbinger. A no-protest zone was declared around the cathedral, and hundreds of police were in attendance standing at attention lining the street while Filbinger's carcass passed. Filbinger was most famously responsible for revising cases of WW2 German Navy deserters, demanding the death penalty for sailors instead of 8 years of jail and disohonorable discharge. See the article for links to further information (in German only unfortunately). Executions ordered by Filbinger continued right up until the last days of the war, clearly demonstrating Filbinger's fascist fanaticism in the face of certain defeat. Filbinger was the only german nazi-judge who brought death penalty upon a german navy deserteur in a British camp for german prisoners of war - with the support of the British Forces, in the last days of WW2. The British Forces even handled him out 12 rifles for the execution of the sailor.

After WWII Filbinger became Prime Minister of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg from 1966 to 1978 and sat on Freiburg's city council. The current Prime Minister of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Oettinger, praised him endlessly at yesterday's ceremony, saying "he was not a nazi" and even stated "he was a nazi-opponent" and "we would not have survived the scourge of Marxism in the 1970s without him." Ms Knobloch, president of german Zentralrat der Juden (central committe of jews) said minister president Oettinger is an incredible liar and is perverting historical truth.

The German political elite once again shows that it remains not only unable to deal with it's past, but also comprehend the pure wickedness that fascism and it's many human cogs and wheels represent. It becomes clear that all the trite talk of repentance and learning from mistakes that German politicians make internationally amounts to mere public relations when Nazi idols are buried with state honors like this. This also raises interesting questions about the current neo-nazi movements in Germany and the degree to which they are supported, steered and desired by government and industry.

I suppose, however, that no one should really be surprised, given that the successor to Nazi Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, was still led by 75% of the same people after the war. Perhaps most famously, the attorney general of postwar Germany was the same person who wrote the Nuremburg racial laws for the Nazis. Its all about heritage and continuity...

In the name of all of Filbinger's victims, a handful of antifascists (seems like its always just a handful), took action against the state funeral.

This sad behavior — Germany clearly outed itself this time — should draw international condemnation. One could start by telling the right-wing Green Party Mayor who hosted the event what you think:
 http://freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1161132/index.html
or perhaps the various elite-servile parties making up city hall:
 http://freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1146382/index.html



Anyway, here's the article with pics from Indymedia Germany:

 http://de.indymedia.org/2007/04/172877.shtml

homepage:  http://de.indymedia.org/2007/04/172877.shtml