To Axe, or Not to Axe
There's an oak tree in the town squar of Jaslo in rural southeastern Poland. The origins of the tree was discovered when plans were made to chop it down to make way for a traffic circle.
"We obtained information that this is no ordinary tree but was put here to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday," said Jaslo's mayor, Maria Kurowska. "So should I try to improve our town's communications or should I allow a memorial to that criminal to remain standing? The choice is simple for me."
Not everybody in this town of 38,000 shared Kurowska's view that the tree must go.
"It was 1942 when the Germans brought a seedling of an oak here and planted it in the centre of the town with all honours, an army orchestra and salutes," said Kazimierz Polak, who was present at the planting ceremony as a child 67 years ago.
"My father told me then that it was Hitler's birthday and we found out later the seedling had come from Braunau am Inn (in Austria) where Hitler was born.
"It's a historic curiosity. What is the oak really guilty of? It's not the tree's fault that it was planted here to honour the biggest criminal and enemy of Poland."
Source of story: U.K. Telegraph
"We obtained information that this is no ordinary tree but was put here to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday," said Jaslo's mayor, Maria Kurowska. "So should I try to improve our town's communications or should I allow a memorial to that criminal to remain standing? The choice is simple for me."
Not everybody in this town of 38,000 shared Kurowska's view that the tree must go.
"It was 1942 when the Germans brought a seedling of an oak here and planted it in the centre of the town with all honours, an army orchestra and salutes," said Kazimierz Polak, who was present at the planting ceremony as a child 67 years ago.
"My father told me then that it was Hitler's birthday and we found out later the seedling had come from Braunau am Inn (in Austria) where Hitler was born.
"It's a historic curiosity. What is the oak really guilty of? It's not the tree's fault that it was planted here to honour the biggest criminal and enemy of Poland."
Source of story: U.K. Telegraph
posted by Denny @ 11:19 AM
1 Comments:
Denny,
I dream of the day when the tree is more famous than the reason it was planted there.
I wouldn't waste a perfectly good tree except as lumber for its namesakes coffin.
So it is already more important in the bigger picture, than he whom it was planted there for...
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