Swastika forest near Zernikow
| Aerial view of the swastika forest |
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Reuters , 2000 (after the first partial deforestation, published in 2003 by Spiegel Online ) |
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Link to the picture |
A swastika- shaped planting made of larch trees that became known in the 1990s was called the swastika forest. The plantation was in a wooded area in the Kutzerower Heide near Zernikow in the Uckermark . When the NSDAP symbol was discovered in 1992, there was international displeasure.
Emergence
The history of the origins of the planting is unclear. It is certain that the originally around 100 to 140 larches in the form of a swastika with the dimensions 60 × 60 meters in six rows, each six meters wide, were placed in 1938. At the same time, the surrounding pine trees were also planted on the previously bare area.
From the 1990s onwards, different reasons for planting were published. The forest owner at the time (Hans von Wedel) or his forester (Walter Schmidt) could have instructed the larches to be planted. A local resident said he planted the trees as a child on the orders of the forester. The reason could have been anger about a landowner who was critical of the NSDAP or the demonstration of loyalty to the line after the arrest of a local resident because he was listening to the BBC despite the ban . Another rumor has it that a district leader of the NSDAP ordered the forest to be planted in honor of Hitler's birthday. The Berliner Zeitung finally reported that the symbol was laid out as a thank you to the Reich Labor Service who built the Dorfstrasse.
effect
Larchs are conifers that belong to the rare non- evergreen genera . They are green in summer and shed their needle-shaped leaves in late autumn after they have initially turned yellow. In spring they sprout again, the young shoots are light green for a short time. Especially in autumn and spring, the color of the larch needles differs significantly from that of other conifers. Any structures consisting of different tree species are not visible from the ground. From the air, formations that are formed from evergreen and deciduous conifers are noticeable differently depending on the season.
Discovery and partial deforestation
Nothing was known about the symbol until the 1990s. According to the BBC, the communist rulers knew about it, but kept it to themselves. Agricultural aircraft pilots , who often flew here, also did not report the planting. It was not until 1992 that an employee of a landscaping company noticed the swastika in the forest while looking for irrigation structures on aerial photographs. National and international press took up the matter. French journalists visited Zernikow and rented a plane to fly over the Kutzerower Heide. The daily newspaper Le Figaro then published an article on the forest. The swastika forest now became a political issue . French President François Mitterrand intervened with Federal President Roman Herzog , who therefore urged the Brandenburg state government for a remedy.
Felling the trees was difficult because of the complicated ownership structure. It was not until 1995 that the responsible forestry office had some of the trees cut down to make the swastika unrecognizable. 57 larches remained.
Second deforestation
In 2000 the Reuters photo agency published a current aerial photo of the forest. Despite the partial deforestation in 1995, the remaining 57 trees formed a yellow swastika that was no longer complete, but clearly recognizable (see link to the photo above). Reporting in national and international media followed; the Chicago Tribune wrote, according to an article in Spiegel , that such a swastika forest was "of little help to a region that often makes headlines with racist violence".
Therefore, on December 4, 2000, another 25 trees were felled. This felling was also made more difficult by disputes over ownership, the resulting loss of assets and the advance sale of the wood. Part of the forest, and thus also the larch trees, was privately owned, part was managed by the federal land utilization and management company . The latter had spoken out against clearing the plantation for economic reasons .
Further swastika plantings
Nazi symbols were also planted in other areas of the German Reich in the 1930s. According to a representative of the Brandenburg Ministry of Forestry, this was fashionable among foresters who were loyal to the line. In the Hessian town of Asterode , among other places , figures were planted which, as symbols of power, were aimed at the future of National Socialist Germany.
There are also forests in the form of swastikas outside of the former German Empire; in Kyrgyzstan there is a forest with a planted swastika symbol, the history of which the New York Times researched in 2006 without any results.
literature
- Birk Meinhardt : The strange ways to happiness. From Japanese monks, Dutch chiefs and German racing drivers. Reports and portraits . 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-86153-258-1 , chap. The silence in the forest , p. 140–151 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Christoph Drösser , The cross in the forest. A column by Christoph Drösser , August 12, 2004 (No. 34), Die Zeit
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Danny Kringiel, Planted Nazi symbols: The swastika in the forest , July 3, 2013, Spiegel Online
- ↑ a b c d In the middle of the forest: Huge swastika made of trees , November 24, 2000, Die Welt
- ↑ a b c d e Claus-Dieter Steyer, "Hakenkreuzwald": Lumberjack in the forest near Zernikow , December 4, 2000, Der Tagesspiegel
- ↑ Jennifer Askin, Germany Destroys Forest Swastika , January 6, 2006, ABCNews (in English)
- ↑ January Heidt man The tree whisperer , November 20, 2015 Süddeutsche Zeitung
- ↑ Alexander Demandt , Over all tops: The tree in the cultural history , ISBN 978-3-412-13501-0 , Böhlau-Verlag, 2002, p. 269
- ↑ Susanne Ude-Koeller, On Tracked Paths , ISBN 978-3-830-96316-5 , Waxmann Verlag, p. 163
- ^ Nicolas Berthold, Kyrgyzstan: The Riddle of the Swastika Forest , August 15, 2013, RP Online
Coordinates: 53 ° 24 ′ 19 ″ N , 13 ° 43 ′ 39 ″ E