# Yet another controversy about the WWII memorial **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 12, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-controversy-about-the-wwii-memorial/68582 "2001-06-12T18:57:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-controversy-about-the-wwii-memorial/68582/1 "2001-06-12T18:57:01Z")
Just saw [this](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20010612_860.html) According to the link, the companies that have been commissioned to build the WWII memorial are: JA Jones and ‘another Maryland Company’. > [@](#): > > J.A. Jones Inc. was bought in 1979 by Frankfurt-based Philipp Holzmann AG, one of many companies that have contributed to a $4.3 billion German government-industry fund to compensate more than 1 million aging survivors of Nazi forced and slave labor. The points being made include: A. Phillipp Holtzmann AG is contributing to the fund to compensate, therefore they’re attempting to ‘repay’ any wrongs they may have committed during the war, B. > [@](#): > > “Neither the American Battle Monuments Commission nor General Services Administration has the authority to discriminate against American firms based upon the nationality of parent or grandparent corporations,” said commission spokesman Mike Conley. “Moreover, such discrimination would be inconsistent with the principles for which the World War II generation sacrificed.” On the other hand : isn’t there **any** construction company available (yes, bidding process etc.) that **doesn’t** have ties to the Nazis? The argument presented by the company president (“This is not going to be built by Holzmann. Holzmann is not going to be anywhere near the monument”) seems well, not impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-controversy-about-the-wwii-memorial/68582/2 "2001-06-12T22:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wring \* > \*\* > > isn’t there **any** construction company available (yes, bidding process etc.) that **doesn’t** have ties to the Nazis? The argument presented by the company president (“This is not going to be built by Holzmann. Holzmann is not going to be anywhere near the monument”) seems well, not impressive. > > \*\* Who cares if some companies have links to NAZI Germany? Do they have something against Volkswagon or Mitsubishi? There comes a point where people need to just let things go. Heck, my grandfather was buying things from German companies by the time the 60’s rolled around and he spent a good part of the war killing Italians and Germans. If he can let it go I’m sure the rest of us can. Marc ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-controversy-about-the-wwii-memorial/68582/3 "2001-06-12T22:14:56Z")
hmmm, let’s see. Did I suggest that all companies that existed in Nazi Germany be tarred, feathered, put out of business, boycotted? nope. All I’m curious about is, gee, whiz, since we’re erecting this monument to honor those who served in WWII, and those who were victimized by Nazi Germany and so on, Doesn’t it seem a tad ironic that the company that will profit from this venture has ties to Nazi Germany? ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-controversy-about-the-wwii-memorial/68582/4 "2001-06-12T22:31:24Z")
Wasn’t the point of kicking Nazi butt was to restore democracy and human rights to Germany and the countries it conquered? I can’t see how any American veteran of the war could be offended by the involvement of a company from a free, democratic, and non-_Lebensraum_-grabbing Germany, since that’s exactly what they were fighting for in the first place. Unless somebody comes up with evidence that Holzmann today has ties to the Nazis or has failed to repent of and atone for its past, any objection can only be sustained on the grounds of “I don’t like Germans.”