Hitler's Atlantic Wall: Should France preserve it?

TarJak · 09-13-11, 05:45 AM

Oui!

Anthony W. · 09-13-11, 05:48 AM

This shouldn't even be a question. To save the future we must preserve our past - no matter how bad it may have been.

Hottentot · 09-13-11, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony W.

This shouldn't even be a question.

On the contrary it should be and is a question that any museum or other heritage preserving organization faces as soon as its existence begins. We can't save everything. And I'm not even talking about huge monuments such as these, but small, ordinary things from the past. Things that don't require much space and maintanance, whereas heritage such as this takes incredible investment to be preserved even partially.

Also, not preserving something does not mean forgetting it. There are other means to document something's existence than maintaining the thing itself. It's easy for us foreigners to say "preserve it" when we know that not a single Euro is being taken from us: they are taken from the French taxpayers and it's up to them to decide what part of their heritage they want to preserve. I'm sure a country with such a long history as France can think of many other things as well.

I repeat: in this field of work we must decide what we take and what we leave behind. That's a sad fact of life that is not answered by one liners.

JU_88 · 09-13-11, 07:15 AM

Yeah they should keep it.
Alot of history is dark and negative but its all still history, you cannot deny it happened. The wall represents so much more than just the Nazis resposible for its construction.

Hottentot · 09-13-11, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JU_88

Yeah they should keep it.
Alot of history is dark and negative but its all still history, you cannot deny it happened. The wall represents so much more than just the Nazis resposible for its construction.

While I agree that some things from the occupation period should be preserved as history, another question is why the Atlantic Wall? They already certainly have preserved artefacts and monuments of the period, it is not forgotten. What makes the Atlantic Wall so important that it should be included in the list? Especially seeing that other countries (as far as I understood) have already preserved parts of it: do we need one in every country?

Osmium Steele · 09-13-11, 07:37 AM

I see no reason to preserve large portions of the wall, but a portion of each landing beach defense and any cemetaries wouldn't be out of the question.

Herr-Berbunch · 09-13-11, 08:10 AM

We don't need one in every country, although that would be nice, but France had the largest share of it, and it's nice for them to finally show they have humility.

I'm sure that some euro-funding would find it's way to a large heritage project like this.

Reading that back it doesn't sound like I'm comlimenting the French, but I am.

09-13-11, 05:48 AM	#2
Anthony W. Grey Wolf Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Central Indiana Posts: 850 Downloads: 130 Uploads: 0	This shouldn't even be a question. To save the future we must preserve our past - no matter how bad it may have been. __________________ Sunken Mustangs Proud Ford Mustang owner "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" - Admiral David Farragut Run silent - run deep - keep the baffles clear - targets front and center. Private pilot and history buff

09-13-11, 07:37 AM	#6
Osmium Steele Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Upper midwest USA Posts: 1,101 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	I see no reason to preserve large portions of the wall, but a portion of each landing beach defense and any cemetaries wouldn't be out of the question. __________________ In the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St. Benedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England... My U297 build thread

09-13-11, 08:10 AM	#7
Herr-Berbunch Kaiser Bill's batman Join Date: May 2010 Location: AN72 Posts: 13,203 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	We don't need one in every country, although that would be nice, but France had the largest share of it, and it's nice for them to finally show they have humility. I'm sure that some euro-funding would find it's way to a large heritage project like this. Reading that back it doesn't sound like I'm comlimenting the French, but I am. __________________

09-13-11, 05:45 AM	#1
TarJak Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,052 Downloads: 150 Uploads: 8	Oui!

09-13-11, 07:15 AM	#4
JU_88 Silent Hunter Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK Posts: 3,811 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	Yeah they should keep it. Alot of history is dark and negative but its all still history, you cannot deny it happened. The wall represents so much more than just the Nazis resposible for its construction.