Dear Mr. Aikman,
thank you very much for your comment, which i will answer first as an editor of this programme and afterwards as a private person and german citizen.
You made your point very clear and there is no doubt, that this is fine and correct under the very important freedom of expression. So, we could just make things easy and say: thats your personal opinion. But: this won´t help anybody. And i think, we have to talk about that topic.
This debate is very complex and difficult - too difficult for commonplaces. Please, do not get my wrong: i don´t want to brush you off. But by not responding the concrete interview or article you make yourself assailable very easy. It just seems like you were googleing “Erika Steinbach” and then copy and paste your standard-comment there…
So, as an editor i would be very happy if i could discuss about points that were made in our interviews, and not debating about personal opinions…
If you ask me as a private person and a german citizien, i have to repeat what i already said: We can´t make things so easy. This discussion is too complex, that shows the very long-lasting and rough debate here in germany and f.e. Poland. Overall-arguments are almost useless.
Harm is harm, violence is violence and crime is crime, no matter where it takes places or which nation or citizen is affected. You can´t rate one victim higher than another. The German Reich started the war, that is a point you did not even mention!
So, either we consider all victims equal, irrespective of the nation concerned, or none. What in my eyes is the biggest mistake we can make here is setting victims off.
I found a few other comments of you in the web, such like “Die besten Deutschen waren und sind die vertriebene Deutschen. Ich habe oft gelesen, das die besten Deutschen waren immer in Osten.” You are thinking in categories like “territory” or “borders” - and obiously you seem to be one of those people in the world, that want to make difference in the worth of human beings.
Well, i am very sorry to say but: Exactly those thoughts and arguments brought all that harm about the world.
In my personal opinion, using words like “honor”, “courage” and “devotion” here is out of place. You “know the truth of Die Flucht und Vertreibung”? With due respect, I have my doubts about that. It sounds like you have your ready-made opinion, and that is very sad, because it mocks the victims - in every nation.
I truly wish you, that you can find the power, the “honor” and “courage” to challenge and change your interpretation of history. Because that would show the world, that humanity is able to learn from history.
All the best,
M.E.
PS: “Frau Erika Steinbach is (...) certainly the only woman in Germany I greatly admire.” I can assure you, there are more great humans here and everywhere to admire
Im Fokus der Öffentlichkeit, Erika Steinbach - Präsidentin des Bundes der Vertriebenen. Foto: Martin Oeser/ ddp.
Wolfgang Nitschke.Er vertritt die vertriebenen Danziger Katholiken.
Bis vor kurzem strebte Erika Steinbach auch ein gewisses Mitspracherecht am neuen Zentrum an – sie wollte in den dazugehörigen Stiftungsrat. Ihre Personalie stieß vor allem in Polen auf Widerstand. Als CDU-Bundestagsabgeordnete hatte Steinbach in den 1990ern die Anerkennung der deutsch-polnischen Oder-Neiße-Grenze abgelehnt. Nun rudert Steinbach zurück: sie könne sich vorstellen auf den Posten zu verzichten, dafür soll aber ihr Bund der Vertriebenen mehr Einfluss bekommen. Von Erpressung sprach die Opposition. Auch die FDP ist skeptisch. Wir haben mit Wolfgang Nitschke gesprochen. Er ist Vorsitzender des Adalbertus Werkes, vertritt die katholischen Vertriebenen aus Danzig und Gegor Schenk hat ihn gefragt, ob das Einlenken Steinbachs ein Entgegenkommen ist oder ein Erpressungsversuch.
