ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Chattanooga’s relations with Germany celebrated

By: Lauren Gregory
(Contact)

Included in this article

Staff Photo by John Rawlston Assisted by Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, Lutz Görgens, foreground, Consul General for the Republic of Germany, places a wreath Wednesday afternoon on a memorial for German POWs from World War I and World War II that are buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

It was just this summer that Volkswagen announced it would build an assembly plant in Chattanooga, but the city’s ties to Germany go back much further than that.

A union literally was cemented here in 1935 when the German government constructed a memorial at the Chattanooga National Cemetery for its prisoners of war from World War I — a memorial that has become the largest resting place of German POWs in the Southeast.

So it makes sense for officials from both sides of the Atlantic to reflect on that as they move forward with their joint economic venture, said Lutz Görgens, the Federal Republic of Germany’s consul general for the Southeastern United States.

“It does not sound that extraordinary today, after 60 years of joint alliance, but (allowing Germany to build the monument here) was, at the time, an act of wonderful generosity,” Dr. Görgens announced Wednesday during a small wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial.

The ceremony has been held on and off over the years but seemed to receive renewed interest this year with the impending arrival of Volkswagen, according to Cemetery Director Paul Martin.

That’s probably because the ceremony serves as a good reminder of what made the economic partnership possible in the first place, according to Dr. Görgens. Honoring former enemies right beside America’s own war heroes is a wonderful manifestation of post-war relations between the two countries, he said.

“Now, this relationship turns into a big, industrial joint venture,” Dr. Görgens said, referring to the new assembly plant at the Enterprise South industrial park, scheduled to begin operations in 2011. “Germans and Americans together will produce cars in Chattanooga and will be at the forefront of technology.”

Christof Spathelf, head of Volkswagen’s overseas manufacturing, agreed.

“I’m so glad we’ve finally overcome the war and we’ve got friends,” he said after the ceremony. “Setting up our factory here is a signal of that.”

But so is the continued care of the remains of the German prisoners, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said.

“We hope that those here today who represent that great nation — our friends — will tell those back in their homeland ... to take comfort that their loved ones who rest here on this hillside in Chattanooga are afforded the same dignity and respect in death as our own,” Mr. Littlefield said.

Comments