Germany's last public swastika stolen

THE last swastika on a German public building has been stolen just before officials were going to remove it.

Thieves climbed scaffolding on the medieval gates of the north German city of Lübeck, near Hamburg, and removed the 4in square symbol using a stone-cutting saw. . .

Despite the swastika having been banned for almost 60 years because of its links with the Nazis, the city authorities in Lübeck held back from erasing the symbol because it was relatively small and for fear of damaging the historic building, which dates from 1478. . .

In 1990, the Lübeck authorities decided to get rid of the symbol, but rather than defacing a historic building they ruled that it should be covered by a metal plaque when the gates were next cleaned, a process which began earlier this year.

Posted by David on June 6, 2005 9:21 PM