That appears to be the theme of the current German Government.

As we have reported for some time, there is a concerted effort in Bavaria to destroy all traces of anything to do with the Third Reich on the Obersalzberg -- the remains of the homes of Hitler, Goring, Bormann etc. and then the hotels, the tunnels and bunkers beneath and now even the train station that was built in 1937. It was built at that time, so it must be a Nazi train station. That's the mentality.

And now it is the 'Lost Bunker'. This is the bunker 'Elbe II ' on the Elbe River in Hamburg. In this bunker are the wrecks of three Type XXI boat, U-2505, U-3004 and U-3506. The latter was the boat of our dear friend GERD THATER (194-LIFE-1986). Some years ago, there was a move to destroy the bunkers but after some governmental `buck passing' between the Federal German Government and that of the city of Hamburg, nothing happened.

A couple years ago, someone in Germany had the bright idea to fill in the bunker with sand and entomb these boats that way. This was done not only to the bunker, but also to the entire little cove on that side of the Elbe River. They then paved two meters of concrete over it all and made a container terminal there - but the three boats were still there in the bunker and if one wanted to take the time and the risk, they could still be seen. We understand now from friends in Germany that this is no longer possible -- that the three Type XXI boats have indeed been swallowed up in sand and will be entombed in the bunker Elbe II forever, or until some archaeologist digs into the bunker in a few thousand years.

And now they're at it again in Hamburg! CORNELIUS DeFEHR (5604-1998) sent this e-mail on 17 June 2001:

"I was in Hamburg 5-8th of June. They again attempted to collapse this bunker, and thank goodness it gave a big bang, a huge dust cloud and when everything settled, it was still there - thank good goodness. A friend of mine took me on a Hafenfahrt (harbor tour, like we will do on our `Patrol in North Germany) and we saw it on the 6th and the papers had a giant photo of it. They now are going to try to knock the other side of the bunker, hoping that this will bring the roof down.

I also spent half a day at the museum of PETER TAMM (5649-1998) which was fascinating."

Remember, our group will also be in the fantastic museum during our `Patrol in North Germany'. Sign on now.

Actions like this must make one wonder what kind of thinking the German Government has. Blowing up a sixty year old bunker and an older train station etc. will not change history one bit. It will probably make citizens wonder what kind of people are in charge.