Bid to revive the Iron Cross awakens Germany's angst- Max Eisenberg

I. Citation Note:
Bid to revive the Iron Cross awakens Germany's angst
International Herald Tribute: Europe
March 19, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/19/europe/cross.php

II. Summary:
The Germans feel that they should revive the iron cross back to their armies in rememberance for the WWII Nazi party. The cross was black and silver, iron, and had a swastika added by Hitler. Originally used as an award to the German troops for their bravery became a symbol for anybody in the Nazi party. Hitler then added the swastika to make it a symbol of what they stood for, rather than what the troops worked for. Because it represents crimes and killing to Germany's defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, he feels they should have an award equivilant to the US purple heart. They are working on creating a medal to be awarded to the German soldiers fighting in Irag and Afghanistan. Although it cannot be implemented upon German soldiers it will always be a symbol for them although it has been through many unforgiving crimes.

III. Reactions:
A) The AP Theme that corresponds to this article is "Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions" Within Germany, there was a lot of interaction to this event and many people felt differently about the event.
B) Since WWII, Nazi troops used the iron cross to represent Hitler and all the crimes they've commited, but before that, there was no swastika and the German army used it as an award for bravery.
C) This is written by a French writer who may be biast against the Germans, if he has any feelings toward WWII and the Nazi's.
D) There was no strong evidence of bias and the writer handled the interviews perfectly hiding any feelings toward the country he may have had.
E) No ex- Nazi's were interviewed and we could have had their view on the situation, and how they felt about the iron cross.
F) I feel that the iron cross has now brought shame to the Germans because of what Hitler made it represent and that no one wants to be awarded or represented by it.