Captain Hans Langsdorff rescued his crew of more than 1,000 men by scuttling his ship, the Graf Spee, rather than fight a hopeless battle in 1939. His daughter says it’s time to honor his moral courage...
Но почему-то великий подвиг при Монтевидео фатерлянд до сих пор не ценит:
Hero abroad, ignored in Germany
Feted abroad, Langsdorff is largely ignored in Germany even though he would appear to embody the modern army's stated ethos of encouraging personal responsibility and rejecting the blind obedience of the Nazi era.
The Canadian town of Ajax in 2007 dedicated a street to him — "Langsdorff Drive" — and the Royal Navy, which was also spared casualties by his actions, will honor him in a memorial dinner at its base in Portsmouth in December.
In Germany though, no streets or squares are named after him and there has been no official military representation at the annual ceremonies at his grave.
The German War Graves Commission has not responded to a request from the family that it begin tending his grave, Nedden and her husband Rüdiger said in an emailed statement.
я немцев понимаю - решение капитана вероятно было правильным, но вот героического ничего в нем нет - как и в самоутоплении флота в севастопольской бухте.