Top House Democrats and Republicans demanded Monday that the Department of Veterans Affairs remove headstones over German prisoner-of-war graves that bear swastika insignias and words praising Hitler, calling it “callous” to leave them in place.
The VA has defended the grave markers, saying they are part of history and to remove them would violate a 1966 preservation law.
But the heads of the House Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee on veterans wrote in a letter to the VA that the law is meant to protect things “for the benefit of present and future generations.” They said there’s no benefit in this kind of Nazi history.
“VA’s decision to leave the swastikas and messages honoring Hitler in place and ignore the calls to take them down is callous, irresponsible and unacceptable,” the lawmakers wrote. “We understand that these cemeteries were not under the jurisdiction of VA at the time these headstones were installed, but now that they are under VA’s jurisdiction, there is no excuse for VA to continue to maintain these headstones, instead of replacing them.”
Signing the letter were Democratic Reps. Nita M. Lowey and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and GOP Reps. Kay Granger and John R. Carter.
The VA says it wouldn’t allow gravestones with swastikas to be placed in a VA-run cemetery now. But it also has a policy of not altering graves already in its care.
The VA says it runs 13 cemeteries where prisoners of war from World War II are interred.
The cemeteries weren’t under VA control when the headstones were erected.
