German state stuck with war munitions removal cost

BERLIN - An eastern German state where one of the fiercest World War II battles was fought has criticised the federal government for passing off the costs of removing Allied dangerous war munitions and unexploded bombs.

Joerg Schoenbohm, interior minister in Brandenburg state surrounding Berlin, said it was unfair that the federal government pays only to clear German army munitions, leaving Brandenburg to pay for removing Allied weapons.

Brandenburg spent 14 ($25.58) million euros last year clearing 500 tonnes of munitions from 1478 sites, mostly around the Seelow Heights east of Berlin where about 50,000 Soviet and German soldiers were killed in a three-day battle 60 years ago.

Since 1991, 9660 tonnes of munitions have been cleared. The federal government has paid only 27 per cent of the cost of the removal because in its view the Allied munitions are Brandenburg's responsibility, he said.

"Removing the battle munitions is of vital importance for the safety of the people of Brandenburg and for the state's economic development," said Schoenbohm, a leader of the conservative Christian Democrats.

The battle between 908,000 Red Army forces and 129,000 German army soldiers in April 1945 was the fiercest combat in Germany. After defeating the German forces at Seelow, the Soviets quickly reached Berlin and the war ended within weeks.

Communist East Germany lacked interest in retrieving the munitions, but after reunification in 1990 the local state of Brandenburg launched formal operations to recover the weapons as well as the remains of dead soldiers from both armies.

- REUTERS