Expense of World War II Remnants Still Hurts Brandenburg Pocketbook
Eight decades since the conclusion of World War II, the removal of explosive debris continues to drain Brandenburg's resources. In 2021, the state reimbursed municipalities around 517,000 euros for the disposal of war-related ordnance, marking an increase of roughly 292,000 euros compared to the previous year, per the Ministry of the Interior's response to an SPD parliamentary inquiry.
Oranienburg, a magnet for Allied bomber assaults during the war due to its robust armaments industry, absorbed the lion's share of the funds last year, collectively totaling nearly 515,000 euros. The town was compensated 193,000 euros for the extraction of explosive debris in 2021 alone.
According to Ministry of the Interior records, municipalities have received a combined total of nearly 2.49 million euros for the excavation of Second World War ordnance since 2017. Oranienburg became the largest beneficiary of this amount, having received approximately 2.31 million euros. In 2022, the town received around 217,000 euros for groundwater protection in conjunction with the disposal of explosive debris. Since 1991, 229 ordnance have been disarmed in Oranienburg.
Over the past three decades, Brandenburg has spent more than 270 million euros on the removal of war-related waste solely from the government's coffers. Including federal government subsidies, the total expenditure surpasses 300 million euros. Since 2016, the federal government has recompensed Brandenburg for a portion of the costs associated with identifying and neutralizing Allied ordnance. Prior to this, the federal government solely shouldered the expenses related to so-called Reich-owned munitions on federally-owned properties.
Future funding for the disposal of ordnance will be governed by the Armaments Legacy Financing Act, currently under consideration by the Bundestag, Germany's upper house of Parliament. However, the specifics of the act and its implications remain unclear at present, as the details are yet to be fully disclosed.
Additional insights:
The Armaments Legacy Financing Act is a pending legislation aimed at regulating the reimbursement of expenses incurred in locating and disposing of Allied ordnance post World War II. The nature and contents of this act are still not publicly available.
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