A monument in a cemetery in Switzerland has sparked controversy after locals discovered its links to Nazi Germany.
The 13-tonne block of granite, which commemorates soldiers lost during World War 1, has stood in the middle of the graveyard in the town of Chur since 1938.
However, research by local journalists has now revealed that the monument was built by the German War Graves Commission as Nazi propaganda.
The organisation erected a number of monuments in German-speaking Switzerland and their propaganda often involved cult-like worship of the war dead.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Chur mayor Urs Marti told news outlet SRF. “It irritates me that there is a monument to the National Socialists in Chur.”
“At first sight it looks like a war memorial,” radio journalist Stefanie Hablutzel told the BBC, pointing out some faint lettering: "1914 - 1918; hier ruhen deutsche Soldaten… here lie German soldiers."
“I grew up here in Chur," she said, adding: “And I didn’t realise how many Nazi organisations were present in the 1930s, here in Chur.”
The city is reportedly yet to decide what to do with the controversial monument.
