woke up with my email flooded with this, thanks everyone. :)
In Kiel, northern Germany, police and army have seized from an 78 year old pensioner's house the following items: Panther Tank, 8.8-centimeter AA gun (or Flakgeschütz), a torpedo and some rifles and machineguns.
The mayor, Alexander Orth is not surprised by the find: "He was chugging around in that thing during the snow catastrophe in 1978" (*)
It took 9 hours for the almost 20 soldiers to carefully remove everything without damaging the house, the tank in particular was in a subterranean hall which apparently consisted of several levels (homemade bunker?). They were taken to Putlos, a military training area, while a investigation takes course on whether the pensioner was breaching the War Weapons Control Act or not.
The pensioner claims that the tank and all the other weapons were demilitarized (with documents proving so).
His lawyer wants to take legal action against the confiscation and also call for damages for his client. "I assume that the tank has been damaged in the action." The same applies to the private road in front of the Villa.
One of you, Marco G. made me giggle in his email, he called this a German typical conversation:
"Honey, do we have more beer?"
"Yes, downstairs, behind the tank. Don't stumble over the torpedo, and please don't smoke beneath the V2 rocket...."
(*)This reminds me when not long ago found my grandfather driving one of the old Zundapps he restored while fully 70's geared on our family property trough corn and lettuce fields like a lunatic while his radio screamed AC/DC. My apple didn't fell far from the tree. :P
Sources:
- http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/heikendorf-bei-kiel-panzer-flak-und-waffen-aus-keller-geborgen-a-1041868.html
- http://www.thelocal.de/20150702/police-find-wwii-tank-hidden-in-cellar
- War Weapons Control Act: http://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/norms-and-standards/war-weapons-control-act/
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