Veterans who claim a display at the Canadian War Museum makes them look like war criminals have misinterpreted it, but the panel should be changed anyway, says a Senate subcommittee on veterans affairs.

The panel on the Allied bombing raids in Germany during the Second World War titled "Strategic Bombing: An Enduring Controversy" questions the morality and value of the raids, which it says killed 600,000 Germans and left millions homeless while providing the Allies with little strategic advantage.

Source: Canadian War Museum

Text of: "Strategic Bombing: An Enduring Controversy"

Mass bomber raids against Germany resulted in vast destruction and heavy loss of life. The value and morality of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany remains bitterly contested. Bomber Command's aim was to crush civilian morale and force Germany to surrender by destroying its cities and industrial installations. Although Bomber Command and American attacks left 600,000 Germans dead, and more than five million homeless, the raids resulted in only small reductions in German war production until late in the war. "The extent to which [Bomber] Command was able to contribute to the solution of most of the great problems of the war is indeed remarkable." — Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, RAF "…strategic bombing had not won the war. At most, it had eased somewhat the task of the ground troops who did." — Dr. John Kenneth Galbraith, member of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey "More than once I wondered, 'How many people will those bombs kill?' However, you couldn't dwell on it. That's the way war is." — Flight Lieutenant W.E. Vaughan, RCAF

The subcommittee headed by Senator Joseph Day consulted four historians, read letters from veterans and history buffs, and ruled that the panel had been misinterpreted and is the subject of "clear misunderstanding."

However, Day said, the museum has a public responsibility to change the display.

"We're asking them to recognize that the panel that they have put out has been interpreted in a manner unintended by them," Day said. "And once they recognize that, I'm sure they'll want to change it."

He added that the subcommittee is not "into rewriting history" but wants the display changed this summer.

"Tell the story and tell the facts, but tell it in a way that you're not offending, unintentionally, a large segment of the Canadian public," he said.

Museum will review subcommittee findings

Museum officials will review the subcommittee's findings, said Joe Geurts, the war museum's director and CEO, but he said he still thinks the exhibit is "accurate, sensitive, and presents the piece of history in its proper light.

The panel questions the morality and value of the Allied air raids, which it says killed 600,000 Germans and left millions homeless while providing the Allies with little strategic advantage.
(CBC)

"I appreciate that there have been veterans who perceive it as being offensive," Geurts said, but he added that he does not believe visitors take from the panel the impressions that have led to the veterans' complaints.

"We recognize their concerns, and this Senate report, as I understand, further reflects those concerns, so we will consider those and act accordingly," Geurts added.

Victor Rabinovitch, who oversees both the war museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, said altering the exhibit could draw new critics.

"I think people would say there's fallout if you do change the panel, as well," he said. "There's many points of view, and you do your best to reflect and to represent and to tell a full and complete story."

The subcommittee studied the panel at the request of the Royal Canadian Legion in March, when the legion also renewed calls for a public boycott of the museum.

'We're sorry we had to go this far'

Legion spokesman Bob Butt said he is pleased with the subcommittee's findings.

"We've made our stand for our veterans, and we're sorry we had to go this far to make the point, but that's what we had to do and so we've done it," he said.

He said he did not expect any lasting friction between the legion and the museum.

It is not the first time veterans have spoken out against the museum's displays.

When it opened in 2005, Cliff Chadderton, chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations, publicly announced that he would boycott the ceremony over two paintings that depicted members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment torturing teenager Shidane Arone inside a Canadian compound in Somalia in 1993.