Retired Wis. Farmer Plans Hitler Memorial

A retired farmer who says he served in the German army in World War II is turning part of his land into a battleground of sorts with his memorial to a leader he claims is misunderstood, Adolf Hitler.

Ted Junker, 87, plans a grand opening June 25 and says his goal is to clear up inaccuracies about the war and Hitler's role in it.

In other words, he doesn't accept that Hitler was to blame for starting the war in which 50 million people died, including some 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

"I like the U.S. I can't understand why people don't know the truth. This is for understanding, not hate," Junker said.

"I'd say he's full of bull," said the Rev. John Donnelly, a professor of history at Marquette University.

"I'm sure he looks back and wants to say that he was not serving a super evil man, the most evil man in (the 20th century)," Donnelly said. "He's looking for some kind of personal sense of redemption, and I don't think he can be taken seriously at all."

Kathy Heilbronner, assistant director of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, described Junker as a classic Holocaust denier.