German Woman to Foot the Bill for WWII UXO Removal

Munich, Germany A German woman is facing a financial crisis after a 10-ton cache of live Nazi ammunition was found buried in her garden. Authorities in Munich informed Melitta Meinberger that she is legally responsible for paying the 200,000 euros (approximately $217,000 US dollars) to remove the stockpile found beneath her home in Kiefergarten. Workers building an addition onto her home unearthed mines, phosphorus bombs, hundreds of shells and grenades, hundreds of thousands of bullets, and anti-tank projectiles.

The state pays for the removal of all WWII ordnance on public land, but it does not pay for removal on private property. In the two weeks following the discovery of the ammunition, Meinberger and 200 of her neighbors have been forced from their homes between the hours of 8am and 4pm every day while experts work to remove the munitions. The process is expected to take 40 days, after which she will be billed for the efforts.

The UXO is believed to have been dumped by Wehrmacht Nazi soldiers in the final days of the war. Members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in Munich have started a fundraising campaign to help her pay for removal of the ordnance.