So its ok for Time Team to rob graves then
The difference is that those dead soldiers out on the Ostfront were alive and well within living memory. Their close family may have no idea where and when their brother, father, uncle etc fell and have been living for the past 70 years wondering if...
A body lying in a shell hole where he was blasted is not in a proper grave, not when it's perfectly possible to identify and inter a soldier properly with dignity and respect. In 100 years time, this will be of less significance, though again, we fill in great gaps in our history by properly processing things found in the ground - we of all people know that.
As a keen collector of Third Reich material, I find the provenance of artifacts is a huge problem now to anyone with a conscience. Not so long ago, a huge proportion of stuff offered was cheap forged crap but nowadays it's increasingly the real deal, but looted en masse from such forgotten sites as on this show. It's hard to turn down stuff which may identify a pile of bones, I'm sure.
Eastern Bloc Govts haven't helped in the past, treating German war dead as trash and dumping it without due concern, whereas fallen Red Army troops were afforded every ceremony.
