TRANSCRIPT OF REAGAN'S SPEECH AT AIR BASE AFTER VISIT TO BITBURG CEMETERY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370037-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: May 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

, A8
Reagan in Germany: The Sorrow and the Outrage
Approved For Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370037-3
THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 6, 1985
? AMERICANS VOICE
ANGER ON BRUN
larking Anniversary of War's
'End, Most Condemn Visit
?Some Praise Speech
By ROBERT tx, hicFADDEN
? ? ...-
As flags fluttered at half-staff and
images of fallen soldiers and victims of
war? and the, Holocaust stirred hearts
and memories, Americans marked the
40th anniversary of V-E Day yesterday
and voiced sorrow and anger over
President Reagan's visit to a German
Military cemetery.
It was a day of solemn remembrance
and bitter protest in which the mourn-
fill strains of taps mingled with expres-
sions of grief and outrage that had been
Wilding for weeks over the President's
visit to the Bitburg cemetery, where 49
Waffert SS soldiers' are buried.
Across the New York metropolitan
area, in Washington and in cities and
small twins across the country, people
assembled for quiet marches and bois-
terOus, rallies and gathered at ceme-
teries, houses of worship and meeting
hal ?
0 reaction to the President's visit
td itburg was overwhelmingly nega-
tive, ranging from muted criticism to
outright denunciation. Leading Jews,
the leaders of other religions, Holo-
caust Survivors, spokesmen for vet-
erans groups and labor organizations,
Members of Congress and thousands of
ordinary Americans joined the cho-
ruiei of rejection.
, Words of Praise for Speech
But there were also words of praise
for the President's speech at the site of
tf4.' Bergen-Belsen concentration
camp, and some leaders said his quest
for reconciliation had stirred new in-
terest in the Holocaust. There were
cane, too, to put the controversy over
the centetery visit to rest.
In New York, an estimated 240,000
people at a rally for Soviet Jews heard
Elie Wiese!, the writer and Holocaust
survivor, call Mr. Reagan's visit to the
Bitburg cemetery an insensitive act
that had "wounded" the world's Jews
and distorted history by equating Holo-
caust victims with Nazi soldiers.
Protests against the Bitburg visit
"Were held in Boston, Miami, Atlanta,
Milwaukee, philadelphia, Newark,
0;rtlHartford and Nevi Haven.
There were protests abroad, as well.
In Tel Aviv, dozens of placard-carry-
ing, chanting denionstrators gathered
outside the American Embassy as
passing Motorists joined in with blan.
inig horns and flashing headlights.
In Brunswick, N.J., Senator Bill
itradiley, 3,Demograt, told a gathering
of-Jewish war veterans), "The Presi-
dent's decision to 'visit ? the Bitburg
Cemetery shows ,an appalling lack of
historical consciousness. To visit Bit-
burg is to imply that those who perpe-
trated the horror of the Holocaust can
be forgotten. They cannot," ?
'Best of a tad Situation'
The President also had defenders.
Senator Howard H. Baker Jr-, Republi-
ten of Tennessee, said Mr. Reagan had
neve/ made "a more poignant and
moving speech than he did today."
Sehator john C. Danforth, Repobli-
Can of Missouri, said Mr. Reagan had
"nia443 the best of what Was a bad
situation."e
'Butthe day's predominant tones
were those of sorrow and dismay.
At klington National Cemetery near
Washington, a survivor' of the Holo-
cause told a gathering of 700 Jewish
Vier teteran,s and their families ?-=- one
Of ?ah9ut 20 such gatherings around the
country that the President's trip to
the %thing cemetery was an attempt
The New York Times/ Paul &semi
APPLAUSE FOR REAGAN: American and German spectators at Bitburg Air Base_ listening to the Presi-
dent's speech, "We who were enemies are now friends," Mr. Reagan said.
to obscure German moral responsibil-
ity for the Nazi terror.
'The imaYge of an American Presi-
dent, no matter how well-intentioned,
going to a German cemetery sends to
the world the wrong signals," said Ben-
jamin Meed, president of the American
Gathering and Federation of Jewish
Holocaust Survivors. ,`It says all these
Men were the same, that they fought
with good intentions."
Armbands Honor the Dead.
Hundreds of war veterans gathered
at Long Island National Cemetery at
Pinelawn. Many wore red armbands to
honor comrades who died fighting the
Nazis in World War II. Amid the long
tows of simple white tombstones?, their
leaders expressed dismay with the
President's visit, . ?
"I cannot reconcile and I cannot for-
give and I cannot forget the crimes
which they have perpetrated on the
human race," said Theodore Brooks,
past national leader of the Jewish War
Veterans of the United States, refer-
ring to the dead at Bitburg. "I regret
that this day has come to pass when the
President of the United States honors
an enemy." ?
Many leading American Jews called
the President's visit a misguided politi-
cal ? gesture but some including
Hyman Bookbinder of the American
Jewish Committee and Mr. Wiese!,
who is the chairman of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Council,
said it had heightened the *arid's
awareness of Nazi crimes against mil-
ions of Jews and others.
In Bitburg, Day of Anger
Is Closed With a Prayer
Continued Froin Page 1
man, holding his white helmet to his
side, "I would rather be on the other
side."
'
Crosscurrent of emotion swept the
streets of Bitburg today, and empathy
was not always the predominant one.
"If, they take off the stars," said Irene
Zeller, 32, from Saarlouis, south of Bit-
burg, "they can come oyer to this
side." She was referring to the police
cordon that separated her from the pro-
testers.
Two American flags were stuck in
the belt of her light blue raincoat.
On the other side of the street, there
was this scene: Four young Germans
held up a West German flag and. an
American flag in a gesture of reconcili-
ation. But behind and above them, two
protesters held aloft a hand-drawn ban-
ner that said, "Never again."
"They did it on purpose," said Wolf-
gang Reske, a 30-year-old civil servant
who had the tip of the German flag in
his left hand. "But it is good that they
are allowed to hold that up, or anything
they want. That is what these two flags
guarantee; if the flags were a little red-
'der, it would be very orderly here, and
there would be secret police on the
streets."
. Onlook7ers Kept at a Distance
-
By enlarging the area declared off
limits to demonstrations, the jittery
White house advance team and Mayor
Theo Hallet kept the curious, the sym-
pathetic and the outraged even farther
away than had been expected from
KohneshOhe Cemetery today. As a re-
suit, the Presidential caravan ap-
proached the cemetery down several
blocks of essentially deserted streets.
'? Held back by a steel fence, David
Makovsky, chairman of the World
Union of Jewish Students, was furious
over whathe saw as another step by the
. ?
"In the long rim," Mr. Wiesel said in
a television interview, sure the
wounds will heal. After all, he is the
President and we must deal with his
policies, with his staff, with his Admin-
istration. But the wounds are there and
the wounds are deep. I felt excluded,
rejected,. afmost unnecessary, when I
watched the Bitburg visit."
?
?Transcript of Speech?
B1TBURG, West Germany, May 5 (AP) --
Following is a transcript of Chancellor Helmut
Kohl's speech today at the United States Air
Base at Bitburg, as recorded and translated by
The Associated Press:
Mr. President, members of the U.S. armed
forces, members of the Bundeswehr, excellen-
cies, ladies and gentlemen, dear American
friends, fellow countrymen. .
It is not often that the link between the past,
present and future of our country reaches as
vividly as during these hours at Bitburg.
A few minutes ago, the President of the
United States of America and I paid homage in
the military cemetery to the dead buried there
and thus to all victims of war and tyranny, to
the dead and persecuted of all nations.
Our visit to the soldiers! graves here in Bit-
burg was not an easy one. It could not but
arouse deep feelings. For me it meant first and
foremost deep sch-row and grief at the infinite
suffering that the war and totalitarianism in-
flicted on nations, sorrow and Oa that will
never cease.
A Gesture of Reconciliation
Stemming from them is our commitment to
peace and freedom as the supreme goal of our
political actions. And the visit to the graves in
Bitburg is also a reaffirmation and a widely vis-
ible and widely felt gesture of reconciliation be-
tween our peoples, the people of the United'
States of America and us Germans, reconcilia-
tion which does not disiniss the past but enables
us to overcome , it by acting together.
Finally, our presence here testifies to our
?
,
friendship, which has proved to be steadfast and
reliable and is based on our belief in shared
r,
values.
I thank you, Mr. President, both on behalf of
the whole German people, and I thank you very
personally as friend, for visiting the graves with
me. I believe that many of our German people
. understand this expression of deep friendship,
and that it forbodes a good future for our na-
tions. -
? The town of Bitburg witnessed it first hand
the collapse of the Third Reich. It suffered the
year 1945. It was part ofthe reconstruction in
the years of retoncillathin. For 23 years now,
Bitburg has been the site of joint ceremonies in
' which American, French and German soldiers
and citizens of this town ind region commemo-
rate the victims of the war, and time and again
affirm their friendship and their determination
to preserve peace jointly. Here, close and
friendly relations have evolved in a special way
in these years between the U.S. for-S" and the
, German population. ,
Bitburg can be regarded as a symbol of recon-
ciliation addof derthai)-American friendship.
, ,
, ,
? ? '
Helpers, Partners, Allies
Members of the Bundesvvehr, most of you
have been born since May 8, 1045. You have not
yourselves experienced e war and tyranny in
this country. You grew u in the years in which
we built our republic, at etime when. friendship
re-emerged and developed between us and the
American nation. You got to know our Amer-
ican friends as helpers, as partners and allies.
Days like this are a suitable way of reminding
our people's young generation in particular that
4 ,
ohl at Bitburg Base
this development, so favorable for Us, was not a
matter of course and that the preservation of
peace and freedom requires our very personal
dedication. ?
You, the members of the U.S. forces in the
Federal Republic of Germany, serve your coun-
try, the [hilted States of America, and ow re-
public alike,
The security of the Federal Republic of Ger-
many is closely linked to the partnership and
friendship of the United States of America. We
know what we owe you and your families. We
also know that serving overseas means sacri-
fice for many of you. Let me assure you that you
are welcome guests in our country, in the Fed-
eral Republit of Germany. Do not let a small
and insignificant minority give you a different
impression'. We sincerely welcome you here as
friends, as allies, as guarantors of our security.
?
Armed Forces' Close Ties
Relations have developed over many Years
between the U.S. armed forces and the )3unde-
swehr and are closer than ever before., I should
like to thank you, the American and German
soldiers, for this partnership we almost take for
granted. It strengthens our joint determination
to defend peace and freedom of our nations, and
this partnership ? as / wish expressly to state
here at Bitburg ? thus is a source of mutual un-
derstanding of our peoples, generating many
personal friendships.
I wish the members of the U.S. forces,. I wish
our soldiers of the Federal Armed Forces, I
wish for us all that together we make our contri-
bution to peace and freedom of our country and
of the world ? and may God's blessing be with
us,
4
-
Reagan Administration and Mr. Kohl's
advisers to neaten up the television im- ?
agery out of Bitburg.
"At what price do they have photo
opportunties?" asked Mr. Makovsky,.
whose group summoned young Jews '
from all over the world to come to Bi'.
burg. Some 1,200 answered the call.. .
'The whole president's trip is cen-: ? '
tered around the lens of a camera," he -
said. "Can we do a trade-off? Bititurg,
versus Bergen-Belsen?", -
His friend Moshe Ronen, president ot
the North American Jewish Students'
Network, was similarly embitterea,.
and said, "This is not the definition of
democracy -- an empty sidewalk."
Alan G. Hevesi, the deputy majoritY
leader in the New York State Assent,
bly, was positioned with 16 other legis-
lators from New York and New Jersey.
near to the point where the caravail , _
swept to the cemetery. They all wore ? -
small paper badges that read, -"We,
honor the victims of the Holocaust."
The Queens Democrat said 53 mem- ?
bers of his family perished in Hitler*,
death camps; his grandfather was the
chief rabbi of Budapest. "Some of int
family were saved by Raoul Wallen-
berg, the greatest hero of the 20th cen;
ttuy," said Mr. Hevesi, speaking of the -
Swedish diplomat who rescued thou.:
sands of Jews in Hungary. "This is per:,
sonal to me."
For Max Kaplan, a 54-year-old Dutch - , ?
Jew who survived the war in hiding in.'
Amsterdam, today was his first visit te
Germany since the war ended. He wore
a sandwich-board sign that read!'
"God, do not forgive them, They knevi ' ?
what they were doing."
'
"I haven't spent a mark since I've
been here," Mr. Kaplan said. . ?
His 28-year-old daughter, Natasha; .
wore the same sign and leaned with her. -
father against the steel barrier waiting
for Mr. Reagan and Mr. ' Kohl to, "
emerge from the cemetery. "They are
not to blame for what their parents?
? .
did," Miss Kaplan said, speaking of
younger Germans. "But they are re:.
sponsible that this happened. They -
should have stopped it." ,
Many of the people of Bitburg, a towit
of 12,500 that will shortly be overtaken, :
in population by the adjacent American ,
air base, apparently stayed home to,
day. The town, once known for a catchy
beer slogan ("Bitte On Bit"), has
found the last few weeks of intenK
scrutiny traumatic?
Annette Herchen, a 34-year-old Bit-
burg resident, draped the front of her.
house on the Presidential route with a
gigantic American flag that she said -
she had borrowed from the base. "I, ?
think the Jews have to recognize that. .
we are another generation,' she said.
"We are happy to have the Americans -
here. It's an honor, something special,
that your President comes to Ditburg.'' ?
Another supporter of the visit, Hans,
Peter Miller, earnestly grabbed an
erican reporter and unrolled a ban-' .
er he wanted to show the American- ? -
eader. Written in English, like most of
the banners on display today, it said:. -
"Thank you. God bless you." ?
"There is no half-reconciliation,"-
Mr. Muller said emphatically;.. "We'
"ot be half-friend, half-enemy. 1
as never a .Nazi."
For those who did not see them oil'
television, Mr. Reagan and his host;
Mr. Kohl, were only fleeting presences ,
in Bitburg today. As their caravan
emerged from the cemetery and -
rushed through the center of town, the ,
mostly young Jews gathered there ,
struck up the cry:. "Never again!.
Never again! Never again!"
The cry drowned out esmattering of
left-wing demonstrators who had tried. '
to raise the chant of 'Out from Nicara...
goal " The motorcycles and the Presi-
dential caravan went by in a matter of-
seconds. '
BITBUI20, West Germany, May 5 (AP)?
Following is a transcript of remarks by
President Reagan today at the United States
Air Base at Bitburg after his visit to a Ger-
than military cemetery, as recorded by The
Associated Press:
I have just come from the cemetery where
Getman war dead lay at rest. No one could
visit here without deep and conflicting emo-
tions. I felt great sadness that history could
be filled with such waste, destruction and
evil. But my heart was also lifted by the
knowledge that from the ashes has come
hope, and that from the terrors of the past we
have built 40 years of peace and freedom ? ?
and reconciliation among our nations.
, This visit has stirred many emotions in the
Anterican and German people, too. I have re-
CeAred many letters since first deciding to
Ckhe tojithurgsemetery, some supportive,
others deeply concerned and questioning,
others opposed, Some old wounds have been
reopened, and this I regret very much, be-
cause this should be a time of healing.
To the veterans and families of American
seivicemen who still carry the scars and feel
. the painful losses of that war, our gesture of
reconciliation with the German people today
fn no way minimizes our love and honor for
those who fought and died for our country.
They gave their lives to rescue freedom in its
darkest hour. The alliance of democratic na-
t,i0n3 that guards the freedom of millions in
Europe and America today stands as living
testimony that their noble sacrifice was not
in vain., '
3 Former War Heroes.
NO, their sacrifice was not in vain. I have to
tell you that nothing will ever fill me with
greater hope than the sight of two former war
heroes who met today at the Bitburg ceremo-
ny, each among the bravest of the brave,
each an enemy of the other 40 years ago, each
Et witness to the horrors of war. But today
they came together, American and German,
Qat. Matthew B. Ridgeway and Gen, 4t-
halves Steinhoff, reconciled and united for
freedom, they reached over the graves to one
another like brothers and grasped their
hands_ hi peace. ,
To the survivors of the Folocaust : your ter-
.?
s Spee:c.h.ati? Atrt13a$0 'After 'Visitto..,.B.itbilmi'..cotrie*y:
rible suffering has made you ever vigilant
against evil. Many of you are worried that
reconciliation means forgetting. I promise
you, we will never forget. I have just come
this morning from Bergen-Belsen, where the
horror of that terrible crime, the Holocaust,
was forever burned upon my memory. No,
we will never forget, and we say with the vic-
tims of that Holocaust, "Never again."
The war against one man's totalitarian
dictatorship was not like other wars. The evil
world pt NaziisM turned all values upside
down. Nevertheless, we can mourn the Ger-
man war dead today as human beings,
crushed by a vicious ideology.
The Bitburg Cemetery ?
There are over 2,000 buried in ,Bitburg
cemetery. Among them are 48 members of
the SS. The crimes of the SS must rank
among the most heinous in human history.
But others buried there were simply soldiers
in the German Army. How many were fa-
natical followers of a dictator and willfully
carried out his cruel orders? And how many
were conscripts, forced into service dunn
the death throes of the Nazi war machine
We do not know. Many, h9wever, we know
from the dates on their tombstones, were
only teen-agers at the time. There is one bey
buried there who died a week before, his 16th
birthday.
? There were, thousands of such soldiers to
whom Nazism meant no more than a brutal
end to a short life. We do not believe in collet-
tive guilt. Only God can look into the human
heart. All these men have now met their Su-
preme Judge, and they have been judged by
Him, as we shall all be judged. -
?
Our duty today is to mourn the human
wreckage of totalitarianism, and today, in
Bitburg cetneteq, we commemorated the
potential good and humanity that was con-
sumed back then, 40 years ago. Perhaps if
that 13-year-old soldier had lived, he would
have joined his fellow countrymen in building
this new democratic Federal Republic of
Germany devoted to human dignity and the
defense of freedom that we celebrate today.
Or perhaps his children or his grandchil-
dren might be among you here today at the
Bitburg Air Base, where new generations of
Germans and Americans join together in
?
? friendshiP and coinr4t Cause, dedicating
their lives to preserving peace and guarding
the security of the fre4 world.
Too often in the past, each war only planted
the seeds of the next. We celebrate today the
reconciliation between our two nations that
has liberated us front that cycle of destruc-
tion. Look at what together we have accom-
plished. We who 'were enemies
friends. We who were bitter adversaries are
now the strongest of allies; In the place of
fear we have sown trust, and out of the ruins
of War has' blossomed an enduring peace.
Tens Of theusand$ Of Americans have
served in this town over the years. As the
Mayor of Bitburg has said, in that time there
have been some 6,000 marriages between
Germans and Americans, and many thou-
sands of children have come from these
unions. This is the real symbol of our future
together, a future to he filled with hope,
friendship and freedom,
The hope we see now Could sometimes even
be glimpsed in the darkest days of the war.
I'm thinking of one sPecial story ? that of a
Mother and her yowls son living alone in a
Modest 'Cottage in the middle of the woods.
One night as the Battle 41 the pulge exploded
not far away, three young American soldlers
arrived at their door =- tanding in the snow,
lost behind enemy lines.'All were frostbitten;
one was badly wounded. Even though shelter-
ing the enemy was punishable by death, she
took them in and ma.thern a supper with
1
some of her last f? ? ?
,
Knock at e Door -
And then, they heard another knock at the
' door. This time four ,German soldiers stood
there. The woman was afraid, but she quickly
said with a firm voice , 'There will be no
shooting here." She made all the soldiers lay
down their weapons, and they all joined in the
makeshift meal. Heinz and Willi, it turned
out, were only 18. The corporal was the oldest
at 23. Their natural sispicion dissolved in the
warmth and comfort of the cottage. One of
the Germans, a former medical student,
tended the wounded American.
Now, listen to the rest of the story through
the eyes of one who was there, how a grown
man, but tt,Ist young lad that had been her
son. He said, "Then Mother said grace. I no-
ticed that there were tears in her eyes at she
said the old, familiar Words, 'Komm, Herr '
Jesus. Be our guest.' And as I looked around
the table, I saw tears, too, in the eyes of the
battle-weary soldiers, boys again, some front
America, some from Germany, all far from
. .
home."
? That night, as the storm of war tossed the
world, they had their own private armistice.
. The next morning the German corporal
showed the Americans how to get back, be-
hind their own lines. They all shook hands
and went their separate ways. That happened
to be Christmas Day, 40 years ago.
Those boys reconciled briefly in the midst
of war. Surely. We allies in peacetime should
honor the reconciliation of the last 40 years.
Vielen Dank
To the people of Bitburg, our hosts and the
hosts of our servicemen: like that generous
woman 40 years ago, you make us feel very
? wtIAIn to the en
e.Vlemien9'and women of Bitburg Air
Base, I just want to say that we know that,
even with such wonderful hosts, your job is
not an easy one. You serve around the clock,
far from home, always ready to defend free-
dom. We are grateful, and we're very proud
of you.
Four decades age, we waged a great war to
lift the darkness of evil from the world, to let
men and women in this country and in every
country live in the sunshine of liberty. Our
victory was great, and the Federal Republic,
Italy and Japan are now in the community of
free nations. But the struggle for freedom is
not complete, for today much of the world is
still cast in totalitarian darkness.
Twenty-two years ago; President John F.
Kennedy went to the Berlin wall and pro-
claimed thathe, too, was a Berliner. Today,
freedom-loving people around the world
must say: I am a Berliner, I am a Jew in a
? world still threatened by anti-Semitism, lam
an Afghan, and I an a prisoner of the Gulag,
am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering
off the coast of Vietnam, I ant a Laotian, a
Cambodian, a Cuban and a Miskito Indian in
Nicaragqa. I, too, am a potential victim of to-
talitarianism.
?
Approved For Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370037-3
Theone lesson of World War II, the one les,-
son of Nazism, is that freedom must always' .
be stronger than 'totalitarianism,. and that ?
good must always be stronger than evil. The '
moral measure of our two nation.s, will be '
found in the resolve we show to preserve
lib-
erty, to Protect life and to honor and cherish
?
all God's children. ' ' "-'
That is why the fiee, democratic Federal- ? -..
Republic of Germany is such a profound and: ?
hopeful testament to the human spirit. We
cannot undo the crimes and wars of yester-
day, nor call the millions beck to life. But wec.
can give meaning to the past by learning ite.,
lessons and Making a better future. We can-
let our pain drive us to greater efforts to heal: -
humanity's suffering.
Today, I traveled 220 miles front Bergen- - -
Belsen and, I feel, 40 years in time. With the" -' -
lessons of the past firmly in our minds, we
have turned a new, brighter page in history. "
One of the many who wrote me about this-
visit was a young woman who had recently' -
been bat mitzvahed. She urged me to lay the; ,
wreath at Bitburg cemetery in honor of the. ? ?
future of Germany, and that is what we have '
done. On this 40th anniversary of World War- -
II, we mark the day when the hate,. the evil' ,
and the obscenities , ended, and we corn-
memorate the rekindling of the democratic :
spirit in Germany, , - ?
? 4
Hope for the Future .". ?
There is' much to make us hopeful on this'
historic anniversary. One of the symbols of ? ?
that hope came a little while ago when we
beard a German hand playing the American.
national anthem, and an American band.'
playing the German national anthem.
While much of the world still huddles in thes ,
darkness of oppression, we can see a new _
dawn of freedom sweeping the globe. And we ;
can see, in the new democracies of Latin:
America, in the new economic freedoms and..
' prosperity in Asia, in the slow movement to-.
ward peace in the Middle East and in the
strengthening alliance of democratic nations
in Europe and America, that the light from ;
that dawn is growing stronger.
Together, let, us gather in that light' and ..;
walk out of shadow. Let us live in peace. .?
Thank you, and God bless you all.
Approved For Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370037-3
THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 6, 1985
GERMANS' HOMAGE
AT MOSCOW' RITES
Communists From Both East
and West Mark War's End
? Reagan Condemned
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
,
Special to The Ne York Times
MOSCOW, May 5 --East and West
German Communist leaders paid hom-
age to the Soviet victory over Nazi Ger-
Many in a series of ceremonies and
meetings in and around Moscow today,
'while President Reagan was scath-
ingly denounced for "paying respects
to the Third Reich."
` Erich Honecker, the East German
reader, and the chiefs of the West Ger-
man and West Berlin Communist Par-
ties held separate meetings with
ittail S. Gorpachev at the start of a day-
long program that included laying
wreaths, opening a museum dedicated
to German anti-fascists and unveiling a
Monument to Ernst Thalmann, a Ger-
man Communist who was killed by the
Extensive coverage of the program
On evening television news preceded
fierce attacks on Mr. Reagan's visit to
a*cemetery in Bitburg where 49 mem-
b'ers of the Waffen SS are among those
buried. Western diplomats said they
presumed the contrast was at least
part of the reason for Mr. Honecker's
visit as the Soviet Union builds up to a
commemoration of the end of World
War II. ?
- A statement attributed to the Soviet
War Veterans' Committee called Mr.
Reagan's action a "terrible sacrilege,"
and said: "What moral right does the
U.S. President have to insult the mem-
ory of people who were killed or tor-
tured to death in Europe? It is danger-
ous to forget the past, but it is still more
dangerous to distort it."
Press Insinuations
. The theme was repeated in newspa-
per editorials and commentaries, sonie
of which insinuated that Mr. Reagan
had deliberately selected a place where
SS men are buried. 1,
%The Communist Party newspaper
Pravda, in an editorial headlined
"More Than Sacrilege," wrote, "No
one will be deceived by the hypocritical
assurances by the sponsors of the
shameful ceremony that it will be ef-
fitted ostensibly in the name of 'recon-
ciliation', and even 'in the name of
peace.'
,"The true aims of the ceremony are
obvious: not only to whitewash the
monstrous crimes of the Hitlerites but
also to support those, who nowadays
dream of changing the postwar borders
in Europe.'7
A Commentary by the official press
agency Tass depicted Mr. Reagan's
visit to the Bitburg cemetery as "ap-
proval of the neo-Nazis in Western Eu-
rope,"
Allusfons to Visit
Neither Mr. Honecker nor the other
German Communists specifically 're-
ferred to Mt. Reagan's visit to the Bit-
burg cemetery, but it seemed to wider-
lie many of their comments.
Opening a museum to German anti,
_fascists in the city of iCrasnogorsit near
,Moscow, Herbert 'Mies, the chairman
of the West Getman Communist Party,
said the ceremony- was taking place
when "during a state visit of President
of the United States Reagan, the con-
:tents and spirit of the anti-Hitler coali-
tion are being flouted."
' The visits by Mr. Honecker, Mr.
Mies and Horst Schmitt, chairman, of
the West Berlin Communist Party,
were not depicted in the light of mon.
:ciliation. Soviet history holds that the
GermanS, and in particular German
Communists, were liberated along with
other Europeani from Nazi tyranny by
:the Russians. East Germany, accord-
,ingly, is treated as an ally in the strug-
gle against fascism.
? ICrasnogorsk was where German
Communists set up a "Free Germany"
'committee under Soviet auspices in
:July 1943. It became the nucleus of the
East German Government after the
^ One theme of the German visits was
the Soviet determination that Germany
;should never be reunited. Tass said Mr.
.Gorbachev and Mr, Honecker "reso-
lutely came out against any concep-
tions of the German question being un-
'solved." The reference was to the West
:German tenet that the division of Get.
,many is temporary.
. The Russians seemed prepared to
take full advantage of Mr.Reagan's
problems at the outset at a week of
:commemorations of the war's end,
,which are to climax in a military pa-
. rade Thursday in Red Square.
$hultz Says the Nazis
Killed One SS Soldier
. ;WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Sec-
retary at State George F. Shultz said to-
day that one of the SS members buried
at the Bitburg cemetery had been exe-
coted_for refusing to kill inmates at a
German death camp and: had bee
: buried in a concentration camp
form.
Mr. Shultz recounted the story of the
uildentified SS man in response to a
question why President Reagan in-
sisted on visiting Bitburg, where the 49
? graves of SS soldiers are mingled with
those of other German war dead,
rather than another cemetery where SS
. men are buried in isolated plots.
Sailing the Bitburg visit 'such an
emotional issues that you should hardly
?' d4;re touch it,", Mr. Shultz said on the
CBS News. program ."Face the Na-
tion," broadcast from Germany:
was discovered, for example, by
digging up :on, of those graves at the
time the SS were moved there, I gath-
? et, and One was dug up on the insist-
ence of the widow. And they found that
that SS was buried in the Uniform of a
concentration camp inmate. He had
been executed because he refused to
execute people."
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