Brandt Visits Yad Vashem; Lays a Wreath at Tomb of 6 Million Jews

Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany laid a wreath today at the tomb of six million Jews slain by the Nazis and then solemnly recited in German, the 163rd Psalm. Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Jewish martyrs of the holocaust, was the first stop for the German leader who landed at Lod Airport only a short time earlier to begin his four-day visit to Israel.

He arrived at Yad Vashem in a black limousine flying the Israeli and German flags. The building and its approach road winding through the Jerusalem Forest was lined with security men. Observers said the security was tighter than for any other world leader who has visited Jerusalem in the past. Police checkpoints were set up every few yards where officials examined the credentials of journalists and others accompanying the official party. Extremely tight security was also in effect at the airport when Brandt arrived.

The Chancellor entered the Memorial Hall, the floor of which is covered with plaques bearing the names of Nazi concentration camps. He stood before the huge memorial candle with folded arms and listened to the Israel Broadcasting Chorus singing, “Out of the Depths I Have Cried Unto Thee, O Lord.” Brandt was flanked on his right by Yitzhak Arad, general manager of Yad Vashem, and on his left by Knesset member Gideon Hausner, the Israeli State Prosecutor at the time of the Eichmann trial.

Two youths handed the Chancellor a wreath. He walked to the tomb of the martyrs and bent over to place the flowers. Then, unexpectedly, Brandt walked to a microphone and recited the Psalm: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor requited us according to our iniquities. As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof knoweth it no more.”