The celebration of the 50th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 in Normandy has stirred a Franco-German debate about whether Germany should be represented at the Omaha Beach ceremony.
From the onset, the French answer at the political level has been “no,” but, according to some sources, the French military authorities already had begun contacts with their German counterparts.
The Germans, especially Chancellor Helmut Kohl, were said to be interested. In Paris, after some uncertainty, both President Francois Mitterrand and the Cabinet said it was out of the question for Kohl to be present at Omaha Beach.
Defense Minister Francois Leotard, on his way back from Israel last Sunday, also announced that a visit planned for him by his assistants to the cemetery in Normandy, together with his German counterpart, had been ruled out.
War veterans and former deportees had protested the idea of this joint visit to the cemetery because the burial grounds there are largely filled with graves of SS members.
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