President Reagan has reaffirmed that he will not visit a concentration camp site when he goes West Germany in May because he believes the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II should be treated as a celebration and not used for “reawakening the memories” of the war.
Reagan, in answering a question at his nationally televised press conference last Thursday night, also said that the German people have “a guilt feeling that’s been imposed upon them and I just think it’s unnecessary.”
Jewish organizations, and particularly groups of Holocaust survivors, have urged Reagan to visit a death camp site after it became known that he has ruled out a trip to Dachau during his participation in V-E Day ceremonies following the Western economic summit in Bonn.
When Reagan was asked Thursday night why he would not visit a camp site, he replied:
“I feel very strongly that this time in commemoration the end of that great war that, instead of reawakening the memories and so forth and passions of the time, that maybe we should observe this day as the day when 40 years ago peace began and friendship because we now find ourselves allied and friends of the countries that we once fought against.”
DOESN’T THINK A VISIT IS NECESSARY
Reagan said the anniversary should “be almost a celebration of the end of an era and the coming into what has now been some 40 years of peace for us, and I felt since the German people– and few are alive that can remember even the war and certainly none of them who were adults and participating in any way — and they do, they have a feeling and a guilt feeling that’s been imposed upon them, and I just think it’s unnecessary.
“I think they should be recognized for the democracy that they’ve created and the democratic principles they now espouse.”
Reagan denied that West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has asked him to take such a position. The West Germans had reportedly suggested the Dachau visit. “In talking just informally some time ago with Chancellor Kohl and others, we all felt the same way, ” Reagan added, “that if we could observe this as the beginning of peace and friendship between us.”
RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY CRITICIZES REAGAN’S REMARKS
In New York, the Rabbinical Assembly criticized Reagan’s remarks. Rabbi Alexander Shapiro, Assembly president, said that while the president ” has done much to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust,” he nevertheless” created the impression that we can forget the past because today’s generation of German citizens and leaders were not responsible for the actions of the Nazis.”
Shapiro added: “The entire world must never be permitted to forget the dreaded actions of the Hitler era that destroyed many millions of people, including six million Jews….. the Holocaust must never be eliminated from the pages of German history…. The world must make certain that such acts are never repeated.”
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