And a friend is still a friend. Reagan spent only eight minutes at the Kolmeshöhe Cemetery. "[7], Coordinates: 49°57′48″N 6°30′46″E / 49.9634°N 6.5127°E / 49.9634; 6.5127. Eventually accepting the award, he praises the President for his support of Israel and the cause of Soviet Jewry, but admonishes the President’s decision to visit Bitburg, stating in his remarks, “I wouldn’t be the person I am, and you wouldn’t respect me for what I am, if I were not to tell you of the sadness in my heart for what happened during the past week…This place, Mr. President,  is not your place. Reagan made one last appearance with Kohl at the airbase, before 7,500 spectators waving American and West German flags. The U.S. President's speech there, according to Time, was a "skillful exercise in both the art of eulogy and political damage control."

53 senators (including 11 Republicans), signed a letter asking the president to cancel, and 257 representatives (including 84 Republicans) signed a letter urging Chancellor Kohl to withdraw the invitation.

The President of United States, Ronald Reagan and West German chancellor Helmut Kohl were to visit Kolmeshoehe to lay a wreath on a tombstone. A German official said: "The Americans also have a responsibility toward the president. The cemetery attracted world-wide attention in 1985 causing a great deal of controversy from the Jewish communities as well as the Veterans of WWII.

Reagan said: All these children of God, under bleak and lifeless mounds, the plainness of which does not even hint at the unspeakable acts that created them. Jim Hively mailed his World War II decorations, including a Silver Star and a Bronze Star, to Reagan in protest. Here Comes Trouble: Stories From my Life. A decision was made by the Reagan team not to include a visit to a concentration camp, as had been previously suggested by Kohl.

The cemetery attracted world-wide attention in 1985 causing a great deal of controversy from the Jewish communities as well as the Veterans of WWII. [5] Kohl confirmed an earlier press comment that in the last days of the war he was able to avoid service in the SS because he was only 15, "but they hanged a boy from a tree who was perhaps only two years older with a sign saying 'traitor' because he had tried to run away rather than serve. We use cookies to offer you an optimum website experience. Your place is with the victims.”, Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, while critical of the planned visit, does not go as far as Wiesel in criticizing the President. ", Levkov, Ilya ed., Bitburg and Beyond, (Shapolsky publishers, New York: 1987), This page was last edited on 23 August 2020, at 08:45. Along with Kohl, 90-year-old General Matthew Ridgway, who had commanded the 82nd Airborne in World War II, and Luftwaffe ace and former head of NATO, General Johannes Steinhoff, Reagan placed a wreath at a wall of remembrance. I am a Jew in a world still threatened by anti-Semitism.

The visit aroused considerable criticism in the United States and around the world, when it became known that of the nearly 2,000 German soldiers buried there, 49 were soldiers of the Waffen-SS, the military arm of Nazi Germany's SS (Schutzstaffel). Tourist-Information Bitburger LandRömermauer 654634 BitburgPhone: (0049) 6561 94340Fax: (0049) 6561 943420. The furor over the trip among American Jews increases in the days following the announcement, when it is revealed that the cemetery also contains the graves of more than 2,000 members of the SS, the units responsible for carrying out the Nazi’s Final Solution plans. I think that there's nothing wrong with visiting that cemetery where those young men are victims of Nazism also, even though they were fighting in the German uniform, drafted into service to carry out the hateful wishes of the Nazis. The World’s largest gravesite collection. Deaver was usually very skillful in carrying out his role as public relations director for Reagan, but this time he and his team failed to notice that among them were 49 members of the Waffen-SS. When questioned, Bitburg Mayor Theo Hallet pointed out, all German military cemeteries were likely to contain at least a few SS graves.

Kohl later thanked Steinhoff for his actions. The Chancellor's aide, Horst Teltschik later said: "Once we knew about the SS dead at Bitburg – knowing that these SS people were seventeen to eighteen years of age, and knowing that some Germans were forced to become members of the SS, having no alternative – the question was, Should this be a reason to cancel?" A poll revealed that 72% of West Germans thought the visit should go forward as planned. On Sunday 5 May, Reagan and Kohl appeared at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After placing the wreath, and standing at attention in honour while a short trumpet salute sounded Steinhoff, in an unscripted act, turned and shook hands with Ridgway. There was one announced change: an added visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The President of United States, Ronald Reagan and West German chancellor Helmut Kohl were to visit Kolmeshoehe to lay a wreath on a tombstone. Reagan was scheduled to attend the G7 economic summit in Bonn the week of the 40th anniversary of V-E Day. The "Ehrenfriedhof" in Bitburg is a commemorative cemetery for soldiers who died in both World Wars. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world.

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