Germany meets war enemies at Normandy in peace

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder paid an historic visit to Normandy yesterday, joining Germany’s erstwhile enemies for the first time in a tribute to those killed on both sides of the pivotal World War Two battle.

Schroeder, an infant when the Allies stormed French beaches in the D-Day landings 60 years ago that hastened the war’s end, kept a low profile before a Franco-German ceremony late in the day but wrote it was good Germany lost the battle and the war. “The Allies’ victory was not a victory over Germany, it was a victory for Germany,” Schroeder wrote in a contribution for Bild am Sonntag newspaper.”It was a triumph over the criminal Nazi regime that had turned murder into an industrial process.”Schroeder’s appearance was not without controversy — both at home, where conservatives attacked him for avoiding a major German cemetery, and among Allied veteran groups, who questioned the wisdom of inviting the leader of the enemy they fought.But Schroeder, two months old at the time, deflected the criticism, saying it proved the post-war era was finished.”Germany is aware of its past sins and has learned from them,” Schroeder wrote.He never knew his father, a 32-year-old corporal who was killed in combat in Romania four months later.German leaders had been conspicuously absent from past D-Day anniversary ceremonies.Helmut Kohl rebuffed advance feelers from France for an invitation due to fears of a backlash at home for celebrating a military debacle that cost 8 000 German lives.But now with three-quarters of Germany’s population born after 1945 and fears fading of offending families of the dead, Schroeder was able to break the self-imposed ban and accept French President Jacques Chirac’s invitation.Schroeder’s trip has had an electrifying effect in Germany, stirring debate about when, or if, the country will ever be able to draw a line under its past.It has also given fresh momentum to the idea that Germans were liberated by their own defeat.Schroeder has been assailed by conservative critics for a decision not to visit the La Cambe cemetery where 20 000 Germans, including several thousand from the elite SS, are buried.He will instead visit a cemetery at Ranville where 322 Germans and soldiers from seven other nations are buried.”It’s a shame that this is being spoiled by petty domestic political squabbles,” Schroeder told German television.”I’m going to visit a soldiers’ cemetery where the dead from eight nations lie, including more than 300 German soldiers.It is the collective remembrance that needs to be at the forefront.”Chirac’s invitation also reflects a growing friendship between the two men on either sides of the political spectrum.The unlikely bonding of the conservative French leader and the German Social Democrat was cemented last year when they came under attack by President George W. Bush’s administration for their loud and persistent opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.Schroeder and Chirac have worked to mend ties with the United States and gone out of their way to avoid any gloating over the turmoil in Iraq.But Schroeder rejected analogies made between Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”You can’t compare Hitler with Saddam Hussein, although Saddam was also a criminal who must be brought to justice,” he told N-TV television.”These comparisons always cause confusion.Each historical event has to be judge on its own.”- Nampa – Reuters”The Allies’ victory was not a victory over Germany, it was a victory for Germany,” Schroeder wrote in a contribution for Bild am Sonntag newspaper.”It was a triumph over the criminal Nazi regime that had turned murder into an industrial process.”Schroeder’s appearance was not without controversy — both at home, where conservatives attacked him for avoiding a major German cemetery, and among Allied veteran groups, who questioned the wisdom of inviting the leader of the enemy they fought.But Schroeder, two months old at the time, deflected the criticism, saying it proved the post-war era was finished.”Germany is aware of its past sins and has learned from them,” Schroeder wrote.He never knew his father, a 32-year-old corporal who was killed in combat in Romania four months later.German leaders had been conspicuously absent from past D-Day anniversary ceremonies.Helmut Kohl rebuffed advance feelers from France for an invitation due to fears of a backlash at home for celebrating a military debacle that cost 8 000 German lives.But now with three-quarters of Germany’s population born after 1945 and fears fading of offending families of the dead, Schroeder was able to break the self-imposed ban and accept French President Jacques Chirac’s invitation.Schroeder’s trip has had an electrifying effect in Germany, stirring debate about when, or if, the country will ever be able to draw a line under its past.It has also given fresh momentum to the idea that Germans were liberated by their own defeat.Schroeder has been assailed by conservative critics for a decision not to visit the La Cambe cemetery where 20 000 Germans, including several thousand from the elite SS, are buried.He will instead visit a cemetery at Ranville where 322 Germans and soldiers from seven other nations are buried.”It’s a shame that this is being spoiled by petty domestic political squabbles,” Schroeder told German television.”I’m going to visit a soldiers’ cemetery where the dead from eight nations lie, including more than 300 German soldiers.It is the collective remembrance that needs to be at the forefront.”Chirac’s invitation also reflects a growing friendship between the two men on either sides of the political spectrum.The unlikely bonding of the conservative French leader and the German Social Democrat was cemented last year when they came under attack by President George W. Bush’s administration for their loud and persistent opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.Schroeder and Chirac have worked to mend ties with the United States and gone out of their way to avoid any gloating over the turmoil in Iraq.But Schroeder rejected analogies made between Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”You can’t compare Hitler with Saddam Hussein, although Saddam was also a criminal who must be brought to justice,” he told N-TV television.”These comparisons always cause confusion.Each historical event has to be judge on its own.”- Nampa – Reuters