BITBURG AND BEYOND Table of Contents Introduction by Ilya Levkov 21 PART I: PLANNING A RECONCILIATION ACROSS THE GRAVES 1. The Eye Of The Hurricane 34 President Will Not Go To Concentration Camp: "German Guilt [Is] Unnecessary"/President Reagan's News Conference 34 President Explains Purpose of West German Visit/Bernard Weinraub 35 Bitburg on Reagan's West German Agenda 38 Reagan Awards Holocaust Writer Elie Wiesel Congressional Gold Medal 40 "Your Place is With the Victims," Wiesel Tells Reagan 42 2. Political Reaction To Gathering Storm — U.S. 46 A Congressman Voices Concern Over West German Visit/Letter to President Reagan from Rep. Raymond J. McGrath 46 Senators Remind President of "Battle of the Bulge"/Letter to President Reagan from members of the United States Senate 47 Congressmen Suggest Bitburg Visit Dishonors U.S. Soldiers/Letter to President Reagan from members of the United States House of Representatives 49 "Visit Is A Travesty of Reconciliation/Senator Edward M. Kennedy/ Statement on the U.S. Senate Floor 51 82 Senators Urge Reagan To Cancel His Cemetery Visit/ Senate Resolution 53 Please Withdraw Invitation, Chancellor Kohl/Letter to Chancellor Kohl from members of United States House of Representatives 56 Congress Urges President Reagan To Reconsider Bitburg Visit/Resolution to President Reagan from United States Congress 58 Reagan Understands Lessons of History: Bush/Vice President George Bush/Concluding Remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 1985 Annual Meeting 59 Senator Moynihan Responds to President Reagan/Democratic Radio Response to President Reagan 60 3. Veterans' Organizations Respond 62 VFW Issues A Vote of Confidence/VFW Resolution #303 62 Catholic War Veterans Ask President to Forego Bitburg/ Catholic War Veteran magazine 63 Jewish War Veterans Express Deep Sense of Indignation/Letter to President Reagan from Samuel Greenberg 65 The American Legion: "Don't Do It"/Clarence M. Bacon/National Commander, The American Legion 66 Veterans of World War I Approve 67 4. Jewish Leaders Protest 68 Reagan Errs on Holocaust/Menachem Z. Rosensaft 68 Germany: Opening Old Wounds/The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour 70 Stormtroopers Wantonly Killed Gentiles, Jews/Letter to President Reagan from Henry Orenstein 73 Holocaust Group Bars Trade-off in Itinerary/Jane Gross 74 "They Established A School Upon His Grave"/Dr. Norman Lamm, President of Yeshiva University/Address on the 40th Anniversary of the Liberation 75 Say It Isn't So, Mr. President/Abraham H. Foxman 79 Reagan Cemetery Visit Criticized at Holocaust Survivors Ceremony/ William K. Stevens 81 To Be True To Their Cause/Henry Siegman, Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress 84 Arlington Address by Holocaust Survivor/Benjamin Meed 85 5. "Dear Mr. President. ." — National Leaders Protest 87 "Victims of Nazism" is False/Open Letter to President Reagan from National Leaders 87 "Please Find Another Way!" Requests Ad Hoc Committee of Conscience (New York Political and Religious Leaders)/ Letter to Chancellor Kohl and President Reagan 90 Roman Catholic Survivor of Auschwitz 92 10 6. Bonn Reacts 94 "Your Attitude Has Not Been Understood By All/Letter to President Reagan from Dr. Alfred Dregger 94 Congressional Letters Fill Me With Dismay/ Letter to Senator Metzenbaum from Dr. Alfred Dregger 95 "Earth Conceal Not the Blood Shed on Thee"/Chancellor Helmut Kohl/ Speech Given at a Commemorative Ceremony at Bergen-Belsen 96 Letter From A German Correspondent/Letter to Dr. Alfred Dregger 101 Letter From A Jewish Professor/Letter to Dr. Alfred Dregger 101 Letter From A German War Widow/Letter to Dr. Alfred Dregger 103 "You Severely Damaged The Image Of The FRG In The American Mind/Letter to Dr. Alfred Dregger from Prof. Peter Glotz 103 "A Contribution to Peace and Reconciliation Among Nations"/Chancellor Helmut Kohl/Statement Concerning Preparations for His Visit 105 For a Free Germany in a Free Europe/Dr. Alfred Dregger/Speech to the Federation of German Expellees 110 Western Europe Forty Years After World War 11/ Dr. Alois Mertes/Speech to the American Jewish Committee 119 PART II: REAGAN PROCEEDS WITH GERMAN VISIT 7. May 5th At Bergen-Belsen—Reagan and Kohl 130 "We Bow In Sorrow. "/Chancellor Helmut Kohl 130 "Never Again. "/President Ronald Reagan 131 8. May 5th At Bergen-Belsen—Protest 136 A Jew At Bergen-Belsen/Menachem Z. Rosensaft 136 The Two Ceremonies at Bergen-Belsen/John Tagliabue 139 Protesters in Bergen-Belsen: More Than Just Grandstanding/ Walter Ruby 141 A Journey to Bergen-Belsen/Menachem Z. Rosensaft 152 9. May 5th At Bitburg 166 "Thank You, Mr. President, For Visiting The Graves With Me"/ Chancellor Helmut Kohl/Address to German and American Soldiers and Their Families at Bitburg 166 11 "We Do Not Believe in Collective Guilt"/ President Reagan/Speech at the American Air Base in Bitburg 168 Delicate Reagan Path/Hedrick Smith 171 10. Reaction After Bitburg 174 "Our Countries Have Linked Their Fates," Says President Richard von Weizsacker/President of the Federal Republic of Germany Richard von Weizsacker Toasts President and Mrs. Reagan at Dinner in Their Honor, at Schloss Augustusburg, Bruehl 174 The Spirit of West Germany's Future /President Ronald Reagan Addresses German Youth at Hambach Castle 181 "When They Turned The Lights On, It Was Like Being Reborn/ President Ronald Reagan in Speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg 185 "Germans Who Recognize Their Responsibility"/Excerpts from Speech by Willi Brandt at Peace Conference 195 "We Must Look Truth In The Eye"/President Richard von Weizsacker Addresses Delegates in Plenary Room of the German Bundestag 198 11. The Participants' Retrospective 208 "My Objective Was Reconciliation": Kohl/Interview by Time Bureau Chief William McWhirter with Chancellor Helmut Kohl 208 "Let Us Seek and Never Turn From the Truth": Shultz/Secretary of State George P. Shultz/ Remarks at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial 211 U.S. Will Always Oppose Nazism/Vice President George Bush/Remarks at the 30th Anniversary Convocation of Bar-Ilan University 213 Kohl Says He Has No Regrets About Bitburg/Lally Weymouth 217 "I Took The Journey The President Should Have Taken," Says Senator/ Senator Frank R. Lautenberg 220 The Bitburg Affair/U.S. Ambassador to West Germany, Arthur F. Burns 225 PART III: THE ISSUES 12. The SS 234 The Structure of the SS in 1944/Chart 234 There's Butcher Mentality/Heinz H6hne/Z)er Spiegel 236 SS Veterans Feel 'Rehabilitated' by Reagan Visit/John Tagliabue 243 The 'Cowardly' Executioner: On Disobedience in the SS/ Daniel Goldhagen 246 12 American Dead Were Young, Too, Mr. President/Leonard Sattler 259 13. German-American Relations 262 What the Bitburg Episode Means for an Alliance/Christoph Bertram 262 Bitburg and the Strengthening of German-American Relations/ Dr. Alfred Dregger 265 Treacherous Signposts: The Perils of Misreading Germany's Past/ Franz M. Oppenheimer 267 14. German-Jewish/Israeli Relations 282 Twenty Years of German-Israeli Relations/ Ambassador Yitzhak Ben Ari 282 Bitburg a Blow to Jewish-German Relations/Sheldon Kirshner 287 German-Jewish Relationship After Bitburg/Ambassador Giinther van Well/ Speech to the B'nai B'rith 290 "It Thinks Inside Me. .": Fassbinder, Germans & Jews/ Henryk M. Broder 294 Germany and Israel — The Road to Trust Without Forgetting/ Johannes Rau 302 PART IV: THE AMERICAN RESPONSE 15. Leaders And Intellectuals 318 Bitburg: Who Forgot What/Midge Decter 318 The American Jewish Committee At the White House/ Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum 330 Does Incessant Recollection of Nazi Past Denigrate Germany of Today?/ Letter to Dr. Alois Mertes of the Bundestag from Prof. Erich Goldhagen 335 Interview/Stuart Eizenstat 339 Speaking Truth To Power/Charles E. Silberman 344 The Lesson of Bitburg/Rep. Sam Gejdenson 350 On Being Indignant About Bitburg/A Play by Hans Sahl 351 Reagan's Contempt for History/David Bromwich 355 A Footnote on Bitburg/Irving Howe 360 An Overview of Bitburg/Kalman Sultanik 362 Betrayal of Memory/Martin Mendelsohn 369 The Worst Effect of Bitburg Visit/Norman Podhoretz 373 13 Reagan Isn't Indifferent To Jews/Morris B. Abram 375 Jews Did Not Vote For Reagan/Dr. Mark A. Siegel 377 Thoughts After Bitburg/Abraham Foxman 381 Interview With Elie Wiesel/ZW Spiegel 383 Reagan Did Better Than Wiesel/Prof. Jacob Neusner 386 On Surprises, Linkages and Separations/Dr. Fred E. Katz 387 Bitburg—Who Spoke Out, Who Didn't/William Bole 393 Never Again?/Leonard Fein 400 From the St. Louis to Bitburg/Prof. Seymour Maxwell Finger 403 What Bitburg Revealed About the Jews/Dennis Prager 405 The Speech Ronald Reagan Should Have Given at Bitburg/ Dr. Irving Greenberg 413 Some Lessons from Bitburg/ Dr. Irving Greenberg 416 Reflections on the Nature of the Holocaust/ Dr. David M. Elcott 419 The Bitburg Affair and its Implications for Black Americans/ Dr. R. Blanchard Stone 422 The Bitburg Fiasco/Charles Krauthammer 431 The Roper Report On Opinion About Bitburg/Milton Himmelfarb 433 16. The American Press 440 Before Bitburg Why the President Should Go to Bitburg/Jody Powell/ The Los Angeles Times 440 About Cemeteries/editorial/ The Wall Street Journal 442 On Anniversaries/William F. Buckley, Jr./Universal Press Syndicate 443 The False Choice of Bitburg/editorial/ The New York Times 445 Bitburg Ron's Waterloo/Jack M.cK\nney/ Philadelphia Daily News 446 Decline and Send No Regrets/Mary McGrory/Tife Washington Post 448 Bergen-Belsen: Lest We Forget the Others/Douglas MacArthur/ The Christian Science Monitor 450 Penetrating Bitburg/William F. Buckley, Jr./Universal Press Syndicate 452 Bitburg Is A Long Way From Arlington/Dorothy Rabinowitz/ New York Post 454 Liberalism Berserk/William F. Buckley, Jr./Universal Press Syndicate 456 Enough War Guilt/June Tierney/ The Washington Post 458 14 What Transcends Bitburg/McGeorge Bundy/ The New York Times 462 One Last Try/William F. Buckley, Jr./Universal Press Syndicate 463 Another 40 Years/Flora Lewis/'The New York Times 465 Reagan Dumps on Bitburg/James Ridgeway/ The Village Voice 467 After Bitburg Bitburg Bears Remembering/ The New York Times 468 I am a Jew.