Word: bonne
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Reagan added further to his problems by dispatching longtime Aide Michael Deaver to West Germany to find a suitable concentration camp or synagogue for the President to pay his respects to the Nazi victims. Deaver, who had directed the arrangements for the visit from the start, swept into Bonn with an entourage of 20, leading some members of Kohl's staff to complain privately that Deaver travels with more aides than the Chancellor does. While many West Germans view Kohl as a genial but often bumbling politician, they see the men around Reagan as undignified novices who are ill-equipped...
...could both Bonn and Washington blunder into such a degrading fuss over an event that was intended to be a moving, soothing and mutually constructive experience? The origins go back more than a year ago, when plans for the observance of the Normandy invasion anniversary were carefully worked out by officials in Washington, London and Paris. Kohl was not invited to participate, since this was seen as a celebration of the wartime victory over the Germans rather than a time for the victor to join hands with the vanquished. Kohl was miffed, and his resentment lingered. When it turned...
...Konzentrationslager that Reagan should see out of respect for its victims. Reagan aides would not confirm that such a suggestion was repeated by Kohl. Moreover, they contend, lower West German officials expressed pleasure that Reagan had publicly announced his intention to avoid such an appearance. A senior Bonn official concedes, "Quite a lot of German people were pleased about the decision not to go to Dachau because it is like going backward...
...misunderstanding between the two allied leaders was amplified by a second letter from Kohl to Reagan last week. In the letter, which was made public in Bonn, Kohl stressed that he had proposed the visit to the Dachau memorial site and added: "I ... request you to either include the concentration memorial site in Dachau or another memorial for the victims of Fascist terror in your visiting program." When the letter was received at the White House, one U.S. official said, "The President read it and looked up in astonishment. He took off his glasses and said, 'Hell...
Shaken by the reaction in the U.S., a senior official in Bonn looked back at the furor and put the issues in a broader perspective. Said he: "No one could have imagined how thin the ice was we were gliding on. History comes through so easily, so quickly. Now all the controversy is directed against the President. But afterward, it might be directed against the Germans . . . Even 40 years may not be long enough, even 50 years, even an entire change of generation...