German Leader Stirs Flap as Britons Recall Beating Nazis

On a day when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl rankled some Britons with his remarks about German suffering during World War II, Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday called for peacetime reconciliation as well as a remembrance of wartime sacrifices.

Observing the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, the queen praised those who fought against tyranny and expressed sympathy for its victims, adding a tribute to Germans who resisted Adolf Hitler during the war.

At a dinner here, the queen told about 60 foreign leaders, including Vice President Al Gore: “We can never forget the untold millions of casualties suffered in those six long years by servicemen and women and civilians alike on all sides, nor the sacrifices and suffering of so many innocent victims--in particular the Jews in Europe--before peace could be achieved.

“We in Britain remember especially the heroism of all those who fought against the tyrannies in Europe. . . . But we must also remember the small bands of brave men and women who resisted Hitler and Nazism from within, in so many cases paying with their lives.”

Sitting nearby was Kohl, who earlier Saturday had kicked up a fuss by what were regarded here as ill-chosen remarks in which he equated the suffering of Germans driven from their homeland with that of Jews in German concentration camps.

In a statement before leaving Germany for the V-E Day ceremonies here, Kohl said respect should be paid to everyone who suffered in the war.

“Anyone who has not come through the hell of the concentration camps will never be able to feel what still moves the survivors of the horror in their deepest being,” he said. “Anyone who did not have to live through the suffering and death on the battlefields can have only a vague notion of the nightmares that today still haunt the soldiers who returned.

“Anyone who was lucky enough not to lose his or her homeland cannot really understand the still-present sorrow of those who were driven from the land of their childhood and ancestors.”

The Royal British Legion, which represents more than 17 million veterans and their dependents, protested Kohl’s remarks.

“Chancellor Kohl’s statement is surprising, to say the least,” said British Legion official Jeremy Lillies. “This is particularly so in view of the fact that the German nation . . . were the aggressors.”

Mike Whine, spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that 6 million Jews were slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps and “that fact should never be forgotten. We are not in a position to forgive them for what they did. The German people have to learn from what happened and never forget that the Nazis were the aggressors.”

In recent weeks, some commentators in Germany have claimed that not enough attention is being paid to German suffering during and after the war, noting that 12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from their homes in Eastern Europe and many thousands spent years in Soviet prisoner-of-war camps.

At the dinner, the queen also paid tribute to world leaders’ efforts after the war to shape a peaceful new Europe.

“Theirs was a vision of reconciliation between peoples,” she said, “and it has worked. Former enemies have become staunch friends and allies. . . .

“We are on the brink of a new century, a new millennium. It is up to us to set it on a peaceful, confident and prosperous course.”