thus reducing the time Reagan had to spend at Kolmeshöhe Military Cemetery to only eight minutes You may use this to discuss how the right wants to have it both ways on anti-semitism or to pursue your own areas of off-topic discourse. Find previous discussions in the Open Thread archive. Excepting the entreaty that you remain on topic, all of Slate’s usual commenting policies apply If you depend on this community and Slate’s journalism, please consider joining Slate Plus Welcome to IPE Real Assets. This site uses cookies. Read our policy a real estate investment fund manager specialising in logistics and industrial assets has completed the acquisition of a 31,000 m2 modern facility in Bitburg via a forward funding agreement with Panattoni Clarion Partners Europe has now acquired 15 assets in Germany with a Gross Development Value of over €650 mln. The Grade A logistics development which is targeting a DGNB Gold certification is fully let to a multinational tyre manufacturer on a 12-year term and will serve as a key component of the tenant’s supply chain network. The property benefits from strong arterial connectivity via the nearby A60 (less than 15 minutes’ drive time) and A1 Autobahn (30 minutes’ drive time) senior director at Clarion Partners Europe providing a long-term inflation hedge via annual indexation targeting a DGNB Gold-certification aligns with our commitment to the development of future proofed real estate.' Rory Buck managing director at Clarion Partners Europe added: 'We remain highly disciplined in our deployment activity including forward funding agreements with established operating partners such as Panattoni.' Clarion Partners Europe was advised by Goodwin (legal) and CBRE (technical) Copyright © 1997–2025 IPE International Publishers Limited Site powered by Webvision Cloud One of the most important was frontman Joey Ramone’s lyrics lampooning what three-quarters of the band and many of their generation deemed America’s pitfalls While they have many highlights in this vein such as ‘We’re a Happy Family’ and ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ which paint the America of their era in an absurd light perhaps the most effective and vitriol-filled is 1985’s ‘Bonzo Goes to Bitburg’ The rousing anthem was composed with a specific target as the country was deep in the throes of its Ronald Reagan-led neoliberal evolution While Reagan was immensely popular in Conservative America, with him the hero of Wasps and deemed by his acolytes as the very literal manifestation of the special possibilities that made the country so great, as nowhere else in the world could a B-movie actor become the political executive His deeply polarising nature presented another similarity with his British counterpart ‘Bonzo Goes to Bitburg’ was written in reaction to Reagan’s visit to the Bitburg military cemetery in West Germany on May 5th he laid a wreath and gave a public address as it was part of a trip paying tribute to the victims of Nazism who committed many crimes against humanity during the war he stated that the soldiers interred at Bitburg were “victims” just like those in the concentration camps he claimed that while the SS’s crimes were heinous he maintained that many of those buried there were “simply soldiers in the German army” Imagine the outcry if the doddering Joe Biden would have made such a statement he felt particularly aggrieved by the president’s visit to Bitburg and his comments He said he was “disgusted” and remained a prominent critic of the Reagan presidency until it ended It wasn’t Ramone who coined the phrase “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”; it was protestors who came up with it when making their feelings known to the outside world The name Bonzo was also already familiar to Americans and was a fitting epithet for the foolish President Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy Reagan starred in which also featured a chimpanzee named Peggy playing the character Bonzo The title of the Ramones track mirrors that of the 1952 sequel Although the single took some time to become a US college radio hit, the band had to retitle it ‘My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)’ when it was re-released on Animal Boy. That was because guitarist Johnny Ramone, the staunch conservative in the band this philosophical difference caused a lot of issues between him and the rest of the group The rapid transition from Allied victory in World War II to Cold War geopolitical calculus saw a realignment of strategic priorities With the Soviet Union drawing an Iron Curtain across Eastern Europe right through the middle of defeated Germany the newly established West German state would become a key member of the NATO defense alliance lingering over Germany’s Nazi past was generally viewed in the West as impolitic and inadvisable to demonstrate the reconciliation of America and Germany and their enduring alliance West German chancellor Helmut Kohl invited President Ronald Reagan to visit a German military cemetery The visit was to take place during the G7 Summit in Bonn which coincided with the 40th anniversary of VE Day and the German military cemetery near Bitburg was chosen for the ceremony Prior to Reagan’s trip it was discovered that among the 2,000 graves of German World War II soldiers were 49 graves of members of the Waffen SS The entire SS had been designated a criminal organization at the Nuremberg Trials and many Americans protested the president’s honoring the memory of SS members At a ceremony awarding him the Congressional Medal of Achievement prominent Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel implored the president not to go to Bitburg: “That place is not your place Your place is with the victims of the SS.” Other Jewish leaders similarly called on Reagan to reconsider and 101 members of the US House of Representatives on April 19 Reagan declined Chancellor Kohl’s suggestion that they also visit the notorious Dachau concentration camp The president explained that he didn’t wish to “revive old feelings of guilt” among the German people at that time diplomatic relations between the US and West Germany declined to what was perhaps their postwar nadir Helmut Kohl insisted that Reagan follow through on his commitment to honor the German war dead and noted that the overwhelming majority of the German people supported the visit Reagan stood firm in going ahead with visit justifying it in terms that only made matters worse 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 just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” A firestorm of criticism followed the president’s remarks which seemingly equated Nazi draftees with Jewish Holocaust victims To try to make amends for the public relations disaster the trip planners added a last-minute visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where President Reagan would honor the memory of Nazi victims He would then proceed to the Bitburg military cemetery but his visit there would be shortened to a mere eight minutes President Ronald Reagan and Chancellor Helmut Kohl arrived at Bergen-Belsen for a solemn ceremony The President laid a wreath at the mass graves and then delivered a speech commemorating the victims’ memory: Here lie people — Jews — whose death was inflicted for no reason other than their very existence Their pain was borne only because of who they were and because of the G-d in their prayers Alongside them lay many Christians — Catholics and Protestants …What we’ve felt and are expressing with words cannot convey the suffering that they endured That is why history will forever brand what happened as the Holocaust We’re here because humanity refuses to accept that freedom of the spirit of man can ever be extinguished We’re here to commemorate that life triumphed over the tragedy and the death of the Holocaust — overcame the suffering We’re here today to confirm that the horror cannot outlast hope and that even from the worst of all things It comes to us through the transforming love of G-d “it was only through suffering that the Children of Israel obtained three priceless and coveted gifts: the Torah out of this sickness — as crushing and cruel as it was — there was hope for the world as well as for the world to come Nothing illustrates this better than the story of a young girl who died here at Bergen-Belsen.… Just three weeks before her capture young Anne Frank wrote these words: “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out Yet I keep them because in spite of everything I still believe that people are good at heart I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness I hear the ever-approaching thunder which will destroy us too; I can feel the suffering of millions and yet that this cruelty too will end and that peace and tranquility will return again.” this sparkling young life ended here at Bergen-Belsen We’re all witnesses; we share the glistening hope that rests in every human soul toward what our President Lincoln called the better angels of our nature Just hours before President Reagan departed for West Germany the administration announced a $1.5 billion emergency aid package for Israel This came in addition to $1.26 billion in economic grants and $1.8 billion in military grants already budgeted Critics of Israel suggested that this was intended to appease American Jews who were outraged by Reagan’s planned visit to the Bitburg cemetery Secretary of State George Schultz denied any connection but many later claimed that the aid went a long way toward calming Israeli leadership Commenting on the “Bitburg Affair,” Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres famously stated One of the strongest responses to Reagan’s ill-advised trip to Bitburg came from Israeli justice minister Moshe Nissim Nissim announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of SS officer Josef Mengele “We have witnessed in these days manifestations of reconciliation and forgiveness toward those who perpetrated the greatest atrocities the world has known since G-d created man,” Nissim declared He criticized the equivalence made by the leader of the free world between German soldiers and concentration camp victims calling it “a hair-raising equation that must horrify any civilized person.” Forensic efforts confirmed that Mengele had drowned in 1979 while swimming off the coast of Bertioga Using the assumed name “Wolfgang Gerhard,” he had been buried in a Sao Paulo cemetery and extensive forensic examinations indicated with high probability that the remains were those of Josef Mengele Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererThe Last Interview with Rav ShayaleMost of the information we have for him comes from oral traditions among Unterland Hungarian Jewry Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererA Blood Libel in New YorkThe blood libel was leveled collectively against the Jews of Massena Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererAn East Side StoryIn the winter of 1916 amid the economic pressures of immigrant life Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererIndustrial PogromThe Triangle Shirtwaist Factory blaze claimed the lives of 146 workers Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererThe Galicia–Vienna–Tel Aviv ExpressOver seven decades after the Ruzhiner’s midnight ride from Russia to Austria his descendants were to complete his journey Dovi Safier and Yehuda GebererWhen Dogevezh Nearly Went DarkA surprising solution arrived at the yeshivah’s doorstep almost immediately after Rav Doniel’s return This work, Bitburg Annex returned to German Government, by MSgt Staci Kasischke, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright The Ramones penned “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg,” a song that’s obviously not as popular as “Blitzkrieg Bop” or “I Want To Be Sedated.” In fact hopping from producer to producer and releasing albums with the hope that one would “break” them They wanted to be popular and live the good life The Ramones were not known to take on causes or make strong opinions on serious matters but “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” was an exception The track was inspired by Ronald Reagan’s visit to a cemetery in Bitburg Reagan’s discourse during his visit was that while he didn’t excuse the systematic mass murder of millions of people these soldiers were “victims” or just “simply following orders.” To many ears the then President was making excuses for genocide The Ramones were notorious for their occasional use of Nazi symbols — thanks to main songwriter Dee Dee’s fascination with WWII memorabilia — but this time the band didn’t joke about Nazis in love While Joey was Jewish and helped pen the song it is said that Dee Dee was the one who wanted to say that there was no excuse for that kind of demonstration The track is also notable song because it criticizes a Republican politician something they had stayed away from since Johnny became a supporter of the conservative party but he requested it be renamed to “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down” for Animal Boy.) The story of the Ramones is filled with clashes of personality that (arguably) held them back during their lifetime but it’s amazing that a song so polarizing to the various individuals could not only happen but also become one of their finest moments There’s a lot of good music out there and it’s not all being released this year we aim to rediscover overlooked artists and genres to listen to music historically and contextually our focus will be on music that’s not being pushed by a PR firm Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Recently published diary entries offer new – and perhaps even more troubling – insight into the former president’s decision to visit the graves of World War II German soldiers Ronald Reagan was genuinely friendly toward American Jews As the recent publications of other former presidents’ private writings and rantings have shown The 2003 release of Harry Truman’s diary quoted the 33rd president as writing Jimmy Carter was quoted as telling senior campaign aides prior to the 1980 elections I’m going to [expletive] the Jews.” Meanwhile every newly released Richard Nixon tape seems to carry another antisemitic slur containing a conversation in which Nixon laments Jewish power with the Rev Recently published diary entries offer new - and perhaps even more troubling - insight into the former president's decision to visit the graves of World War II German soldiers Yet in the recently published book “The Reagan Diaries” (HarperCollins) Reagan demonstrates impressive compassion for Jewish causes In his first personal communication with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev Reagan requests that Jewish dissident Anatoly (later Natan) Sharansky be released from the gulag and permitted to join his wife in Israel after addressing an audience of Holocaust survivors and their children Reagan remarks: “It was an emotional experience for them & for us I know I choked up a couple of times.” And even when confronting Jewish groups opposing the sale of the Airborne Warning and Control System planes to Saudi Arabia Reagan strongly affirms his support for Israel: “… it must be plain to them they’ve never had a better friend of Israel in the W.H the extreme conviction with which Reagan records his daily thoughts is reassuring But Reagan’s May 1985 decision to visit the graves of World War II German soldiers in Bitburg The president’s certitude about the rightness of the visit— and his stubbornness in the face of public and private outcry — is worth glancing at again in hindsight The Diaries’ first mention of Reagan’s decision to visit the Kolmeshöhe Cemetery which contained the graves of Nazi-SS soldiers During a meeting with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the G7 Summit in Bonn Reagan recorded that the Germans feared being “ignored” during the upcoming 40th anniversary of V-E Day “They suffer a great guilt complex over the Nazi period,” he wrote “I’m suggesting including them this time & making the occasion one of celebrating when the hatred stopped & peace & friendship began which has continued for 40 yrs.” In the firestorm that ensued once the upcoming Bitburg visit was leaked to the public in early April 1985 “There is no way I’ll back down & run for cover,” he wrote the president defended his decision by drawing an obscene analogy between American World War II soldiers and Nazis “Would Helmut be wrong if he visited Arlington Cemetery on one of his U.S Reagan’s frustration with Jews speaking out against his visit to the Bitburg cemetery was unmistakable “They [the press] are really sucking blood & finding every person of Jewish faith they can who will denounce me,” he wrote April 18 Reagan referred to the uproar as his “‘Dreyfus’ case,” refusing his advisers’ calls to cancel the visit was described as “uptight about the situation.” Though peeved “I’m not going to cancel anything no matter how much the bastards scream,” he wrote When it ultimately came time for the May 5 visit Reagan’s angry defensiveness returned to the cool conviction that otherwise colors most of his writing After declaring that “we must never forget & we must pledge ‘never again’” during a morning visit to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Reagan arrived at the Kolmeshöhe Cemetery to a large crowd of German onlookers an American and German general from World War II each laid a wreath at the cemetery monument When the two unexpectedly shook hands at the close of the ceremony Reagan called it a “truly dramatic moment.” Polls later showed that 59% of Americans supported Reagan’s visit — up from 49% before his trip “I always felt it was the morally right thing to do,” he wrote While Reagan’s own account of his decision to visit Bitburg is a deeply disturbing read it is generally considered the exception in an otherwise positive record on Jewish-relevant issues “I think it was an episode — a sad episode,” said the Anti-Defamation League’s national director “The Jewish community’s attitude toward Reagan was that he was a friend but [the Bitburg visit] did not tarnish him significantly.” the Bitburg visit was far more damaging to Germany’s image among American Jews “We saw that they were impatient to achieve normalcy without understanding that we can never be normal certainly not as long as survivors and perpetrators [of the Holocaust] are around.” For this reason it was the German government — and not Reagan — that undertook efforts to repair relations with the Jewish community after the Bitburg controversy If Reagan’s visit to Bitburg soured relations with the American Jewish community While Reagan continued recording his efforts to liberate Soviet Jewry secure reparations for Holocaust victims and engage domestic Jewish groups he never wrote of Bitburg — or the furor it engendered — again Eric Trager is a doctoral student in political science at the University of Pennsylvania I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association Cookies allow us to understand how you use this site and improve your experience. Our detailed Cookie Policy can be found here By continuing to use this website you accept our use of cookies Mandatory cookies help make this website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website Our website cannot function properly without these cookies Statistic cookies help us understand how visitors interact with this website for example seeing which pages are most popular This information is collected anonymously and helps us improve the site by making the most sought after information easy to find Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites allowing the display of ads that are relevant and engaging for the visitor Whilst we do not display any advertising on the WJC website allowing marketing cooking may allow other sites to see that you have visited our site Following is an adapted version of a speech given by World Jewish Congress General Counsel Menachem Z who was born in the Displaced Persons camp of Bergen-Belsen on the 60th anniversary of the dedication of that former concentration camp’s memorial site For more than 30 years after his liberation from the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in Germany on 15 April 1945 who headed both the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in the British Zone of Germany and the Jewish Committee that administered the displaced persons camp of Bergen-Belsen from 1945 until 1950 was a fierce protector and defender of the memory of all those who had suffered and perished there On the first anniversary of the liberation he dedicated the Jewish monument that has stood ever since as the silent guardian of the Belsen mass graves he made sure that Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions would be centrally featured on the wall of the international monument he was the moving force behind an 11-year-long and ultimately successful international political and legal fight to prevent the exhumation of 139 French nationals from one of the mass graves lest such disinterment disturb the remains of the thousands buried there anonymously keeping his vow to the dead of Belsen that they would not be abandoned on the soil where they had been murdered I stood beside the Jewish monument to denounce a desecration of memory that had just taken place at Belsen President Ronald Reagan and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had delivered speeches before leaving for the Kolmeshöhe military cemetery near the city of Bitburg in western Germany where they would pay tribute to the German soldiers buried there I told a protest demonstration made up mostly of sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors that “Reagan and Kohl have embarked on a macabre tour Today we say to them that they can either honor the memory of the victims of Belsen or they can honor the SS Our demonstration was the culmination of a controversy that had been first fomenting and then raging for several months when the president’s trip to Germany was being planned no concentration camp site was included on his itinerary White House Spokesman Larry Speakes said that Dachau was something the president did not want to do Reagan said that he wanted to observe the anniversary of the end of World War II as the day when reawakening inconvenient and unpleasant memories since the German people have very few alive that remember even the war and certainly none of them who were adults and participating in any way they have a feeling and a guilt feeling that’s been imposed upon them.” I was among many who were deeply offended by Reagan’s words they were in their early 30s,” I wrote in the 'New York Times' on 30 March 1985 “Most of the German guards and doctors who tortured them and sent their families to the gas chambers were their age or younger Dachau and all the other death camps were in their 20s and 30s when they participated in the annihilation of six million European Jews Relatively few of these mass murderers died in battle and only a handful of them were executed for their crimes after the war many of them are today in their 60s and 70s still alive and well and living in Germany.” Reagan’s willingness to ignore the Holocaust while in Germany was like manna from heaven for Kohl who had done everything in his power to rehabilitate and destigmatize as many Germans who had served the Third Reich as possible his government removed the veterans organizations of the Waffen-SS from a list of extremist right-wing groups on which his Ministry of the Interior was required to make an annual report to the Bundestag Kohl also blocked repeated demands by the opposition Social Democrats to ban the highly controversial reunions of veterans of the Waffen-SS Even though the Waffen-SS had been responsible for countless wartime atrocities including the brutal liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto and the massacre of American soldiers at Malmedy and had provided guards for virtually all the concentration and death camps Kohl consistently depicted its members as simple soldiers who had had no alternative but to follow orders the Holocaust was perpetrated not by Germans qua Germans but by the Nazis German President Heinrich Lübke had declared at Belsen: “The phenomenon of National Socialism cannot be explained by the German national character What happened did not happen by order or with the will of the German people but in our name.” Speaking at Belsen 20 years later Kohl spoke in a similar vein of the Nazi regime’s and the National Socialists’ actions as if only members of the Nazi party had been responsible for the atrocities perpetrated between 1933 and 1945 Germany bears historical responsibility not for the crimes committed by Germany and Germans but for the crimes of the Nazi tyranny When it became known in mid-April of 1985 that not only had Reagan accepted Kohl’s invitation to visit the Bitburg cemetery but that this cemetery contained the graves of members of the Waffen-SS the president was faced with ever-increasing outrage on the part of not just American Jews American war veterans and editorial writers Responding to demands that he cancel the Bitburg segment of his German trip Reagan told a group of regional editors and broadcasters on 18 April that the German soldiers buried there “are victims of Nazism also even though they were fighting in the German uniform then-associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League wrote that he was appalled at the insensitivity the mechanical equation of victims and victimizers Elie Wiesel publicly urged Reagan to reconsider President,” Wiesel told Reagan at the White House after being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement Your place is with the victims of the SS.” The issue the White House then announced that the President would now also go to Bergen-Belsen thereby drawing a fallacious moral equivalence between Belsen and Bitburg Addressing a gathering of thousands of Holocaust survivors and their families in Philadelphia on 21 April I called Reagan’s decision to go through with the Bitburg wreath-laying ceremony a “calculated deliberate insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust let us say to President Reagan clearly and unambiguously that if he insists on going to Bitburg we do not need him and we do not want him in Bergen-Belsen.” If the president did not cancel his Bitburg visit for him to have to confront survivors and their children at Belsen Let him pass in front of us there and look into our faces he would understand the enormity of the outrage which he is perpetrating There must be at least one in all of Germany which does not contain SS men.” made an already bad situation even worse when he once again sought to exonerate the Waffen-SS and categorically rejected what he called unacceptable collective accusations and distortions of historical facts during the past few days While he said that he would not venture to judge those who experienced all the horror and barbarity of the Third Reich at Auschwitz he insisted that “we,” presumably referring to all Germans of his and future generations have neither a moral nor a legal claim to such an attitude we were then informed that our request to be allowed to hold a peaceful demonstration as Reagan and Kohl entered the memorial site of Bergen-Belsen had been vetoed not by the German authorities but by the American advance team Following intense telephone discussions and negotiations with U.S I reached what I considered to be a less than ideal but tolerable compromise with Klaus Becker the head of government of the regional administrative district responsible for Bergen-Belsen: Becker would provide us with a police escort who would take us past the police barricades to about one kilometer away from Belsen and then would bring us to the memorial site immediately after Reagan and Kohl had departed by helicopter And so it was that a group of about 50 of us stood beside the Jewish monument on 5 May 1985 Other leaders of the Second Generation movement in our group were Jerzy Warman Tom Teicholz and Ritalynne Brechner from New York as well as Rositta Kenigsberg from Miami Charles Silow and Bernard Kent from Detroit Stephen Tencer and Jeanette Friedman-Sieradski from New Jersey Speaking on behalf of and to the dead of Belsen I said that Kohl’s attempt to describe the Waffen-SS as simple soldiers was a perverse rewriting of history and that Reagan’s comparison of the SS or any German soldiers to the victims of the Holocaust was morally repugnant.I emphasized that we are committed to genuine reconciliation and friendship with the new Germany of the past 40 years but we shall never accept or acquiesce in any reconciliation with the Third Reich we shall never tolerate any compromise with evil I felt my father’s hand on my shoulder as I concluded my remarks with words that I consider as relevant and applicable today as they were 27 1/2 years ago: “For us it is a matter of conscience and to all the other victims of the Holocaust that we shall forever protect and defend their memory This work, Town Hall: Bitburg High School’s transition to Spangdahlem, by SSgt Preston Cherry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright This work, 52nd Security Forces Squadron collaborates with Local Polizei to strengthen interoperability, by SrA Albert Morel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. PlayListenReagan's trip to Germany inspired the RamonesGo Deeper.CloseCreate an account or log in to save stories We have added it to a list of your favorite stories Johnny and Marky receive their award during the 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City 18 March Clary | AFP | Getty ImagesToday's Morning Edition music is from 30 years ago Tuesday when President Ronald Reagan participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at cemetery near Bitburg He was widely criticized for being there after it was revealed that 49 members of a Nazi SS division were buried in the cemetery Regan declined to visit the site of a World War II concentration camp which was subtitled "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg." MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all This work, Big Man: The story of George Price, by TSgt Rusty Frank, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week 25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago US President Ronald Reagan provoked a major international controversy when he joined West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to pay tribute at a military cemetery for German soldiers the Nazi paramilitary unit responsible for some of the most hideous crimes of WWII Reagan declared that the SS soldiers buried there “were victims just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps,” and said that he felt no need to visit a concentration camp due to the “guilt feeling that’s been imposed upon” Germany White House aide Patrick Buchanan said that Reagan would not bow before “Jewish pressure” to back out from the visit to Bitburg The visit first drew controversy when it was announced that during his trip to Germany Reagan had no intention of visiting one of the many concentration camps where the Nazi killing machine exterminated millions during WWII Reagan added a visit to Bergen-Belsen to his itinerary Kohl pressured Reagan to visit Bitburg as part of a broader strategy to rehabilitate the German ruling class’s Nazi past Kohl removed the veterans’ organization of the Waffen-SS from a monitored list of extreme right-wing organizations and refused demands from the opposition Social Democrats to proscribe SS reunions left office after revelations over his Nazi past became a political embarrassment for the government of Konrad Adenauer Prior to serving as Federal Minister of Displaced Persons Refugees and Victims of War from 1953 until 1960—where he advocated citizenship for ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe—Oberländer was a longtime Nazi participating in Hitler’s Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 rising high in the Bavarian ranks of the party and the SA Joining the Nazis opened up a professorship at the University of Greifswald where Oberländer led efforts to drive Jews from both the school and the province of Pomerania Oberländer became a leading advocate of the ethnic cleansing of Poles from Prussia and war against Poland “The struggle for ethnicity is nothing other than the continuation of war by other means under the cover of peace.. a struggle which goes on with one aim: extermination!” Oberländer was personally involved in the brutal invasion and occupation of the Ukraine serving as an “ethnic psychologist” and advocating “pitilessly exterminating partisans.” Oberländer was accused of personally killing a female school teacher in the Ukraine Oberländer was a beneficiary of “denazification.” Taken prisoner at war’s end US intelligence personnel found Oberländer’s anticommunism and knowledge of Eastern Europe valuable and he soon found himself quickly promoted in Bavarian and West German politics East Germany (the DDR) launched a public campaign against Nazis in the West German government the same year the West German parliament dropped all prosecutions for Nazi crimes and killings apart from provable acts of murder Roosevelt issued Executive Order 7034 creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for millions of workers left unemployed during the Great Depression The executive order declared the aim of the WPA was to put millions then on relief rolls “to work on such projects or in private employment the maximum number of persons in the shortest time possible.” There were 20 million Americans on relief in 1935 Nearly 22 percent of the US labor force was unemployed in the previous year The program set aside billions of dollars to provide jobs on construction projects to build and expand the US infrastructure The WPA program also set aside provisions for cultural development The WPA employed more than 3.4 million people in all during its first year one of the central features of Roosevelt’s “Second New Deal,” put in place to address the continuing social crisis of the Great Depression in the US and as an effort to rescue the profit system from the threat of a social revolution that had emerged the year earlier in a series of general strikes in major cities former US President Theodore Roosevelt collected the Nobel Peace Prize He had deemed it improper for a president to accept the award while in office Roosevelt used his Nobel lecture to call for the strengthening of international treaties of arbitration and the Hague Tribunal which he hoped would serve as a “Magna Carta for the nations” and be built up to “a species of world federation for international peace and justice.” While Roosevelt hoped for peace among the Great Powers he did not include “states so backward that a civilized community ought not to enter into an arbitration treaty with them.” (Roosevelt had declared British poet Rudyard Kipling’s call for the US to take up “the white man’s burden” to be “rather poor poetry but good sense from the expansion point of view.”) Roosevelt was indeed the foremost US advocate of imperialism personally participating in the seizure of Cuba in 1898 from Spain and advocating the construction of a great navy to transform the US into a world power Roosevelt had won the Nobel Prize for his arbitration of the Russo-Japanese War which had resulted in an ignominious defeat for the Czarist Empire and triggered the Russian Revolution of 1905 Roosevelt made clear in his 1910 acceptance speech that his primary concern was not peace among nations “is at least as necessary in the industrial world as it is among nations.” Putting on par the “the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital” with “the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor,” Roosevelt said he would turn his prize over to a body that would work toward “industrial peace.” This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page by | Apr 27, 2013 | Tournament | 1 comment The 2013 Millennium Series European Masters at Bitburg field layout has officially been released to the public Everyone has taken notice that the layout is eerily similar to the PSP MAO field layout especially considering the similar field dimensions The event will be held at Sportschule Bitburg Sportpark-Hotel GmbH & Co.KG Credit: Millennium-Series.com This week I ordered a milenium field 2013 and I wil build it on my paintball park The field will be buildup untill december and wil be rebuild the next year For those how are interested foor playing please contact Trianel is building a total of seven solar plants with an output of almost 80 megawatts in the area around Bitburg in Germany the project partners have implemented all possible measures to reconcile the installation with nature conservation and the local population Trianel Energieprojekte (TEP) is currently building several solar parks around the community of Halsdorf in western Germany The plant is located on an area of almost eleven hectares and has a capacity of 13.9 megawatts The generator will be connected to the grid on 5 May This means that in the entire Bitburg region these ground-mounted systems alone generate a solar power output of 78.5 megawatts The electricity from the power plants can supply a good 19,500 average 4-person households TEP is planning further projects in the region with a total capacity of 150 megawatts TEP has also brought the municipalities on board so as not to jeopardise the acceptance of the projects by the population "The municipalities not only benefit from climate-friendly electricity which is possible under the Renewable Energy Sources Act," explains Bastian Fiedler "This is a sensible way for the municipalities concerned to participate in the value creation of ground-mounted systems the municipality of Bettingen will receive an annual allowance of 8,000 to 8,500 euros over a planned term of up to 30 years." See also: Germany: First subsidy-free floating PV plant This also means that the projects are connected to the grid more quickly "The development of a ground-mounted plant takes around 24 months," explains Thomas Nagel the project partner with whom TEP is realising the plants in Bitburger Land "The trusting cooperation we experience with the Bitburger Land association municipality is the decisive factor for the rapid implementation of such complex projects," he says the project partners pay special attention to local requirements and nature conservation the breeding birds in the region were mapped in Halsdorf and along the A60 and more than 30 hectares of compensation areas for skylarks were created "We are happy to accept the delay that this has caused for the sake of species protection but we have to make up for it elsewhere," says Bastian Fiedler from TEP Don't miss any important information about the solar energy transition! Simply subscribe to our free newsletter. the project partners examined the areas for explosive ordnance in advance and even found some warheads and grenades as well as tank hatches and caterpillar tracks from World War II were found and had to be cleared a soil survey was carried out and investigations were made for archaeologically relevant finds a glare assessment also had to be prepared especially for the installations along the motorway But the grid capacities were also a challenge These are already exhausted in the region at the medium-voltage level That is why the newly founded subsidiary TEP Netze built two transformer stations - one in Halsdorf and another in Badem The electricity from the solar parks is bundled via these and transformed to the high-voltage level of 110 kilovolts and transported to the consumer Also interesting: Huge solar potential for residential rooftop installations still unexploited in Germany The commissioning of the substation in Halsdorf is scheduled for 5 May 2022 parallel to the grid connection of the solar park in neighbouring Bettingen the last lines to connect the Bettingen solar site to the substation are being laid," says Bastian Fiedler "We are confident that we will have completed all the work by the beginning of May Then we can devote our full attention to our next solar projects in the region." Construction work on the Halsdorf solar site and on the projects along the A60 is scheduled to start as early as June 2022 The substation planned there in Badem will be built from early summer 2022 the connection of the open space plants in Gransdorf and Gindorf will take place Ongoing ecological construction monitoring is being carried out by the engineering firm Karst from Bitburg the projects should have been completed long ago But the adversities of the last few months as well as the effort involved in implementation have led to delays "The planned winter construction site has now turned into a summer construction site," regrets Bastian Fiedler Looking to stay on top of all relevant industry and business news? Click here to subscribe to our free twice-weekly pv Europe newsletter. A podcast for investors on the opportunities and risks of the solar market The pv Europe editorial team offers their own analysis and discusses current topics with experts 2016Get email notification for articles from David B made an eight-minute visit to the military cemetery outside the West German city of Bitburg he paid his respects to Germany’s war dead on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe His gesture would become one of the most controversial actions of Reagan’s two terms in the White House sparking a bitter battle with the organized American Jewish community after it became known that the cemetery held the remains of 49 men who had served in the Waffen-SS A private pilot's association of entrepreneurs from the Eifel region called "Interessengemeinschaft Flugplatz Bitburg" (IFB) purchased the additional 38 percent stake for 21,600 euros. The buy-out comes after Luxembourg investor Frank Lamparski failed to find an investor and so was forced to abandon his plan to turn the former airbase into an international passenger and air cargo airport. It is thought that the group will soon submit an offer to the town of Bitburg to purchase its 16 percent stake. The remaining six percent is held by a car dealer and contractor. Following the opposition faced by Mr Lamparski to his project, it will be interesting to see how the latest project evolves. Skin healthThe hype surrounding skincare routines“Seven steps to perfect skin” - skincare is a popular social media topic. But what really works? BrexitPremiumEU set to make it easier for UK professionals to work in the blocBrussels due to propose legislation to enable the recognition of qualifications of British lawyers and others AcquisitionLuxembourg recruitment firm Cyberr acquires French firm in move to double growth Platform dedicated to recruiting cybersecurity experts added 14 employees through acquisition ReportDeveloping nations expect AI productivity boost soon, UN findsGlobal development slowing due to wars, trade tensions and Covid-19 Step-by-stepA guide to having your baby in LuxembourgFrom a positive pregnancy test and pre- and post-natal care, to your baby’s first vaccinations InvestigationPremiumPalestine abuses scrubbed from ESG investment reportsInvestments deemed sustainable - including in Luxembourg - see human rights concerns in Palestine territories removed, investigation shows PoliticsLuxembourg lawmakers divided over Israel-EU relationsAttempt to find unified position on extension of EU-Israel trade agreement failed during divisive committee meeting World of workJob market last year grew at slowest pace since financial crisisLuxembourg created fewer new jobs in 2024 than any year since the 2008-9 banking crisis Advertiser contentTreat yourself to a stress-free holidayDreaming of a worry-free trip What if the secret to a smooth getaway was simply good preparation and the right protection Advertiser contentReal estate: Why should you take advantage of the start of 2025 to begin your real estate project?The main things we remember about the housing sector over the past 12 months are the rise in interest rates and the fall in property prices Advertiser contentProperty: I've decided to invest!The various forms of government support for investment Advertiser contentThe Luxembourg Times BusinessRun is happening again on 18th September!On Thursday 18th September with the starting gun of the 11th Luxembourg Times BusinessRun fired at the Coque at 7 pm Share this with instagramShare this with facebookShare this with linkedinSections Lamparksi wanted to turn the former German air base into an international hub in the Eiffel region. However, he missed an Easter 2012 deadline to supply the capital needed to kick off the 400 million euro project. After the 40 percent shareholder failed to make payments to the “Flugplatz Bitburg GmbH” to cover annual financial losses, the latter has now decided to withdraw Lamparski's shares, according to reports by German daily “Trierischer Volksfreund”. But, the future of the airport still remains unclear. Volksfreund.de reports that a group of investors is interested in buying the airport for a symbolic euro, taking on the 185,000 euro loss for 2012, to use it as a sport aviation airport. Lamparski's role in the airport saga, however, seems to have come to an end. Frank Lamparski's company International Airport Development was founded to drive the entrenpreneur's dream of transforming Bitburg's US military airfield in Germany into a commercial airport. After he was unable to find the 30 million euros needed as start-up capital for the scheme, the investor was forced to abandon his plans. International Airport Development was declared bankrupt by the Luxembourg Commercial Court on September 28. This decision brings to an end the Bitburg airport project, which some German politicians criticised as irresponsible and unfeasible, given its proximity to Frankfurt-Hahn. Instead the site is mooted to be transformed into an energy and industry park. However, as Mr Lamparski still has shares in the company Flughafen GmbH, he may still oppose the new bid. Frank Lamparski was given an extension on the project entry fee for Bitburg airport until Easter, allowing him time to find the 30 million euros needed to fund the scheme. Initially Mr Lamparski was given until December 31 to come up with the money for the proposed commercial airport at the site of a former air base. On Monday, the local authority in Germany granted the entrepreneur a last chance. "If the money is not there by Easter, the deal is over," said Bitburg Airport Ltd Chairman Michael Billen. The initial proposal submitted by Mr Lamparski pledged to transform the site into an international cargo and passenger airport with an airplane hangar by 2022. According to his plan, the airport would create 2,000 jobs. Luxembourg entrepreneur, Frank Lamparski had promised an initial outlay of €30 million to Bitburg Council in order to get the airport project off the ground, but so far the cash has not materialised, or rather has not yet been paid into a designated Luxembourg bank account. "If the money is not there by the end of Easter,” said Michael Billen, Chairman of Flugplatz Bitburg GmbH, “the project is closing.” The purchase agreement between Bitburg Council and Lamparski contained strict written agreements, including a final deadline and no night flights. Back in February Bitburg officials decided to give the contractor one last chance. In fact Lamparski had promised the provision of the initial €30 million as part of his business plan for the airport but this has not yet materialised. Frank Lamparski claims that he has found an Asian investor willing to pay the grand sum of €380 million in all for the former US airbase. However if no funds are deposited by midnight on Tuesday, the project looks like it will be abandoned and the chances of another regional airport will be extremely slim. So what then for alternative airbase plans? According to Trier newspaper Trierischer Volksfreund, there are discussions to turn the location into a solar energy farm. initial assessments pointed to a burning hedge in Bitburg but the situation on-site painted a different picture the rescue control centre received a report of a supposed fire the fire brigade and police observed heavy smoke but did not find any signs of an open fire The homeowner then revealed that she had recently used a chemical agent against voles that reacts violently upon contact with water emergency services established a wide cordon around the hazard zone and alerted both the rapid response group and the hazardous materials unit from the Bitburg-Prüm district's fire brigade for further intervention Based on the safety sheet data for the discharged chemical rescue services and an emergency doctor were informed to treat potential smoke inhalation victims as a precautionary measure and two bystanders were transported to nearby hospitals for observational purposes No symptoms of poisoning have been reported Following successful intervention by the fire brigade's specialist services a toxin measurement was conducted by the hazardous materials unit at 2 a.m The Bitburg Police Inspectorate involved the city administration and the local water authority in evaluating and addressing the situation A joint decision regarding the release of the site is expected later in the day including the rapid response team and the hazardous materials unit and two police officers were deployed in response to this incident That’s the predicament motorists in Bitburg were faced with on Sunday as standing in the middle of the road, somewhat camouflaged against the stripes on the street, calmly stood a zebra. The police were alerted, and despite the animal merging into its stripy surroundings quick spotted it. The zebra had actually quietly left the Dovico Circus currently in Bitburg, unnoticed and took a stroll through the streets. Its owner came to the rescue and brought the zebra back safely to its enclosure. the explosion could be heard shortly before 2 a.m A vehicle - presumably a gray Audi - was seen driving away from the scene The hall of the supermarket in which the ATM was located was destroyed An investigation has been launched to determine the loot stolen by the robbers ShareA nationwide protest by German farmers against their government’s policy on Monday will include blockades of roads in and around Trier and Bitburg, including the border crossings to Luxembourg. The blockades are set to begin in the early hours of the morning, as reported by the Trierischer Volksfreund. The Trier police department has announced that authorisation has been granted for a maximum of one hour of demonstrations on Monday morning between 6:00 and 8:00. Farmers from the region then plan to drive from several directions towards the Trier city centre, where the main demonstration will take place at 13:00 on the Viehmarktplatz. Authorities Trier expect that “nothing will move" in the city centre due to up to 1,000 tractors travelling at six kilometres per hour, German press agency dpa said, and is calling on people to stay at home if possible and only make their way into the city by bike or on foot. Some shops in the city had announced that they would remain closed on Monday. Access to the area within the Alleenring inner ring road will not possible by car during the demonstration. In addition, several car parks will be closed where tractors are to be parked during the demonstration. It is unclear whether parking spaces will be made available for up to 1,000 vehicles instead of the 500 tractors originally registered for the protest. The farmers had announced a week of protest against the federal government’s austerity plans. They are sticking to their plans even though the federal government announced on Thursday that it would partially withdraw its planned subsidy cuts for farmers. The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior has said several protests with up to 10,000 participants have been announced in the German state there will be major disruptions for the population This includes considerable traffic obstructions,” said Interior Minister Michael Ebling Hauliers also plan to join the farmers as they protest against a rise in the toll levied on heavy goods vehicles that was introduced at the end of last year Lorry drivers will rally in Berlin on 18 and 19 January There are fears that the protest may play into the hands of the far right AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) party just as farmers’ protests boosted the election results of Geert Wilders Party for Freedom in the Netherlands in November 2023 (This article originally appeared in Luxemburger Wort and has been translated and edited, with additional reporting, by Duncan Roberts.) Second career on the river Premium‘Over the moon’: How a female captain saved the Moselle ferry Skipper Andrea Greif steers the Moselle ferry through difficult times and her courage is paying off German politicsGerman AfD party categorised as extremist by security agencyauthorities will now have enhanced powers to monitor the party as a potential threat to democracy EnergyGermany to cut gas storage goals in attempt to ease pressureStorage facilities will have to be 80% full by 1 November, down from a previous target of 90% Renewable energyGermany to get 99% of its power from solar and wind on ThursdayA glimpse into the future as the region forges ahead with the green transition Automotive industryVolkswagen earnings plunge 40% as US tariffs cloud outlookVW earnings dropped 40% in first quarter as higher manufacturing costs and US tariffs cloud the carmaker’s outlook GermanyPoliticsMerz names ministers for German coalition with Social DemocratsMerz has nominated ministers including Katherina Reiche for the economy and energy portfolio and Johann Wadephul for foreign affairs Border checksGermany showed ‘no real will’ for border check compromise, Gloden saysHome Affairs Minister Léon Gloden publicly criticises outgoing German minister over border checks between both countries Border controlsGermany to keep Luxembourg border controls, new coalition saysMeasures “must be continued”, new German government says, despite opposition to controls from Luxembourg Bitburg police located the aircraft on an open field between Sefferweich and Staffelstein which left a trail of debris for over 100 metres The aircraft's origin and reason for the crash are not known to media at this stage Investigations are underway and the crash site has been cordoned off Witnesses are asked to contact the Bitburg police department on +49 6561/96850 The accident occurred around 2.30pm on the N19 between Reisdorf and Wallendorf-Pont, near the German border. Two cars were involved in the crash, one with Luxembourg licence plates and one from Bitburg. The driver and a passenger in the Luxembourg car died on site, with the driver of the car from Bitburg injured in the accident. The cause of the accident was not clear at the time of publication, with the road closed for clear-up work.