Reagan Tells of Respect for War Victims

President Reagan, responding to protests from Jews and veterans against his plan to lay a wreath at a German military cemetery next month, sought Friday to emphasize his commitment to remembering victims of the Holocaust and Americans who died in World War II.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan’s schedule, which includes a visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany May 5, is “under review,” and other officials said they would gauge reaction before deciding in a few days whether to alter Reagan’s itinerary.

Speakes quoted Reagan as saying of the Holocaust: “While we remember the past with deep sorrow, we must look to the future with a firm resolve that it will never happen again.”

But there were widespread objections, from Reagan supporters among others, including the American Legion, to the cemetery visit. Chairman Elie Weisel of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, all of whose members are Reagan appointees, said he is convening an emergency meeting Monday to appeal to the president to change his plans.

“I have rarely seen such outrage,” said Weisel, a survivor of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps and author of books on the Holocaust. “I know the President. I know this is not his sentiment.”

Speakes cited Reagan’s April 19 intent to award Weisel the Congressional Gold Medal as evidence of the President’s commitment to remembering the Holocaust.

Speakes said Reagan was “concerned” about the harsh reaction to the planned visit.

“Yes, he is disturbed that anybody would question his sensitivity,” Speakes told reporters in Santa Barbara where Reagan is vacationing.

‘Must Look to Future’

Reagan earlier had decided not to visit a concentration camp during his visit, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II, saying he didn’t want to reawaken “the memories and . . . the passions” of those times.

Speakes said the President’s itinerary for the European trip was in a draft form and could change, but he added that the cemetery stop planned for early next month remains on the schedule at this point.

“The entire schedule, as always on any trip, is constantly reviewed,” Speakes said. He said public reaction would be weighed as the Administration reviews the plans.

The American Legion, which represents 2.5 million veterans, said in a statement that it supports Reagan’s trip to Europe and the need for solidarity with members of NATO, including West Germany. But it added, “We are terribly disappointed that President Reagan has decided to visit the German military cemetery at Bitburg.”

“Honoring German war dead, while ignoring the thousands of Allied war dead who fought there and the millions of European Jews who were the victims of the Third Reich, has nothing to do with reconciliation,” the Legion said.

“The Allies of World War II did not fight for world conquest; the Germans of that era did.”

‘Bulge’ Staging Area

Speakes had announced on Thursday that Reagan planned to lay a wreath at the Bitburg cemetery where German soldiers from both world wars are buried. The cemetery was the German staging area for the bloody World War II “Battle of the Bulge,” and many Nazis killed in that battle are buried there.

Plans call for Reagan to join West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on May 5 in a service at the cemetery, while the President is in Germany on an 11-day European trip.

Mark Talisman, Washington director of the Council of Jewish Federations, said Jewish groups want Reagan to visit a concentration camp and make that, not the German cemetery, the focus of any war rememberance.

“I think it’s a tragic error. It’s a historic kind of mistake,” Talisman said.

He said it was particularly stunning to learn during Passover that Reagan would honor “those who supported the cataclysm of the Holocaust” where millions of Jews died.

“I just can’t believe the President won’t reverse himself. I just can’t believe it,” he said.

Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald and author of books on the Holocaust, said he had seen Reagan at Holocaust services and believes him to be committed to remembering that time.

“I have seen him cry, literally cry, at such ceremonies,” Wiesel said. “To me it seems inconceivable that suddenly he becomes insensitive.”

Clarence M. Bacon, national commander of the American Legion, said in an interview that his group did not want to tell the President what to do with his time. He said the Legion recognizes that the country must depend on allies, but he added, “The American Legion would never foster embracing the Nazi regime.”

Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Reagan urging him to reconsider the cemetery visit. Schumer, joined by a more than a dozen other congressmen, last month had sent a letter urging Reagan to visit a concentration camp while in Germany.

More Criticism

Leaders of two West German Jewish communities were also critical of Reagan’s plan.

Ignatz Bubis, chairman of Frankfurt’s Jewish community, said that for Reagan to visit only a German military cemetery is “outrageous.”

Heinz Galinski, head of West Berlin’s 6,300-member Jewish community, said Reagan’s plan to honor German war dead was “embarrassing and out of place.”

Galinski survived the Nazis’ Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen death camps. Bubis was held at a Nazi labor camp in Czestochowa, Poland, during World War II.