Senate Urges Reagan Not to Visit Bitburg : Jewish Leaders Reject Invitation to Make Trip

The Senate interrupted its budget debate Friday to approve by a unanimous voice vote a resolution urging President Reagan to cancel his plans to visit the West German military cemetery at Bitburg, where the bodies of 49 Nazi SS soldiers are buried.

Meanwhile, the storm of protest over Reagan’s visit to Bitburg escalated further as prominent Jewish leaders and several Holocaust survivors revealed that they have rejected White House proposals to accompany Reagan on his trip to Europe next month.

“What it suggests to me is that after all the distress and agony of the past few days, the White House still hasn’t even begun to get the message,” said Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress and one of those who turned down a request to go with Reagan. “I think that’s very, very sad.”

Chancellor Denounced

During debate on the Senate resolution--introduced by Sens. Arlen K. Specter (R-Pa.) and Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and co-sponsored by 80 of the 100 senators--several members lashed out at West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for not withdrawing his invitation to Reagan to visit Bitburg.

The strongest remarks were made by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), who went further than other senators in suggesting that relations between the two countries could be seriously damaged if Reagan goes ahead with the visit.

“If Germany, in its insistence on our President’s honoring the Nazi war dead, is trying . . . to pretend that the Nazis were anything other than the lowest and vilest of criminals, then we must wonder whether the lessons of World War II have already been forgotten by the current leaders of Germany,” Cranston said. “If that is so, perhaps we had better reassess our relationship” with West Germany.

The Senate’s action came one day after House Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) blocked consideration of a similar resolution in the House, calling it a “gratuitous slap” at Reagan. But a majority of the House members, including 84 Republicans, signed a letter to the West German ambassador, saying that Reagan’s visit to Bitburg would have “the unintended effect of reopening painful wounds in the United States.”

Reagan repeatedly has rejected any suggestions that he cancel the brief ceremony at Bitburg, scheduled for May 5 as part of his planned 11-day European trip to attend an economic summit meeting of free world industrial nations and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. And Kohl recently praised Reagan for not yielding to the furor in the United States.

Reagan’s ‘Anguish’

Donald T. Regan, the President’s chief of staff, said Friday that Reagan is “anguished” over the growing controversy but is still determined to go through with the Bitburg visit.

Although Administration officials privately have acknowledged that they are seeking a way out of the dilemma, White House spokesman Larry Speakes failed to return phone calls Friday on questions about the apparent requests to several victims of the Holocaust to accompany Reagan to Bitburg and Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi death camp that was added to Reagan’s schedule in an effort to quell the furor. Another White House spokesman said, however, that no one had been formally invited to accompany the President.

Simon Wiesenthal, a concentration camp survivor and renowned Nazi hunter, quickly rejected a White House offer, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

“It’s a sacrilege to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust,” Heir said.

Daniel Thursz, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International in New York, said he has not been approached by the White House, but when told of the search, he declared, “No genuine Jewish leader or Holocaust survivor will consider setting foot in Bitburg cemetery.”

Wiesel’s Plea

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel acknowledged Friday that a White House official had raised the idea “about 10 days ago” of his joining Reagan on the trip, before Wiesel attended a White House ceremony with Reagan. At the White House, Wiesel pleaded with Reagan to cancel the cemetery visit, telling the President, “Your place is with the victims of the SS.”

But Wiesel, chairman of the government-sponsored U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and a prominent writer, said Friday that he did not know if he would accept a formal invitation to accompany Reagan if it were made.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Bob Dole disclosed that he discussed the nonbinding resolution urging the Bitburg cancellation with Chief of Staff Regan. Dole, who co-sponsored the resolution, said that the Senate action was not aimed at the President.

“It’s an expression of the Senate that we should pay homage to the memories of the millions of civilians and the American and Allied soldiers who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis,” Dole said. The majority leader suffered a serious wound in Italy during World War II that has left him without full use of his right arm.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Neil C. Sandberg, Western regional director of the American Jewish Committee, said that a statement condemning the President’s planned visit to Bitburg cemetery has been issued by a group of Southern California Christian, Jewish and ethnic leaders.

The declaration was endorsed by 16 prominent figures who said they were “dismayed” by the proposed visit.