Social Democrats Assail Kohl Over Reagan Visit

Chancellor Helmut Kohl came under heavy attack Tuesday in Parliament for his handling of President Reagan’s state visit as opposition Social Democrats accused him of reopening wounds from the country’s Nazi past and damaging West Germany’s international image.

“The Federal Republic has paid a high price (for the controversy) in substance, in international image, in foreign policy maneuverability and in terms of its own inner peace,” Hans-Jochen Vogel, Social Democratic parliamentary floor leader, charged.

Vogel asked a series of questions that were punctuated by the applause of his party colleagues. He demanded of Kohl whether the value of Reagan’s visits to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial and the German war cemetery at Bitburg had been enough to “offset the fact that old, partly healed wounds in the country’s relations with the U.S., with the Jewish people and others affected by Nazi terror had been torn open?”

Four-Hour Debate

Vogel’s remarks came in the course of a four-hour debate devoted mainly to the results of the Reagan visit and the economic summit meeting in Bonn earlier this month.

In an opening speech frequently interrupted by heckling and derisive jeers from the opposition benches, Kohl defended the decision to go ahead with Reagan’s visit to the Bitburg cemetery despite strong international opposition. Most of the criticism focused on the fact that 49 members of Adolf Hitler’s elite Waffen SS combat units are buried at Bitburg.

Kohl praised Reagan’s visit to West Germany as “a meaningful and historic event” that had deepened relations between the two countries. He said the overwhelming majority of West Germans were impressed by Reagan’s manner and by the fact that he did not allow himself to be swayed by the criticism.

‘Will Not Forget Him’

“We are thankful for the American President’s gestures of reconciliation at Bergen-Belsen and at Bitburg,” Kohl said. “The German people and I will not forget him.”

The debate on Reagan’s trip, coupled with Kohl’s previous accusations that the Social Democrats had been “anti-American” in their response to it, touched off some of the most heated exchanges between the parties since the height of the Pershing 2 missile debate 18 months ago.

Vogel hotly rejected the charges of anti-Americanism and noted the U.S. contribution to West Germany’s freedom and security, stating, “We know what we have to thank the United States for.”

Later, former Chancellor Willy Brandt, chairman of the Social Democratic Party, said that many people “like the United States more than its incumbent President.”

Brandt and the Social Democrats appeared to be still smarting from Reagan’s failure to meet with them during his visit to West Germany. They blamed Kohl for failing to arrange a meeting.