W. Germans Mark WWII Anniversary
West German protesters Sunday marked the anniversary of the beginning of World War II with rallies opposing President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative plan to build a shield against nuclear attack.
Rallies in Munich and West Berlin were held on what the German Labor Federation and the opposition Social Democrats called “anti-war day,” the anniversary of the German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.
Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, chairman of the Social Democratic Party, called on the West German government to refuse to participate in the five-year, $26-billion U.S. program known as “Star Wars.”
He also said that if his party returns to power it will negotiate the removal of U.S. missiles deployed in West Germany.
The West German anti-nuclear movement observed the 1939 anniversary Sunday with a two-hour blockade of a Pershing missile base of the U.S. Army’s 56th Field Artillery at Mutlangen, 35 miles east of Stuttgart.
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