May 5: Reagan at Bitburg

President Ronald Reagan placed a wreath at the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany on this date in 1985, as part of the observance of the 40th anniversary of V-E Day. Forty-nine members of the Nazi SS were among the 2,000 German soldiers buried there, the mass of whom Reagan described, in defending his visit, as “victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” Outside Germany, the president’s visit was roundly criticized: Elie Wiesel spoke out at a White House awards ceremony, imploring Reagan “to find another way, another site. That place, Mr. President, is not your place.” Fifty-three senators, including 11 Republicans, urged Reagan to cancel the ceremony, and 257 members of the House of Representatives urged German Chancellor Helmut Kohl — who was, in fact, intent on politically rehabilitating as much of the Nazi war machine as he could — to withdraw the invitation. Reagan responded by adding a visit to the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen immediately before the cemetery visit. The Ramones recorded “My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)” (which you can see them perform by clicking here). Michael Moore and a Jewish friend whose parents had survived Auschwitz appeared at the cemetery with a banner, “We Came from Michigan: They Killed My Family,” which was shown on live television across West Germany. The event marked the nadir in relations between a sitting U.S. president and the American Jewish community.

“President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl have embarked on a macabre tour, an obscene package deal, of Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg.” —Menachem Rosensaft, founding chair of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors