Obama will visit concentration camp great uncle liberated. Also planned visit to Dresden.

[beachmom]

Just spotted this on Der Spiegel International:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,623130,00.html

05/06/2009

PLANNED VISIT TO DRESDEN
Obama to Trace Family History in Germany
By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington

US President Barack Obama is coming to Germany again in June, but he won't be visiting Berlin. Instead, he is planning a more personal trip to Dresden and the concentration camp Buchenwald in search of his family history. There will be no photo op with Merkel in the Chancellery -- a deliberate move on Obama's part.

Barack Obama's planned trip to Germany in June is not going to be an official state visit. German diplomatic sources told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the US president is planning a private trip in which he will go on a personal search to places of importance for his family history.

On Tuesday, the news became public that a White House advance team is currently in the eastern German city of Dresden, where they are looking for possible accommodations for the president. In addition to a short visit to the city on the Elbe River, the president is also intending to visit the memorial at the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald.

Obama's great-uncle, Charlie Payne, served in the 89th Infantry Division during World War II and participated in the liberation of Ohrdruf, a forced labor camp that was a satellite camp of Buchenwald. It's possible Obama could visit on June 5, one day before his planned participation in the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the landing of the American troops in Normandy.

The German federal government is assisting with the plans.

If any of you recall, Obama had mentioned that his great uncle had liberated a concentration camp. He misspoke, saying Auschwitz, and then the Right decided swiftboating a WWII vet was a good idea. In the end, Charles Payne made the trip to Denver, and John Kerry singled him out during his moving speech at the Democratic National Convention in this video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05udZa68P4U

It should be a moving visit for President Obama.

[Ian David]

1. And unlike Reagan, he won't lay a wreath on the graves of the Nazi S.S. prison guards.

Reagan Joins Kohl in Brief Memorial at Bitburg Graves
By BERNARD WEINRAUB, Special to the New York Times

Published: May 6, 1985

<snip>

White House aides have acknowledged that the Bitburg visit is probably the biggest fiasco of Mr. Reagan's Presidency. The visit, which was made at the insistence of Mr. Kohl, was overwhelmingly opposed by both houses of Congress, Jewish organizations, veterans' groups and others.

Up to the last moment, White House officials sought to minimize the effect of the visit. As Mr. Reagan left Bonn this morning for Bergen-Belsen, officials disclosed that the President and Mr. Kohl would be joined at Bitburg by two prominent retired American and German military officers.

The two were Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, 90 years old, who led the 82d Airborne Division in Europe and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and Lieut. Gen. Johannes Steinhoff, 71, a World War II flying ace who later rose to the highest ranks of the West German Air Force. After the brief ceremony at the military cemetery, the two men shook hands.

Visit to Adenauer's Grave

Mr. Reagan, starting an official visit to West Germany after the end of the seven-nation economic summit conference in Bonn on Saturday, began his day with an unscheduled drive in the hills overlooking the Rhine to place a wreath at the grave of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor. White House officials said the idea for the visit had come from Billy Graham, the evangelist.



More:
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/06/international/europe/06REAG.html

[Captain Hilts]

3. That was really Helmut Schmit's fault than Reagan's. He wouldn't let him back out

once they discovered the error.

[Ian David]

4. That was YEARS before Spaceballs

[Thothmes]

15. Reagan did'nt lay wreaths on the graves of Waffen SS

there were 2000 graves at the Bitburg Cemetary, 49 of which were of Waffen SS men. Probably have a very hard time finding a single military cemetary in Germany that did not contain some grave of Waffen SS.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Cool!

[dalaigh lllama]

5. Just another striking contrast in Presidents

The former pResident - clearing brush in Crawford for no ostensible reason.

vs.

President Obama searching out his historical roots abroad.

I love our guy!

[beachmom]

6. Yeah, and unlike Bush, Obama did not wait to become President to travel abroad

Frankly, I will never understand how someone of so much wealth as George W. Bush did not even go to Europe as a tourist. Just plain nuts.

[Cha]

7. This is so inline with Prez Obama's

character. He likes to take journeys to connect with his family's roots. He took Michelle to Africa when he was Senator Obama.

http://film.prostamerika.com/Obama.html

[HopeOverFear]

8. I hope the President comes back to Kenya as well

[cwcwmack]

9. mmmm hmmm...

Dresden... site of US/British war crimes in WW2.

from Wiki:
The bombing of Dresden by the United States Army Air Force and the Royal Air Force between February 13 and February 15, 1945, remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of the Western European theater of war. The inner city of Dresden was largely destroyed by 800 US and RAF Bombers that let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000lb of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000lb bombs in two waves of attacks - approximately one bomb for every two people. Early reports estimated 150,000 to 250,000 deaths but a recent commissioned report claims 25,000 civilian casualties.


Not one of our "finer hours"

[old mark]

10. Not really, but the Germans had been bombing London and many other

English population centers since early in the war, first with planes then with rockets and missiles.

It was a terrible war and there is enough blame to go round on all sides.

mark

[cwcwmack]

11. true but,

this was just wholesale slaughter... in nearly a year of the "Battle of Britain" nearly 47,000 Brits were killed in aerial bombing.

Depending on which estimate you believe... many more were killed in 2 nights in Dresden. And btw, this was the END of the war... it was all but over except for the mopping up. It was uncalled for, punitive and vengeful.

Dresden was primarily a town of art museums, opera and history... and hundreds of thousands of refugees from embattled cities.

I can understand Hiroshima/Nagasaki "to some extent" because it probably saved 500,000 lives on both sides if there was a land invasion of Japan... but this is different, there is NO rationale. If Obama wanted to do some good there he'd take some flowers tot he memorial and say a few words about the inhumanity of... man.

[JayMusgrove]

13. Well, you know we are only the descendants of this massacre.

We know all wars are senseless, and all are hell... let's make sure Obama reminds us of how precious life is, how enemies of yesterday can be allies today.

It was the worst of wars, I was born just after it ended. I wish I had been born in some neutral country, as do many of us, but we were not... time for us to acknowledge our grandfathers' mistakes and atrocities but not hold our President accountable for something that ended before he and I were alive. Perhaps Iraqi's and Iranians and Afghanistani's will one day feel an alliance with us, as does Germany now.

My opinion only.

[cwcwmack]

14. good enough...

I'll drink to that.

[JayMusgrove]

12. MAN!!!!!!!!! Our President sure gets around... I hope he has

some great Press in Europe, some great crowds to welcome him, some opportunities to speak with Germans and French and other common folks....

He gets such a boost back in the USA every time he does these trips. I can't wait to follow him day and night, again, and to see Jackeens' famous wonderful pictures and links.

Great!