Will Reagan be buried at Bitburg?

[ChompySnack]

When I was a kid in '80, I liked the man. But as I grew up and began to understand the world, I grew to dislike him. He dishonored our WWII soldiers by laying a wreath on a Nazi SS officer's grave at Bitburg.

The contrast of that action with the anniversary of D-Day is, to me, prophetic.

I hope he rests in peace and comes to a greater understanding of compassion than he had in this life in any afterlife he inhabits.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

1. I have mixed feelings about "Bitburg"

I can see laying a wreath on the grave of German soldiers as something that would be OK, sort of one of those reconciliation things that world leaders do well after the wars are over and participants dead.

So Reagan doing that wouldnt be so bad.

Now, the clarification I need is whether Reagan layed a wreath specifically at the SS soliders graves, or did he lay a wreath at a German military cemetary that happened to have SS graves in it, as well as other German military graves.

This is actually an important distinction.

[Don_G]

2. The Waffen SS Were Fighting Units

Unlike Himmler's "other Army" who served and staffed the Concentration Camps.

[Kellanved]

3. Bitburg was not (only) Reagan's mistake

Or rather Reagan's mistake was agreeing to going there.

Kohl dragged practically all guests to Bitburg, making them say the same lines ("Those buried here were victims too"). Mitterrand was dragged there as well, as were some others.

The whole thing cries "Kohl", a man greatly overvalued.

As to the significance of Bitburg as such: there are 1938 Soldiers buried there, including 48 SS men and officers.
IMHO equating the German soldiers with their victims was worse than visiting Bitburg; anyway: a multi-national cemetery would have been a far more appropriate location for reconciliation.