
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

1989 LETTERS EXPLAIN REAGAN'S BITBURG VISIT

Former President Reagan said he visited a German military cemetery in 1985, despite a maelstrom of criticism, because he believed some SS troopers buried there had been killed by the Nazis for trying to shield Jews, according to letters released Friday.

Reagan's 1989 letters to the World Jewish Congress marked the first time he was known to have used that explanation for his wreath-laying at Bitburg.

He had been asked to avoid visiting Bitburg because among the graves of German World War II troops were 49 belonging to members of the SS, Adolf Hitler's dreaded elite troops.

At the time, Reagan described his decision, made after much agonizing, as a gesture of reconciliation with Germany 40 years after the end of World War II. - Associated Press

by CNB