Merkel disappoints on Holocaust visits
In her almost nine years as chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel has won respect around the world for her dignified leadership, strong moral sense and disciplined, responsible fiscal policies. In her willingness to stand by unpopular but essential fiscal policies during the eurozone crisis, she has often appeared to be the last adult left standing among the current crop of European national leaders.
It is all the more disappointing, therefore, that Merkel's government has declined two Chinese requests to include Holocaust memorial sites in the official itinerary of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Berlin starting on March 28, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - the city's largest Holocaust memorial site and the Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism on the Unter den Linden boulevard.
Merkel's record of fully acknowledging Germany's own horrendous record of genocide during the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler has been consistent, courageous and admirable. It is securely rooted in the responsible positions taken by the leaders of democratic, modern Germany since the Federal Republic was first established under Konrad Adenauer in 1949.