Hitler jibe minister to resign
2002-09-22 12:36
Hamburg, Germany - Germany's justice minister will resign after Sunday's election
over a Hitler jibe about US President George W Bush which sparked
a new row between Berlin and Washington, Bild newspaper said.
In its edition to appear on Monday, Bild quotes sources close
the government as saying that Justice Minister Herta
Daeubler-Gmelin will resign to avoid the indignity of being asked
publicly to quit.
Bild said the right wing of the ruling Social Democrats
parliamentary group had already begun putting pressure on
Daeubler-Gmelin to stand down and that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
was considering asking for her resignation.
Senior interior ministry official Brigitte Zypries could take
over her portfolio if the Social Democrats win Sunday's election,
it said.
The storm hit after the Schwaebisches Tagblatt newspaper
reported that Daeubler-Gmelin had told metalworkers at an election
meeting that: "Bush wants to divert attention from domestic
political problems" and onto Iraq.
"It's a method that is sometimes favoured. Hitler also did
that," she said, according to the paper.
She has vehemently denied making the remarks and claims she was
misquoted.
US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice slammed them in an
interview with Saturday's Financial Times Deutschland newspaper and
said that Germany had created "a poisoned atmosphere".
"How can one mention Hitler and the US President in the same
sentence? And above all, how can such a comment come from the mouth
of a German when one considers the sacrifices made by the United
States when it acted to liberate the Germans from Hitler."
Relations between Germany and the United States were already
tense following Schroeder's strong stand against German
participation in an attack on Iraq, whether or not it is sanctioned by
the UN Security Council. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA