British Queen visits Germany

2004-11-02 16:57

Berlin - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Germany on Tuesday on her first state visit since 1992 amid press speculation about whether she will apologise for the devastating World War II bombing of Dresden.

The queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will be welcomed with military honours in Berlin at 13:15 by President Horst Koehler.

She will hold talks shortly after with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the company of British foreign minister Jack Straw.

Her three-day visit will include a benefit concert in Berlin on Wednesday for Dresden's Frauenkirche church, which was destroyed in Allied raids three months before the end of the war and is being restored to its former glory.

Mass bombings

This has sparked media speculation that the queen will apologise for the mass bombing of the eastern city, which killed 35 000 people and has become a symbol of the suffering of German civilians during the war.

The German press has laid blame for the rumours at the feet of the British media, with Die Welt newspaper saying this "anti-German trick is a way of selling more newspapers."

"An apology by the queen would be a disservice to British-German relations, it would release animosities that have been kept in check by the very fact that each side has learnt to deal with the past in its own way," the daily said.

Buckingham Palace said last week that Germany had not asked for an apology, but stopped short of divulging what the monarch might say during her visit.

An indication was given by the British ambassador to Germany, Peter Torry, on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Braunschweig last month in which he said "it is right to remember the suffering and terror of the past".

Protesters greets the queen

During her last state visit, the queen was greeted in Dresden by protesters demanding an apology for the loss of civilian life and condemning air chief marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who ordered the devastation.

Speculation about an apology first surfaced last week in the British tabloid the Daily Express, which was followed by a comment piece in the rival Daily Mail written by right-wing columnist Simon Heffer who has been given widespread coverage in Germany.

Entitled "Sorry, the Germans must never be allowed to forget their evil past," Heffer, who was born many years after the war, rejected the idea of an apology and accused the Germans of trying to "rewrite history".

On a recent visit to London, German foreign minister Joschka Fischer complained that British people have a deeply outdated view of Germany and still view it as the land of the "Prussian goosestep".

Later on Tuesday, the queen will attend a state banquet in Berlin hosted by the president. She will open a climate conference here on Wednesday and travel to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.

- AFP