President Reagan's remarks at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in West Germany, May 5, 1985

[@Toe_M]

I was with the British Army stationed at Fallingbostel near Belsen that day and missed his speech by 20 mins.. Touched the wreath he had just laid.

[@zefdin101]

The despicable US press derided this President prior to this speech because he agreed to lay a wreath at a German cemetery just prior to his visit to Bergen Belsen, to pay symbolic respect to the millions of German sons that died doing their duty (yes at the hands of a madman) but the German people suffered too and learned& grew out of the tragedy of WW2. Reagan was correct to do this. Then he went to Bergen Belsen and encapsulated all the horror and the pain in this great speech and left them all speechless.

[@bbigjohnson069]

When the visit was planned he didn't know there were 48 or 49 German SS soldiers buried there. He was catching hell for the visit but he refused to cancel the trip. He added the visit to Bergen-Belsen but caught criticism for that from the press saying it was just a way to placate the Jews. Reagan author Edmund Morris said this was Reagan's best speech ever.

[@neecicoleman1690]

@@bbigjohnson069 He did know. Elie Wiesel practically begged him not to go, but he went anyway because he knew that it was the right thing to do. I think they have the video of his conversation with Elie on KZbin somewhere.

[@evanmoorman3828]

It wasn’t the Wehrmacht graves people were concerned about (even though we now know that the vast majority of Wehrmacht units committed war crimes as well).

[@zefdin101]

In the end Reagan was right to go. He handle the situation with grace, poignancy and with a wider vision than the press and people like Elie Wiesel gave him credit for. He did the right thing and history reaffirms his decision.

[@bufnyfan1]

It was a cemetery called Bitburg and the controversy arose over notorious SS men who were also buried there. President Reagan knew of this but he refused to embarrass his German hosts (Helmet Kohl) by changing his itinerary/schedule. He laid a wreath but did not give a speech and went on to Bergen Belsen

[@davidsantacruzdescartin2922]

Mr. Reagan was convinced of his own ideas and very brave in the battlefields. God bless you and your family too...

[@rjmurray5128]

Never Again, the two most powerful words on the planet.

[@bufnyfan1]

But unfortunately in 2023, we are seeing a massive rise in anti-semitism not only in Europe but almost everywhere. You can be sure that Hamas and Hezbollah (with the support of Iran) would do the same thing that Germany did

[@zefdin101]

God bless you Mr President.

[@lachlandamon6550]

i know I'm quite randomly asking but does anyone know of a good website to watch newly released series online?

[@luciankannon9172]

@Lachlan Damon Flixportal =)

[@lachlandamon6550]

@Lucian Kannon thank you, I signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there =) I appreciate it!!

[@luciankannon9172]

@Lachlan Damon happy to help :D

[@Alex-om1be]

Powerful speech

[@paulfaulkner6299]

He was a great orator - but edited to add that although Reagan was a great orator, the magnitude of the evil at Belsen and other "camps" had his voice break as he spoke about the incredible evil which took place here. People did that to people! To think that people put other people in ovens. That some people literally exterminated others for simply being different. We *MUST* learn to tolerate each other and to respect and rejoice in our differences - the gates of hell are around every corner for any and every one of us who doesn't understand this. Never again, plus jamais, nei weider, nunca mas. We must never ever allow this to happen again

[@bufnyfan1]

You can read a description of what happened at many camps in the book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by the CBS war correspondent William Shier. Once someone was destined for a concentration camp they had to remove their shoes and get into a train boxcar with a limestone-like substance on the floor that burned bare feet. When they got to a camp they were handed a "towel" to make the person think he/she was going to have a shower/disinfection process. It was only when they were herded into a chamber where there were no shower heads around that they realized what was about to happen.

[@davidanderson286]

God bless you President Reagan. You are truly missed.

[@judyannlemay618]

ANNE FRANK DIED AT THIS CONCENTRATION CAMP 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE CAMP WAS LIBERATED...GOD BLESS YOU BEAUTIFUL GIRL...WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU...NEVER ‘THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK’ WILL LIVE FOREVER...FOREVER

[@jlwerner.w3114]

Sehr gut Toll

[@mikekroft86]

does anyone else get lost in his words as he speaks, the man was truly, the second best president we ever had

[@neecicoleman1690]

Who's the first? Trump? (No judgement, just a literal question. I assumed Trump because that seems to be a trend. Reagan was a great President though, and one we'll never see the likes of again.)

[@bufnyfan1]

If you are putting that putz Trump ahead of President Reagan-you need your head examined-or you're in the throes of florid dementia

[@mariolaimejr03]

That was a good speech about the Holocaust because I think I remembered that it looks like a war.

[@DarisJohnson-p4z]

I miss you Popeye Family! Love you guy's!

[@larry1824]

I thought Hitler was , cc, Chaplin I duñno?????!!!!!!!

[@NOBODY-sj3ch]

Cuck