(11 Feb 1999) English/Nat
On a visit to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, Germany's foreign minister Joschka Fischer said it was the a darkest part of their history.
Fischer visited the Yad Va'Shem museum and laid a wreath in the memory of Holocaust victims before meeting Israeli president Ezer Weizman.
This was the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's first visit to Israel.
Like many visitors, his went straight to the Yad Va'Shem Holocaust memorial museum where he laid a wreath for the six million Jews who were killed in Nazi Germany .
Afterwards, Fischer said the Holocaust was the worst period in Germany's history.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well, its difficult for me now... to make a translation. This is the darkest part of our history and we have to confront ourselves as a people, as a younger generation to this history, and we will do it I think with a democratic Germany. I think that is the positive answer to this darker part of our history."
SUPER CAPTION: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
Fischer then had breakfast with President Ezer Weizman at his house.
His visit comes at a time of growing strain between Europe and the Jewish state over the frozen peace accord with the Palestinians.
Germany holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, which last month declared that it "deplored" Israel's suspension of the Wye River peace accord.
It will not seek a role in the talks, as other European countries such as France and Britain have demanded, instead, it will defer to the United States.
Unlike France and Britain, Germany has been reluctant to criticise Israel in public and is considered Israel's most reliable friend in Europe.
However, Fischer is relatively new in the job.
He's also a member of the Greens party which in the past has been more critical of Israeli policy than other factions in Germany.
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