Reply #54: Also, NYT (04/14/1990), G.H.W. Bush stated: "People 'ought to forgive' Germans for the Holocaust" [View All]

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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DA163EF937A25757C0A966958260&scp=1&sq=Bush%20Forgive&st=nyt

Upheaval in the East;
On Forgiving the Germans

Published: April 14, 1990

Invoking the spirit of Good Friday and Easter, President Bush said today that people ''ought to forgive'' Germans for the Holocaust but should not forget history's lessons.

Invoking the spirit of Good Friday and Easter, President Bush said today that people ''ought to forgive'' Germans for the Holocaust but should not forget history's lessons.

''I'm one who believes in forgiveness,'' Mr. Bush said aboard Air Force One en route to a meeting with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain. ''And this is a good day for forgiveness for those with faith.''

On Thursday the newly formed East German Government formally recognized Germany's responsibility for the systematic genocide carried out by the Nazis in World War II, including the deaths of six million Jews and untold numbers of Gypsies and others, and asked for forgiveness.

''Should we forgive them?'' a reporter asked Mr. Bush today.

''Most of the teachings have ample room for forgiveness and moving on,'' he said, adding that people should ''not forget, necessarily, because I think you learn from history, learn what not to do wrong.''

''But,'' he said, ''I think, I'm a Christian and I think forgiveness is something that I feel very strongly about.'' Mr. Bush added that he was making ''a personal observation.''

''That's not a statement for our country,'' he said.

A case of special pleading (arguing the case to your own advantage), Poppy.