MADRID: President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday said Germany must not forget the “crime” of Guernica, days before becoming the first German head of state to visit the Spanish town devastated by Nazi bombers in 1937.
The Condor Legion killed hundreds when it bombed the northern Basque town on April 26, 1937 in support of General Francisco Franco’s rebels during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) alongside Fascist Italy.
Addressing a gala dinner hosted by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia at Madrid’s Royal Palace on day one of a three-day state visit, Steinmeier said Germans “brought a heavy burden of guilt upon themselves” in Guernica.
It was “very important to me” that Germans “do not forget what happened back then. This crime was committed by Germans,” he said.
“Guernica is a reminder — a reminder to stand up for peace, freedom, and the preservation of human rights.”
