Starting Anew

As the blue and white Luftwaffe 707 jet landed at Lod airport, an Israeli band struck up a tune that 30 years ago began Deutschland ueber Alles*

But this time the song was played for a German Chancellor who had won the Nobel Peace Prize, and who wantedonly the friendship of the Jews. The symbolism of Willy Brandt's visit to Israel last week--the first by a West German Chancellor--was obvious, but almost unbearably poignant nonetheless.

Brandt, indeed, was quick to point out that the past--specifically the murder of 6,000,000 Jews by his countrymen during the Hitler era--could never be erased, either by the Germans or the Israelis. "The sum of the suffering and of the horror cannot be removed from the consciousness of our people," he said at the airport ceremonies. "Cooperation between our two countries remains characterized by the historical and moral background of our experiences." Then, addressing Israeli Premier Golda Meir, who was dressed all in white, he added: "You extended an invitation to the representative of a new epoch in Germany's state history. This means you confront the power of the past with the challenge of the present. I feel that mankind would indeed be lost but for the courage to make a new beginning."

The Israelis, for their part, were officially cordial--but not too cordial. Whereas Brandt stressed his role as West German Chancellor, Golda Meir welcomed him as an individual who had fought the Nazis "in the darkest period for the human race." Both leaders, perhaps significantly, spoke in a neutral language, English.

During the 30-mile helicopter flight from Lod to Jerusalem, Brandt--who had visited the city in 1960, when he was mayor of West Berlin --donned earphones so that his Israeli companions could point out the sights. Later, he was taken to Yad Vashem, a solemn memorial to Jews killed by the Nazis. Standing near such names as Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald, spelled out in English and Hebrew on the memorial's floor, Brandt heard the cantor chant: "Let the Lord remember the souls of our brethren ... who were put to death, and who were killed and choked, and who were buried alive." As Brandt wordlessly moved to lay a wreath against the "Tomb of the Martyrs' Ashes," a look of anguish passed over his face. He stood for a moment in dramatic silence, his hands clasped in front of him.

Demonstrators, most of them youths from right-wing groups, appeared at some of Brandt's stops with signs saying GERMANS GO HOME and WE WONT FORGIVE THE GERMAN MURDERS. The mood of the Israeli people as a whole seemed much less strident. A poll taken just before Brandt's arrival showed 66% in favor of the visit, and in Jerusalem he was greeted by friendly crowds chanting "Wil-ly, Wil-ly."

After his emotional visit to the Yad Vashem memorial, Brandt went to Mrs. Meir's office for some unemotional talks about his policy of reconciliation with the East--including his effort to win back Arab states that broke off relations with West Germany when it dispatched an ambassador to Israel in 1965. (So far six of the ten countries that severed ties have sent their ambassadors back to Bonn.) Brandt, in his turn, listened to a detailed explanation of Israel's stand in the Middle East.

Repeatedly, Brandt stressed his country's neutrality in the Arab-Israeli conflict. West Germany, said a spokesman, would "not talk differently to different countries." The Chancellor's itinerary was carefully arranged so that he would not find himself--except for a brief private visit to the old city of Jerusalem--in territory that the Israelis had taken in the Six-Day War. Mrs. Meir, who visibly warmed to her guest as his trip progressed, promised even to break her vow that she would never set foot in Germany. To the surprise of many, she accepted Brandt's invitation to Bonn. That trip, which has yet to be scheduled, is likely to be even more dramatic--and traumatic--than Brandt's visit to Israel.

* Written in the 19th century to an earlier melody by Joseph Haydn, the anthem, which once began "Germany, Germany, above all others," was originally a plea for unification of the many German states. The Nazis perverted it into a war cry. The song now begins: "Unity and right and freedom for the German fatherland ..

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