German leaders celebrate 11 years of reunification

FRANKFURT, Germany -- German leaders marked the 11th anniversary of the country's reunification, vowing not to let terrorism overshadow democratic gains since the fall of the Berlin Wall, even as far-right demonstrators gloated over the attacks in the United States.

The far-right demonstrations in Berlin undermined the mood of democratic solidarity at the official celebrations in the western city of Mainz for Unity Day, a public holiday marking the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990.

About 1,000 supporters of the far-right National Democratic Party, which marched along Berlin's chic Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard, welcomed the Sept. 11 terror attacks as retribution for the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

One of their leaders, Steffen Hupka, called for "the death of the United States as a world power."

The government is trying to outlaw the party on charges of spreading racisim and anti-Semitism, and Berlin officials urged people to turn out for rallies against the far-right march, which has become a Unity Day fixture.

Predictable scuffles

As is typical whenever the far-right publicly demonstrates, dozens of leftists deployed to try to block them and wound up scuffling with police who tried to prevent an escalation.

In Mainz, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other German and foreign dignitaries attended an interfaith Mass and other official events. Some of the festivities were scaled back out of respect for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But spiritual and political leaders reaffirmed their dedication to the decision made 11 years ago when the former East Germany rejected communism in favor of democracy and rejoined the former West Germany.

"On Oct. 3, 1990 the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, including East Germany, chose to be part of an open, free society," said Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse, a former East German. "We must not let these recent terrible events lead us to question freedom and democracy."

In a nod to Wednesday's guest of honor, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Thierse also called on former East Germans to stop comparing themselves to their western countrymen and instead seize the opportunity to help other formerly communist countries to the east join the European Union.

Kohl recalls courage

Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who presided over Germany's postwar reunification, addressed his conservative party at a congress in Stuttgart. He recalled the former East Germans who to gathered over a decade ago to demand freedom.

"Their courage and their actions belong to the most important and best chapters of the German history," Kohl said. "And show that despite two World Wars and two dictatorships ... in the heart of our people the desire for freedom never died."