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Hitler row overshadows election { September 21 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-germany-election.html http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-germany-election.html September 21, 2002 Hitler Row Overshadows Cliffhanger German Poll By REUTERS Filed at 1:34 p.m. ET BERLIN (Reuters) - A row over a German minister's alleged comparison of the U.S. president's methods with those of Adolf Hitler overshadowed the final day before Sunday's election in Germany with the outcome too close to call. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder used his last campaign rally to underline his opposition to a U.S. war in Iraq, which has dominated campaigning in the run-up to the polls. His justice minister intensified the debate with reported remarks -- which she denies -- likening George W. Bush's stance on Iraq to Hitler's use of foreign policy to hide domestic woes. Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin still faces calls to quit and charges from Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that U.S.-German relations have been ``poisoned.'' The row over relations with Washington sidelined other election issues such as high unemployment and the state of what is Europe's largest economy. ``The government has completely isolated Germany through its foreign policy,'' conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber said at his last rally in Munich. ``We are an open-minded country with internationally oriented industry. We can not afford to have economic relations damaged by such incredible (remarks). ``The damage to us and to the German-American relationship is such that this not only hurts us and does not only affect politics but also the American people and the American economy.'' Schroeder's firm stand against any war in Iraq has benefited his center-left Social Democrats (SPD), and he repeated some of his favorite campaign lines on the subject on Saturday. ``The Middle East and Iraq need a lot of new peace, but they don't need a new war,'' Schroeder said to cheers from a 5,000-strong crowd in the center of the northern city of Rostock. He said Germany had every right to be self-confident in its international policy given that it had showed its readiness to take part in front-line action for peace. ``Fundamental issues of German policy will be decided in Berlin and nowhere else,'' he said. Stoiber also attended the opening of Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival in his role as premier of the wealthy southern state of Bavaria. Dressed in a traditional Bavarian felt jacket, Stoiber arrived to loud chants of ``Eddy, Eddy'' and took the first liter from Munich's SPD Mayor Christian Ude. ``I hope to come back next year and have a beer poured for me as chancellor,'' Stoiber said. ``POISONED'' U.S. RELATIONS The major parties have spent the final run-up seeking to capitalize on or limit the damage from the SPD justice minister's alleged remarks. Schroeder wrote to Bush on Friday saying he regretted any offence the reported comments had caused, although the White House fury appeared undimmed. Rice said the reported words were unacceptable, even if only half of what was reported in a newspaper was actually said. ``How can you use the name Hitler and the name of the president of the U.S. in the same sentence? Particularly, how can a German, given the devotion of the U.S. in the liberation of Germany from Hitler? An atmosphere has been created that is in that sense poisoned,'' she told London's Financial Times. ``It's not been a happy time with Germany. There have clearly been some things said that are way beyond the pale.'' The latest polls showed Germans the race between the SPD and the main opposition Christian Democrat/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parties was too close to call and a huge postal vote suggested voter turnout would be a post-unification record. An Allensbach Institute survey showed a mere 0.5 percentage points between the two parties, the SPD on 37.5 percent, the CDU/CSU on 37. A Forsa poll found Schroeder's SPD would win 38.5 to 39.5 percent. Stoiber's conservatives had 37 to 38 percent. The future of Europe's largest economy will depend on the smaller parties -- especially the PDS reformed communists, successors to the party that built the Berlin Wall. Whether the Party of Democratic Socialism crosses the five percent threshold into parliament could determine whether a combination of the other parties -- SPD and Greens or CDU/CSU and liberal Free Democrats -- can form a functioning majority. Voting stations open on Sunday at 8 a.m. local time and close at 6 p.m., when the first exit poll results will be released. Copyright 2002 Reuters Ltd. | Privacy Policy

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