In 1985, one day before a scheduled appearance at a wreath-laying ceremony at a German military cemetery at Bitburg on the fortieth anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe intended to demonstrate the strength of the friendship between modern West Germany and the United States, President Gary Hart is informed that the chosen cemetery contains the graves of 49 members of the Nazi SS.

It is a major embarrassment. The President cancels the visit, opting instead to visit a former concentration camp. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is humiliated and furious, and the German media play up the President's decision not to come to the cemetery as 'an insult to the German people,' in the words of one editorial.

'When,' the same opinion piece asks, 'will the Germans of today cease to be punished for the sins of their ancestors?' Meanwhile, at home and in Israel, the fact that Hart had even considered visiting what Elie Wiesel describes as 'a ceremony to honor mass murderers' ignites waves of protest.