deal with its Nazi past– becoming the first person to speak German in the Israeli parliament, where he asked forgiveness for the Holocaust.
Rau, who died January 27 at the age of 75 after years of poor health, was seen as a friend of Jewish people and Christians. The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed "deep grief and distress" over his death, and described Rau as "a friend of the ecumenical" movement.
"A humanist and a practicing Christian," Rau will be remembered for his work during the 1950s for "the unification of Germany and reconciliation with the victims of fascism and the Holocaust," WCC Deputy General Secretary Georges Lemopoulos said in an open letter to member churches in Germany monitored by BosNewsLife.
Called "Brother Johannes" by his friends for his engagement in the church, Rau was "a friend of the ecumenical movement" and "recognized the important role religion had come to play during the post-cold war period in the civil and political life of most nations," the letter said.
PASTOR’S SON
Rau, the son of a Protestant pastor, addressed the WCC central committee meeting in Potsdam in February 2001 where he stressed "the need for churches and religious organizations to play an important role in accompanying the political decision-making process in order to ensure that it remains faithful to the aspirations of the people".
A year earlier, in 2000, he made an emotional plea for forgiveness for the Holocaust in the Israeli parliament and suggested that Germans have no reason to be proud of their nationality.
"With the people of Israel watching, I bow in humility before those murdered, before those who don’t have graves where I could ask them for forgiveness," Rau said.
"I am asking for forgiveness for what Germans have done, for myself and my generation, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, whose future I would like to see alongside the children of Israel," he added.
In Israel, President Moshe Katsav called Rau "a great friend of the state of Israel and the Jewish people." "During his tenure as president, Herr Rau was a great fighter against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial."
"EXTRAORDINARY PERSONALITY"
Chancellor Angela Merkel said "Germany has lost an extraordinary personality," and praised Rau’s "tireless commitment to democracy, justice, human rights and understanding between people."
These characteristics attributed to him were also recalled during a state funeral ceremony in the Berliner Dom cathedral Tuesday, February 7, as flags around the country were lowered to half mast. After the church ceremony Rau was buried in a cemetery in Berlin-Mitte. Roughly 80 close friends accompanied Rau’s widow Christina and their three children to the graveyard.
Some 1,500 German and foreign dignitaries attended the state funeral in Berlin’s Dom cathedral, including current President Horst Koehler, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her predecessor in office, Gerhard Schroeder.
Koehler said Rau’s nearly five decades in politics had been based on a strong belief,
happiness and the attempt "to make our country a better and more human place." Lutheran Bishop Wolfgang Huber paid tribute to "Brother Johannes," who he said had been a strong believer. "He had an eye for people of the most diverse backgrounds, and an open heart for everyone," Huber added.
RAISING EYEBROWS
But Rau also raised eyebrows during his tenure as president when in 2003 he waded into a debate on whether Muslim teachers should be allowed to wear head scarves in the classroom. He said that if the Islamic veil were banned, Christian and Jewish religious symbols also should go. That position reportedly drew criticism from many on both right and left who consider the scarf a political rather than religious symbol.
Rau, a Social Democrat, was the country’s eighth postwar president, in office from 1999 to 2004. In his final months, Rau battled with the after-effects of several operations.
For 25 years Rau was the premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. He was born in the western city of Wuppertal and had difficult school years: He dropped out of high school to work as a journalist and at a Protestant publishing house, before entering politics as a member of the Social Democratic Party and eventually becoming Germany’s president.
He was replaced in 2004 by Germany’s current president, conservative Horst Koehler. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reports from Germany, Geneva and BosNewsLife Research).
