Chilean president apologizes to Germany after guest-book gaffe

Chilean president apologizes to Germany after guest-book gaffe

2010-10-26 13:52:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANTIAGO (BNO NEWS) --- Chilean president Sebastian Piñera on Monday apologized to Germany after he signed a presidential guest-book with a Nazi quote, saying he was unaware that the phrase is "linked to the dark past of the country."

Piñera said he did not know that "Deutschland über alles" (Germany above all), words used in the old German anthem he wrote in the presidency guest-book after having breakfast with president Christian Wulff, was related to Nazism.

"I had no awareness that this sentence was linked to a dark past of the country and therefore I am sorry," Piñera said in a statement.

"On Saturday, in my meeting with the German president Christian Wulff, I wrote a statement of gratitude and appreciation for what Germany had done for Chile following the earthquake and the mine rescue," Piñera said.

The Chilean president said he learned the phrase as a boy at a German school, and that he had thought it was associated with the unification of Germany in the 19th century.

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