German Premier Under Pressure Over Nazi-Era Judge

Critics demanded a full apology on Monday from a German regional leader who defended a disgraced Nazi-era judge in a funeral speech.

Critics demanded a full apology on Monday from a German regional leader who defended a disgraced Nazi-era judge in a funeral speech.

Guenther Oettinger, Christian Democrat (CDU) state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said on Sunday he was sorry for the way his speech had been received. The objectors had included Chancellor Angela Merkel, head of Oettinger's party.

But he stopped short of retracting the content of his eulogy, in which he said the late Hans Filbinger -- a former premier in Oettinger's state -- had been an "opponent" of the Nazi regime, despite issuing death sentences as a Nazi judge.

"I think I have made clear that I am sorry for the effects of my speech and I regret this," Oettinger said on Monday in Stuttgart. "I have nothing more to add."

Merkel told reporters: "(Oettinger) has made an important but also a necessary step. Now I expect that this apology will be listened to."

But Dieter Graumann, a vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Chemnitz-based Freie Presse newspaper that the apology was "completely inadequate".

Greens party parliamentary floor leader Fritz Kuhn joined other opposition leaders in calling on Oettinger to retract his statement: "Oettinger must make clear that Filbinger was not an opponent of the Nazi dictatorship."

Oettinger, who has faced calls to resign from the Central Council of Jews and from some political leaders, told the Bild newspaper he had not intended to offend victims of the Nazis.

"If that happened, I'm sorry and I apologise for that. It depresses me that I'm being accused of turning Hans Filbinger into a resistance fighter. He wasn't and I didn't claim that," Oettinger was quoted as saying in an interview.

Oettinger said he would meet Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Central Council of Jews, to discuss the "misunderstandings".

The uproar also led a Berlin Catholic church to cancel a memorial service for Filbinger, who died in early April.

Filbinger had become a symbol of post-war Germany's failure to face up to the legacy of Hitler's Third Reich. Historian Paul Nolte said politicians had to make more effort to reflect the complexities of Germany's post-war history.

"One can say that Filbinger served the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg well during his time as premier. But he also covered himself in blame during the Third Reich. That is the history of the 20th century," Nolte told German television.