Schroeder apologises for Hitler row

Gerhard Schroeder stood by his minister's explanation

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has written to the US president to apologise after reports that one of his ministers had compared George W Bush with Adolf Hitler.

There is no place at my cabinet table for anyone who makes a connection between the American president and such a criminal

Gerhard Schroeder's letter to George W Bush

But Mr Schroeder said he believed Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin's denial of newspaper reports of her comments.

She said she had been misquoted and had made no link between Mr Bush and the Nazi leader.

The reported comments had already caused a diplomatic stir.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president was "very angered", while Mr Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice spoke of a "poisoned atmosphere" in relations between the two countries.

"I would say that just now is not a happy time for our relations with Germany... The comments by the justice minister, even if she only said half of what is alleged, are unacceptable," she said.

Mr Schroeder's apology came as he entered the final days of campaigning before Germany's nail biting general election.

Opposition candidate Edmund Stoiber used his final election rally to attack Mr Schroeder and his government for wrecking Germany's close relations with the US.

Close finish

Mr Schroeder's Social Democrats were marginally ahead of Mr Stoiber's Christian Democrats in opinion polls before Sunday's election, but the result was far from certain.

Edmund Stoiber is hoping to overturn a slight poll lead for Mr Schroeder

Correspondents said last-minute campaigning on Friday was overshadowed by the Hitler row.

Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin became an election issue after a German newspaper, the Schwaebisches Tagblatt, reported that she told metalworkers: "Bush wants to divert attention from domestic political problems" and onto Iraq.

The daily quoted her as saying: "It's a method that is sometimes favoured. Hitler also did that."

Minister's denials

On Friday, the minister held a packed press conference - which one report said was ordered by Mr Schroeder - and agreed there had been discussion of politicians using foreign policy measures to distract from domestic issues at the meeting.

Herta Daeubler-Gmelin apologised to the US ambassador

"I then said that we have known this debate since 'Adolf Nazi'," she said, adding that she had immediately clarified that she did not mean there should be a comparison between Hitler and President Bush.

Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin - who said she would not resign over the matter - called US Ambassador Dan Coats to make it clear that she had not made the reported comparison.

But Mr Schroeder decided to send a letter to Mr Bush himself.

"I want to let you know how much I regret the fact that alleged comments by the German justice minister have given an impression that has offended you," he wrote,

But he said he accepted Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin's explanation.

"Let me assure you that there is no place at my cabinet table for anyone who makes a connection between the American president and such a criminal."