BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been touring the eastern part of his nation, which has been plagued by right-wing violence. Wednesday's stop: a former Nazi concentration camp. As CNN's Chris Burns reports, the visit served as a harsh reminder of the past, and a warning for the future.</s>CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a cold, underground tunnel deep inside a mountain, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited what's left of Mittelbau-Dora. One of the lesser- known Nazi concentration camps, it played a key role in Hitler's war machine, building V-rockets, among Nazi Germany's most feared weapons. Mr. Schroeder laid a wreath and toured the tunnel, now a museum, with one of Mittelbau-Dora's 60,000 slave laborers. Albert Van Dyke of Holland who was 17 at the time. Twenty-thousand of the laborers died of disease, hunger or exhaustion. Back in the warm sunlight, the chancellor used the occasion to reiterate his determination to fight a recent upsurge in racist attacks. "We must battle every form of racism," he said, "through police and the courts." And he said it's up to the general public to fight it. He also stated the need to give youth a better chance. High youth unemployment in Eastern Germany is seen as one reason for the violence. Chancellor Shcroeder's two-week trip is aimed at renewing efforts to rebuild and integrate the former communist east with the rest of Germany. Ten years after unification, unemployment in the east is still 17 percent, twice that of the west. Critics say the chancellor hasn't done enough to close the economic gap since he came to power nearly two years ago. Chris Burns, CNN, Middelbau-Dora, Germany.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Tours Former Nazi Concentration Camp