Katsav visits site of Mauthausen Nazi camp

Israel has made a symbolic step in its ties with Austria as President Moshe Katsav visited a former Nazi concentration camp and laid a wreath at a memorial for Austrian Holocaust victims. In the first visit to Austria by an Israeli head of state, Katsav said he had not come to Vienna to dwell on past relations between the countries. But during a ceremony at the former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen he said that "Austrians were also among the torturers at the concentration camp and Austria today is obliged to acknowledge its responsibility…The human in me finds it difficult to understand how this all could have happened." The head of Austria's Jewish community, Ariel Muzicant, said Katsav's visit was a "step towards normality" in bilateral relations. Austrian President Heinz Fischer said Katsav's visit to Austria was "very, very significant".