Schröder Plans First Visit to Father's Grave

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is expected to visit his father's grave in Romania next week, according to Germany's Bild newspaper. Schröder, 60, never met his father, Fritz, a German soldier who was killed at age 32 by Romanian civilians on Oct. 4, 1944 -- six months after his son was born. In 2001, Schröder's sister discovered the grave with the help of Red Cross reports. Schröder himself had planed to visit his father's grave that September, but cancelled the trip after the terror attacks in the US. Fritz Schröder, an unskilled laborer, is buried at a cemetery in the village of Ceanu Mare in Romania's Transylvania region. The chancellor is visiting Bulgaria and Romania on Aug. 12 and Aug. 13. The German government refused to comment on the report of Schröder visiting his father's grave, according to AP newsagency. Last year, Romanian Premier Adrian Nastase had invited the chancellor to visit the grave.