[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[May 6, 1999]
[Pages 708-709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Kosovar Refugees in Ingelheim
May 6, 1999

    Good afternoon. Let me begin by thanking Chancellor 
Schroeder, the representatives of his 
government who are here, and all the people of Germany for their strong, 
strong leadership in NATO in defense of the people of Kosovo and for 
making this place of refuge and shelter for people in need.
    I thank Minister-President Beck and the 
government of Rheinland-Pfalz and the townspeople of Ingelheim for 
making this center available, as well, and for supporting your presence 
here. Most of all, I would like to express my respect to the families 
who are here today from Kosovo, and my very special thanks for those who 
met earlier with Chancellor Schroeder and 
me. To those of you who told us the stories of your lives--the 
heartbreak, the nightmare, the cruelty, the uncertainty--those who are 
young, those who are old, and those who are in the middle of their 
lives, I listened very carefully to all of you.
    I hope that as you mustered the courage to meet with us, you know 
that because you have done so, the world will hear your stories. It is 
very important that every freedom-loving person in the entire world know 
the story of Kosovo. It is important that people not forget that what is 
called ethnic cleansing is not some abstract idea; it is real people 
with real families and real dreams being uprooted from their homes, 
their schools, their work, their children, their parents, their husbands 
and wives. NATO has acted in Kosovo because we believe ethnic cleansing 
must be opposed, resisted, reversed.
    We are doing all we can to bring aid to the victims of the violence. 
We are helping as many as we can in Albania and Macedonia. Both Germany 
and the United States and our other Allies

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are taking refugees out of the camps in Macedonia into our nations. We 
are helping relief groups to improve their registration systems so those 
of you who have missing family members can find them and so that we can 
restore identity papers.
    I know you will understand what a difficult task this is. More 
people are pouring into Macedonia every day. More people are pouring 
into Albania every day. And then we are taking some people from the 
camps into Germany, into the United States, into other countries. But we 
know this is an agony for those of you who do not know what has happened 
to your family members, and we are working on it. Just this week, we 
will begin to put in computer terminals here and in other refugee 
centers so that you can constantly get news in your own language on the 
situation in Kosovo and the status of the NATO campaign.
    Let me say on a very personal level, Chancellor Schroeder and I understand that what has been done to you and 
your children and your homeland cannot be undone. But you must know that 
you have not been forgotten or abandoned. Mr. Milosevic has not succeeded in erasing your identity from the 
pages of history, and he will not succeed in erasing your presence from 
the land of your parents and grandparents. You will go home again in 
safety and in freedom.
    Now in closing, I would like to ask of all of you something I asked 
of the smaller group with whom I just met. When you have gone through 
something as awful as this, it is very easy to have your spirit broken, 
to spend the rest of your life obsessed with anger and resentment. But 
if you do that, you have already given those who oppressed you a 
victory.
    I am of Irish heritage. The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats 
once said this; I hope you can remember this. He said, ``Too long a 
sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.''
    I ask you all to work with each other, to support each other, not to 
let your hearts turn to stone, to be determined to go home to a Kosovo 
where all the children can go to school and all the children can laugh 
and play and we can have a future that is not only free of the bad 
things that have happened to you but is full of hope and opportunity, 
where you're a part of Europe and a free world, where all the children 
can pursue their faith, their religion, and their dreams. We are working 
hard for that day.
    God bless you, and thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:40 p.m. at the Refugee Reception Center. 
In his remarks, he referred to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany; 
Minister-President Kurt Beck of Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; and President 
Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
Montenegro).