Schroeder visits father's grave for first time

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited the grave of his father for the first time today. A conscript, he was killed and buried in a Romanian village during the Second World War.

The grave was discovered in the Transylvanian village of Ceanu Mare by the chancellor’s sister three years ago.

Police cordoned off the area and didn’t allow crowds to see Schroeder’s entourage as it swept into the Orthodox church in Ceanu Mare.

Fritz Schroeder, a soldier in Adolf Hitler’s army, was killed in the village by Romanian civilians in October 1944.

The chancellor, born in April 1944, never knew his father. His sister, Gunhild Kamp-Schroeder, discovered the grave in April 2001 using Red Cross reports.