Israel's president, Shimon Peres, arrived in Germany on Monday, two days ahead of events to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"The trip marks the completion of a personal circle for the president, whose own grandparents and uncle were burned alive in the Vishneva synagogue," his spokeswoman said in a statement, referring to a town in modern-day Belarus.

On Tuesday Peres will hold political talks with his German counterpart, Horst Koehler. He will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to his address to the German Parliament on Wednesday.

Peres will use the speech to mourn the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, his spokeswoman said. He will also speak about the historical connection between Israel and the Holocaust, and the relationship between the Jewish state and postwar Germany.

Germany, Israel looking forward

The visit will also see the veteran of Israeli politics attend a memorial service at 'Platform 17' of the Grunewald train station, from which Jews in Berlin were taken to Nazi labor and death camps during World War Two.

Earlier Monday, Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Peres as saying that Germany had learned from its past.

"They want to mend their history, and while we can't forget, we can, with them, look forward to a new future," Peres said.

Peres' trip comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Berlin for a joint German-Israeli cabinet meeting, which focused on the Middle East peace process and Iran's nascent nuclear program.

On Thursday, Peres is to depart for Davos, Switzerland, where he will join world leaders at the World Economic Forum.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in modern-day Poland by Soviet soldiers on January 27, 1945.

dfm/AFP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson