Overview
- The German president is due to lay a wreath at the town cemetery's 1973 mausoleum for bombing victims, joined by King Felipe VI and Basque leader Imanol Pradales.
- At a Madrid state dinner, he said Germans carry a "heavy burden of guilt" for the 1937 attack and urged vigilance for peace, freedom and human rights.
- His three-day trip included viewing Picasso's Guernica at the Reina Sofía with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and he is scheduled to visit the town's Museum of Peace.
- The visit comes as the AfD leads some national polls and is projected to perform strongly in five state elections next year, after Steinmeier warned about right‑wing extremism.
- Guernica was devastated by Hitler's Condor Legion on April 26, 1937 in support of Franco's forces, which Hermann Göring later portrayed at Nuremberg as a test for his air force.