German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder apologised to US President George W Bush last night for the offence caused by a report that his justice minister had compared Mr Bush's methods to Hitler's.
The election-eve report in a regional daily angered a US administration already upset about the center-left chancellor's voluble - and highly popular - opposition to a prospective US-led war in Iraq.
Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin tried to calm the transatlantic row yesterday by denying the report.
But reporters pressed her for over an hour on what appeared to be not only a breach of a German political taboo but a sharp affront to democratic Germany's long-time ally and guarantor.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called the remarks "outrageous and inexplicable" and Secretary of State Colin Powell rang German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to complain.
The report said Daeubler-Gmelinhad told a pre-election gathering that, by threatening to attack Iraq, "Bush wants to distract attention from his domestic political problems. That's a favorite method. Hitler did that too."
Mr Schroeder wrote to Mr Bush, saying: "I want to let you know how much I regret the fact that alleged comments by the German justice minister have given an impression that has offended you."