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Commemoration of the end of World War II in many capitals

2020-05-08T22:48:15.550Z


Berlin, Moscow, Paris, London - many capitals commemorate the millions of victims on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. For President Steinmeier, Germany has a special responsibility - in several ways.


Berlin, Moscow, Paris, London - many capitals commemorate the millions of victims on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. For President Steinmeier, Germany has a special responsibility - in several ways.

Berlin (dpa) - The Federal Republic and many countries in the world thought on Friday of the end of the Second World War 75 years ago by the military defeat of Hitler's Germany. In Berlin, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on citizens to defend democracy.

At the central commemoration, he also emphasized the special German responsibility for European cohesion. Steinmeier made it clear that this consequence from German history now applies to the Corona crisis.

"Back then we were liberated. Today we have to liberate ourselves," said Steinmeier, calling new nationalism, hatred, agitation, and "xenophobia and contempt for democracy". German history is a "broken story". This includes responsibility for millions of murders and millions of sufferings. "It breaks our hearts to this day. Therefore: You can only love this country with a broken heart."

Steinmeier said that "internal liberation" came after 1945 after the painful reappraisal of what had happened. "These decades of struggling with our history were decades in which democracy in Germany could mature." The head of state spoke out strictly against a line under the reappraisal of the past. "There is no end to remembering. There is no redemption from our history."

Steinmeier originally ordered a state act for the 75th anniversary. Around 1600 guests should gather in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin. This had to be canceled because of the corona pandemic. Now the head of the four other constitutional organs - Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Presidents of the Bundestag, Federal Council and Federal Constitutional Court, Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and Andreas Voßkuhle - came to the Neue Wache in Berlin. It is the central memorial of the Federal Republic for the victims of war and tyranny. In the State of Berlin, Friday was a unique holiday.

The Chancellor called Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both would have confirmed the intention to make the relationship constructive. "The memory of the war and its horrors should be kept alive forever," said the federal government. The day had a special symbolism for Russia and Germany, it said from the Kremlin. "Today Russia and Germany are partners in solving many current international problems." During World War II, Hitler's Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. With around 27 million deaths, it counted more victims than any other state. Merkel also made phone calls to US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday, according to government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

With the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945, the war in Europe unleashed by Hitler's Germany ended. It cost between 55 and more than 60 million people, depending on the estimate, here and in Asia. Among them were around 6 million European Jews who were murdered by the National Socialists in their racial madness.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter: "For Europe, this day stands for the end of a cruel war caused by the Nazi regime and for the liberation from the darkest hours." At the same time, this day was a turning point for the fate of the continent.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said, according to the speech manuscript, that 8 May obliges Germany to stand up for peace and a rule-based international order. He linked "our fate forever to the fate of a strong and united Europe". Steinmeier said in Berlin with regard to Germany's role in Europe: "We have to hold Europe together. We have to think, feel and act as Europeans." This also applies to the current corona pandemic.

The events 75 years ago were also commemorated in many other cities in Germany and Europe - especially the Allies at the time, which had brought Hitler Germany to its knees.

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron first laid a wreath in front of the statue of General Charles de Gaulle and then drove on to the triumphal arch. There he symbolically rekindled the Eternal Flame. Army choir singers sang the national anthem Marseillaise. Because of the coronavirus crisis, the ceremony at the top of the boulevard Champs-Élysées took place this year without spectators. The large military parade in Moscow had been canceled due to the corona.

In London, Queen Elizabeth II made a television speech late Friday evening - exactly 75 years after her father, King George VI's speech, on the radio. "Never give up, never despair," that was the message of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), said the Queen. "At the beginning the view seemed bleak, the end far away and the exit unclear." But the belief in doing the right thing carried people through the difficult times.

Federal President's Office for the memorial event

Speech by Federal President Steinmeier

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-05-08

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