Enlarge image
Large-scale demonstration between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column on Straße des 17. Juni
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images/Mauersberger
Wrapped up and wearing a rainbow-colored mask over his FFP2 mask, Timo Gößler, 43, stands at the Victory Column.
The screenwriter has "an urgent need to do something about this terrible war," if only to take to the streets to do so.
This demo will definitely not end him, and yet it is an important, clear signal to the world.
Being able to do something, even if it's only symbolic - this wish unites many of the tens of thousands of people who flock to the Strasse des 17. Juni between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate on this Sunday afternoon to demonstrate against Putin's war.
For the demonstration under the motto »Stop the war!
Peace for Ukraine and all of Europe” had called for an alliance of peace, human rights and environmental protection organizations as well as churches and trade unions.
The organizers originally expected 20,000 participants.
»We are completely overwhelmed by this sympathy.
At first we only planned a human chain with several thousand people.
We didn't expect that there would be hundreds of thousands, that even public transport would break down," Christoph Bautz, co-initiator and managing director of the campaign platform Campact, told SPIEGEL.
The aim of the demo was to "bring the broad German civil society together".
“And we are addressing the federal government, because tough consequences are now needed,” says Bautz.
The government then announced the consequences in the morning – in a government statement during a special session of the Bundestag.
In what is probably a historic speech, Olaf Scholz spoke of nothing less than a “turning point in the history of our continent”, in which he accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of an “inhuman and cold-blooded war of aggression against Ukraine”, which “cannot be justified by anything or anyone . . .” Today, Germany stands by Ukraine, just as it stands by all those who defy Putin's power apparatus.
"We know there are many." Everyone who gathers in Berlin and elsewhere for peaceful rallies would "set a sign these days: against Putin's war," for a free and open, just and peaceful Europe.
More than a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the war
Shortly before 2 p.m., the organizers called on the crowd on Strasse des 17. Juni to pause in memory of the victims of the war in Ukraine that Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin so brutally ordered on February 24.
Cutting silence, only the chirping of the birds can be heard on this clear winter's day, for over a minute.
The applause of the members of the Bundestag lasted more than a minute when Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) welcomed the Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk.
Former Federal President Joachim Gauck hugged him.
Another wordless gesture on this piercingly clear Sunday.
The song »Grenzen« by singer-songwriter Dota Kehr preceded the silence on the street of June 17th.
»I seek the country where everyone is equal in state independence.
I log out.
I want a passport that says Earthlings,” she sings.
Like everyone else, she wants to show that "we can't be indifferent to this imperialist war of aggression," but actually no song fits to describe this horror: "I'd love to stick to the call, 'Create peace without weapons'.
And yet these days remind us that someone must oppose this imperialist onslaught.
That gets you into the biggest conflicts.
It is such a great privilege to live in peace.
I'm glad I don't have to make any security policy decisions," Dota Kehr told SPIEGEL.
The government also made these decisions on this historic morning when Olaf Scholz broke with many social democratic certainties - for example when he announced that he would invest 100 billion euros in a special fund in the desolate Bundeswehr.
He also announced that he would invest in gas storage and liquid gas terminals in order to become independent of Russian gas.
At the demo in the afternoon, climate activist Luisa Neubauer, who gave a speech along with numerous others, such as the council chairwoman of the Evangelische Kirsche in Germany Annette Kurschuss or the head of the service union Ver.di, demanded that investments in renewable energies be made as a peacekeeping measure.
"Open your eyes.
Fossil fuels kill, whether it's particulate matter ruining children's lungs or fossil fuel revenues supporting war criminals.
Renewable energies are a prerequisite for society and democracies to be protected in the long term," Neubauer told SPIEGEL on the sidelines of the rally.
The influx has now become so great that the Berlin transport company has had to temporarily stop underground traffic at the Brandenburg Gate.
The police are assuming around 100,000 participants, says a spokesman.
"I'm here to show solidarity with the Ukrainians, but also to show that Russians shouldn't be attacked with racism in general," says 20-year-old Jule, who flies a Ukraine flag with the hashtag #standwithucraine in the crowd.
“We are here to stand up for peace.
We both grew up in peace and can't even imagine the extent of war.
It's just frightening," says Janika.
Together with her friend Mathilda she made a banner: »Stop Putin, Stop War«
Many Cyrillic letters with Ukrainian lettering can also be seen in the crowd, including that of Cooper, 45. Standing on a distribution box and with a flag around his neck, he is holding two A4 sheets of paper.
"Ukraine is so cool that NATO can apply to join it," reads it.
"I am from Ukraine.
In this war, Ukraine is fighting not only for itself, but for all of Europe,” he says.
He's very worried about his family in Odessa, "that's where my heart beats," he says.
Viktoria, 31, has tears in her eyes.
She has lived in Germany for 20 years and grew up in Chernihiv, a large city north of Kiev.
"My godfather's house was destroyed, my family has to hide all the time." She is happy about the solidarity at the demonstration, but that's not enough.
“Get information, donate money, take people in – everyone can do something,” she says.
The demo ends around 4 p.m., the hundred thousand make their way home - in the certainty that they have at least done something to counteract the speechlessness of the past few days.
