In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

GERMANY'S FORTIETH ____________ ANNIVERSARY: THE END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE Richard von Weizsäcker M.any nations are commemorating the date on which World War II ended in Europe. Every nation is doing so with different feelings, depending on its fate. Be it victory or defeat, liberation from injustice and alien rule or transition to new dependence, division, new alliances, vast shifts of power—8 May 1945 is a date of decisive historical importance for Europe. We Germans are commemorating that date amongst ourselves, as is indeed necessary. We must find our own standards. We are not assisted in this task if we or others spare our feelings. We need and we have the strength to look truth straight in the eye—without embellishment and without distortion. For us, 8 May 1945 is above all a date to remember suffering. It is also a date to reflect on the course taken by our history. The greater honesty we show in commemorating this day, the freer we are to face the consequences with due responsibility. For Germans, 8 May is not a day of celebration. Those who actually witnessed that day in 1945 think back on highly personal and hence highly different experiences. Some returned home, others lost their homes. Some were liberated, others became captive. Many were simply grateful that the bombing at night had passed and that they had survived. Others felt grief at the complete defeat suffered by their country. Some Germans felt bitterness Richard von Weizsäcker is the president of the Federal Republic of Germany. This article contains excerpts of President von Weizsäcker^ speech commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the end of the war in Europe and the end of national socialist tyranny. The speech was delivered before the Bundestag on 8 May 1985. 57 58 SAIS REVIEW about their shattered illusions, while others were grateful for the gift of a new start. Uncertainty prevailed throughout the country. The military capitulation was unconditional, placing our destiny in the hands of our enemies. The past had been terrible, especially for many of those enemies. Would they not make us pay many times over for what we had done to them? Most Germans had believed that they were fighting and suffering for the good of their country. And now it turned out that their efforts were not only futile, but had served the inhuman goals of a criminal regime. Most people felt exhaustion, despair, and new anxiety. Had one's next of kin survived? Could one start anew from those ruins? Looking back, they saw the dark abyss of the past; looking forward, they saw the uncertain path of the future. Yet with every day something became clearer: 8 May was a day of liberation. It liberated us from the inhumanity and tyranny of the national socialist regime. Nobody will, because of that liberation, forget the grave suffering that only started for many people on 8 May. But we must not regard the end of the war as the cause of flight, expulsion, and deprivation of freedom. The cause goes back to the start of the tyranny that brought about war. We must not separate 8 May 1945 from 30 January 1933. There is no reason for us to participate in victory celebrations. But there is every reason for us to perceive 8 May 1945 as the end of an aberration in German history, an end bearing seeds of hope for a better future. 8 May is a day of remembrance. And we must remember honestly and without distortion so that it becomes a part of our very beings. This places high demands on our truthfulness, for today we mourn all who died in war and tyranny. In particular we commemorate the six million Jews who were murdered in German concentration camps. We commemorate all nations who suffered in the war, expecially the countless citizens of the Soviet Union and Poland who lost their fives. As Germans, we mourn our own compatriots who perished as soldiers, during air raids at home, in captivity, or during expulsion. We commemorate the Sinti and Romany Gypsies, the homosexuals, and the mentally ill who were killed, as well as...

pdf

Share