Van der Bellen urges compassion at Germany's Volkstrauertag commemoration in Berlin

Central commemoration in the Bundestag

Germany marked the Volkstrauertag on Sunday, 15 November, a day for remembering the victims of war and violent state oppression. The central commemoration of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge took place in the Bundestag in the afternoon, honouring the millions who died in both world wars and the victims of National Socialism. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen gave the address in the plenary chamber, a choice that reflects the large number of Austrians who died fighting for the Wehrmacht after the 1938 annexation of their country by Nazi Germany. Austria was this year's partner country of the Volksbund. Van der Bellen and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier laid wreaths at the Neue Wache in Berlin before the ceremony.

Compassion as a foundation

Van der Bellen spoke of the millions of fates behind the figures, and of the individual people who had once been children, had loved someone and had plans that war or violence destroyed. He said those crimes were possible because compassion had first died out.

“Compassion is not a weakness. It is a strength of human beings. It is the foundation of humanity.”

According to the reports, Van der Bellen acknowledged that wrongs cannot be undone, but said that inaction need not become looking away. He told the audience that people in the later generations bear no personal guilt for the crimes of their ancestors, yet remain responsible for what they learn from the past. He called for tolerance and warned against letting difference turn into contempt and contempt into violence.

Democracy as a duty

Julia Klöckner told the German press agency dpa that Volkstrauertag reminds people how destructive tyranny and contempt for human dignity can be. She argued that democracy must be actively defended.

“Democracy is the antidote here. But it is not an heirloom. It wastes away when we do not constantly renew its promise of basic rights and freedom.”

Klöckner linked the day to the war in Ukraine, where people stand for that promise every day. North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst, who is also the current Bundesrat president, told RP Online that peace, freedom and democracy must be defended and that peace requires strength, diplomatic persistence and trust.

Youth outreach and history

The Volksbund's president, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, described plans to visit war grave sites with young people, hoping they learn the value of peace and resist hatred. The Volkstrauertag was first introduced after the First World War, with its first official commemoration in the Reichstag in 1922. From 1952 it was revived in the Federal Republic and now includes civilian victims. Last year Steinmeier widened the commemoration to people persecuted by the Nazis for their gender or sexual identity and to police officers who died on duty. A remembrance ceremony was also planned at the Jewish Cemetery in Berlin for Jewish victims of the First World War.