It is not a historical day of remembrance, the day of national mourning, it was first celebrated in 1922 for the fallen soldiers of the world war and was converted by the nazis into a day of remembrance for heroes. "Today is a day of mourning for all victims of war and violence," said county administrator paul streng on sunday afternoon at the county war memorial on the high above marktbreit.
Consequences of the policy of violence
Representatives of the county and municipalities traditionally meet there at the chapel on national mourning day for the county's central memorial service. This year, it was paul streng who gave the keynote speech, stating that "flight and expulsion have been the consequences of the omnipresent politics of violence since the first world war and right up to the present day."
And she found clear words and hard numbers: the flight of the belgian population from the german army in 1914, the expulsion of 200,000 germans from the elsass as a consequence of the war, the expulsion of 180,000 people during the occupation of the ruhr by the french, millions of poles, ukrainians and russians as victims of german brutality, of expulsion, massacres and forced labor. And again and again, the consequence of war is violence and counter-violence: retaliation by the humiliated peoples, for example in the expulsion of up to 14 million germans.
70 million people on the run
A drama that has not changed until today, in view of almost 70 million people on the run – half of them children. And "since 2015, refugees and displaced persons have visibly arrived in our cities and communities with all their problems," said sternly. Reflecting on this, one's own past, the suffering of german refugees and the reconciliation with former opponents should never be forgotten. "The germans in east and west and also we here in the county have every reason to approach the questions of flight and expulsion with tolerance and humanity", said the county commissioner.
The dispute about the right way to deal with this crisis is justified. Even though the vast majority of the county rejects any form of racism, there is no understanding of the long-suffering response to violations of the law by the citizens of newuburgren. "It is precisely the german experience with the integration of many millions of people after 1945 that, in addition to the support of the state and helpers, it particularly requires one's own efforts to arrive here," said streng. And therefore the day of mourning 2018 cannot be separated from the debate about migration management: but he urged to keep mab and middle in the discussion.
National day of mourning as an obligation
Marktbreit's mayor erich hegwein wanted the day of mourning to be understood as an appeal for peace: "this day is also always an obligation to continue to commit ourselves to the preservation of peace, to work on it and to cooperate," said the mayor.