Federal Chancellor Schröder on the 60th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War

"In facing our history, we bear responsibility for it.  Only those who remember and face the past — even if they do not share personal guilt —  can deal responsibly with their own history,"  writes Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in a recent message for the special section of the Mittelbayerische Zeitung commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

On May 8 and 9, 2005, it will be 60 years since the end of the Second World War.  Today, we know that the Allied victory was not only a victory over Germany but, above all, a victory for Germany, a day of liberation.  It was the victory over the National-Socialist tyranny, which had brought death, suffering, and ruin upon millions of people all across Europe.  And it was a fulfilling moment for the courageous men and women who resisted the totalitarian regime.

Over the coming days, we will commemorate this terrible past and especially the victims of the Nazi regime and of the war unleashed by Nazi Germany.  In many countries across Europe and beyond, the Second World War claimed millions of victims.  In Germany, too, millions of soldiers and civilians died in the war, while fleeing, or while being expulsed from their homes.

We must not and we will not forget the terrible suffering.  But we must also not allow cause and effect to be confused.  Bearing responsibilty in the face of history means not weighing the crime against the suffering.  We owe that to all the victims of the Nazi terror and the war.

In facing our history, we bear responsibility for it. Only those who remember and face the past — even if they do not share personal guilt — can deal responsibly with their own history.  It is my firm conviction that this is necessary in order to achieve a good future for ourselves and our country.  And that also means we must resolutely counter racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance as well as work to ensure that all people can live in freedom and in peace.

It is in this light that the German parliament commemorates the end of the war on May 8.  We bow our heads in deep mourning for the victims and reflect on the lessons we must draw from the past.  On May 10, in the center of Berlin, we will dedicate the Holocaust Memorial through which we and future generations will remember the victims who were so unimaginably robbed of their dignity and their lives in the systematically organized genocide.

Last year, I was able to be the first German Chancellor to attend the ceremonies commemorating D-Day, on June 6, in Normandy.  The invitation by French President Chirac was a great and brave gesture of reconciliation and of the will to shape the future together.  It underscores the excellent and friendly relationship between France and Germany.

I also saw the invitation to participate in the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw, on August 1, 2004, as a special sign from our Polish friends, which deeply moved me.  Together with our Polish neighbors, we want to overcome the difficult past and to shape our integrating Europe.

The invitation extended by Russian President Putin to attend the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Moscow, on May 9, 2005, shows how far Germany and Russia have moved towards each other over the past 15 years.  This day of commemoration particularly demonstrates that a strategic partnership with Russia is of central importance to Germany and Europe in achieving a peaceful future on our continent.

The invitations to Normandy, Warsaw, and Moscow impressively underscore the trust that our country and its foreign policy today enjoy.  Germany is a respected and responsible partner in the world because it has faced its past.  That is the basis for us to be able to live together peacefully on our continent with our neighbors and friends. For, out of the National-Socialist terror and the painful experiences of the war, we all have gained the sure knowledge that it must never again come to war, repression, or tyranny.

May 6, 2005

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