The Russian embassy in Germany insists on participation in memorial events at the end of the Second World War 80 years ago and turns against a recommendation of the Federal Foreign Office. “The 80th anniversary of victory over Nazism is a holy day for all peoples of the former Soviet Union,” says a statement by the message on request.
The Brandenburg Memorial Foundation – to which the memorials Sachsenhausen And Ravensbrück belongs-representatives of the Russian message at memorial events, on the other hand, do not want to accept: “We have unloaded the Russian embassy since the attack on Ukraine from all anniversaries,” said the director of the foundation, Axel Drecoll, the “Bild” newspaper, “If the ambassador still comes, we will enforce our house right-in close coordination with security forces.”
The Foreign office Had previously advised to admit the participation of Russian and Belarusian representatives at memorial events at the end of the Second World War. The ministry wants to prevent Russia from being able to “instrumentalize these events and to combine his attack war against Ukraine”.
Message: Do not need an invitation
The Russian message called the recommendation “extremely unfortunate”. «We lost 27 million people in the Second World War, most of them were civilians. This war against the Soviet Union Was a war of extermination, the genocide, »explained the message. “We do not need a special invitation to honor the memory of the Soviet liberators and the victims of Nazism in publicly accessible places and to celebrate the day of the victory.”
Memory in Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück
In the Sachsenhausen memorial, the main commemoration for the liberation of the concentration camp 80 years ago with Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) for May 4. On the same day, the central commemoration of the liberation of the then concentration camp is supposed to Ravensbrück take place. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth, and Brandenburg Minister of Culture Manja Schüle (SPD) are expected to do this.
Russian ambassador to commemorate
Russia’s ambassador in Berlin, Sergei Netschajew, had taken part in a silent memory of the battle on the Seelower Höhen 80 years ago last week. He had not been invited by the Märkisch-Oderland district and the city of Seelow, but was greeted by its representatives. The Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeieev, on the other hand, sharply criticized the participation-especially the wearing of the Sankt George band, a Russian military badge.
© dpa-infoCom, dpa: 250422-930-457164/3
