Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Esteemed guests,

Welcome to this concert commemorating the 85th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union.

This invasion occurred despite a treaty that the two countries had concluded earlier, and it happened without a formal declaration of war.
What followed was a vicious and brutal war. Its sheer magnitude defies comprehension. German armed forces and their auxiliary troops killed some 27 million people; 14 million of them civilians.

The two-and-a-half-year long siege of the city of Leningrad was a particularly horrendous war crime.

The names of Volgograd, Rshev and Babyn Yar will always be etched into our memory. Countless villages were ravaged and burnt, especially in Belarus and Ukraine, but also here in Russia.

The peoples of the Soviet Union suffered the highest losses, the most comprehensive destruction of all - with the possible exception of Poland which Nazi Germany had invaded two years earlier.

Germany’s war was fueled by inhumane ideology, by anti-Semitism and racial fanaticism directed against the Slavic and Asian peoples of the Soviet Union.It was also fueled by anti-Bolshevism, a hallmark of fascist and authoritarian governments all over Europe. Not only fascist ones, I should add, and I pay respect to the people of Czechoslovakia – the only Central European country that remained truly democratic throughout the 20s and 30s up unto the eve of WW II.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

we mourn and honor the victims. And we recognize the sacrifices of the Red Army and its allies in the liberation of Germany from fascism.

The Red Army liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. This will never be forgotten.This has been our conviction for many years. It has also been our communication for many years, both inside Germany and outside. It is therefore factually false, morally wrong, and, yes, intentionally devious, to suggest otherwise - as the current Russian government does, on multiple occasions.

We regret this very much as a common understanding of our past could pave the way to a better future.

This is a long way off, though, as Russia’s current Geschichtspolitik, it’s politics of history or policy of remembrance is designed in a very particular way. Rather than striving to understand the truth, Russia wants us to forget most of it and remember only the parts that suit the current „vlast’“.

So let us pause for a moment and remember not only what followed, but also what preceded the 22nd of June 1941. Neither Nazi aggression nor Soviet violence started that day.

By that date, Germany had already annexed Austria, multiple Czech regions, and a part of Lithuania. Germany had invaded Poland and the countries of western and northern Europe.

During these same years, Stalin had purged and starved millions of Soviet citizens. The USSR had attacked Finland, only to – more or less - lose in the famous „Winter war.“ Stalin had also invaded, occupied and illegally annexed the Baltic states.

But, and that is often forgotten, he had also invaded Poland from the East, to complement the German invasion from the West. This happened a mere two weeks after what we remember as the beginning of WW II on September 1, 1939.

Both the war and the horrible mass killings had started well before the beginning of what Russia remembers as the „great patriotic war“.

As German ambassador to Russia, I acknowledge with clarity and humility: The guilt that Germany incurred is perpetual. We will forever bear the responsibility to remember the horrors our forebears have committed and the pain we have caused. We do not and we will not forget.

Remembering means learning about the past, but it does not stop there. It means speaking up when the lessons of the past are forgotten, distorted or abused.

Let me be clear: Remembrance is not extremist. Memorial, for example, is not extremist. Textbooks for students should be written by historians, not politicians with a task handed to them by a presidential administration.

Justifying Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine by likening it to the Second World war is an insult to the victims of the real Nazi aggression, as well as to the allies who heroically defeated it. Their sacrifice commands us to be truthful in remembering the past.

Forevermore, we must find ways to remember fairly, to pay respect to the victims of our past terrible policy choices and to develop lessons from that past that are conducive to the establishment of a peaceful world order.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today we remember the horrors of war. And we call for peace.

Let us now listen to the wonderful musicians doing exactly that.

Thank you very much!