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rehe British heir to the throne, Prince Charles, has conjured up the common future of the British and the Germans. Despite pandemic-related restrictions, he participated in the commemoration ceremonies of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge on Remembrance Day in Berlin on Sunday and, alongside Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, remembered the victims of the war and the tyranny.
In the 75th year after the end of World War II, Prince Charles extensively emphasized the ties between Germany and the United Kingdom and openly addressed the British decision to “choose a future outside the European Union.” In his speech, alternately in German and English, he described a common future for both nations, which together could be “an indispensable force for the good of the world.”
Remembering Steinmeier’s visit to London
Charles named the corona pandemic, but also climate change, as current global challenges and stated: “We are so involved in the future of the other country that our national interests, even if they may be different, will always be intertwined. “
Prince Charles made explicit reference to the fact that Federal President Steinmeier, as representative of Germany, had been invited for the first time two years ago to participate in the British commemoration of Remembrance Day, a sign of solidarity on the occasion of the centenary of the end of the First World War. At the ceremony at the Fallen Memorial in London, which took place without speeches, Steinmeier had added the message to his wreath that he was grateful for the reconciliation and hopeful for a future in peace and friendship.
Charles said the horrors of the past cannot simply be dismissed as events from another age or burdens to be borne by others. Rather, there is a “solemn and common commitment” to learn lessons from her and renew them over and over again.
Steinmeier praised the presence of the British heir to the throne, who also participated in the wreath-laying ceremony at Neue Wache, the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny, as an “extraordinary gesture of reconciliation and solidarity in extraordinary times. “. The Germans and the British have “the firm intention of maintaining and strengthening the good neighborhood and close cooperation between the UK and Germany in the future.”
Red poppies and forget-me-nots
The Federal President delivered the traditional commemoration of the dead in the ceremony in the Reichstag building, which always begins with the memory of “the victims of violence and war” and added to the line that “we must also remember the victims of terrorism and extremism, anti-Semitism and racism. In our country”.
The chairman of the Volksbund, former Bundeswehr inspector general Wolfgang Schneiderhan, praised the deep German-British bond. It gave the commemoration in the current challenge of the corona pandemic “a very special depth.” Young and old face experiences together that they never thought they would have to live. The Volksbund demonstrated the common in remembrance with another gesture: the British commemorative symbol of the fallen, the red poppy flower, added blue forget-me-not flowers.