On the castle hill at the memorial to the fallen, the people of konigsberg gathered for a memorial service on national mourning day.
"Only those who remember can learn from the past in order to shape a better future", said mayor claus bittenbrunn. He recalled the year 1939, when germany invaded poland and imposed a reign of terror, arbitrariness and violence. Expulsions, plunder, massacres, deportations of forced laborers, and unrestrained material exploitation were present. Poland’s jewish population was herded into ghettos and later almost completely exterminated.
It was a long, extremely painful process until we admitted our own guilt and responsibility, whether individually or as a german nation. Only after the democratic upheavals in poland and the end of the division of germany was it possible to achieve a political reconciliation based on the german-polish border treaty and the neighboring countries treaty. "The fact that we have come so far in reconciliation with our polish neighbors should fill us with great gratitude. Today we live together with them in a closely interwoven partnership in a united europe", according to the head of the city.
In the memorial service, which was musically accompanied by the konigsberg trombone choir under the direction of wolfgang fischer, bittenbrunn also spoke of the importance of the day of national mourning for the present generation: "we need these moments of pause and mourning to keep alive the memory of suffering and death that were brought upon people by war and tyranny." for him, this day is also a day of reminder to reflect on what can be done today for peace, freedom and humanity on earth. This is a rough task in a society that no longer knows war from its own experience.
With the memory of the victims of violence and war, of racial persecutions, of the resistance against tyrannies and terrorism and of those who have become victims through hatred and violence against foreigners and the weak, mayor bittenbrunn did not end his speech without pointing out: "our life is marked by the hope of reconciliation among people and nations, and our responsibility is peace among people at home and in the whole world"."
After a prayer by pastor peter hohlweg, mayor claus bittenbrunn laid a wreath at the memorial together with the representatives of the vdk and the warriors’ association. The flag delegations of the warriors’ association and the soldiers’ comradeship, the konigsberg guard society, the bavarian red cross and the konigsberg gymnastics club accompanied the memorial service.