Throughout Thuringia, the victims of war and violence were commemorated on the national day of mourning and reconciliation was called for. The suffering in Ukraine was also remembered.
Rudolstadt (dpa/th) – In the context of the Ukraine war, the victims of war and tyranny were remembered in Thuringia on the day of national mourning. In many places, representatives of politics and associations laid flowers and wreaths at the graves and memorials of war dead. Church services were held to commemorate the dead.
State President Birgit Pommer explained that the graves of the war victims – then as now, no matter in which country – testified to violence and suffering. “We are all called upon to restore and maintain peace.”
Representatives of the state parliament, state government and the German War Graves Commission commemorated the dead at the central commemoration ceremony of the Free State on Sunday at the northern cemetery in Rudolstadt. According to a statement, Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) said the war in Ukraine had brought long-forgotten fears back to Germany and Europe. “A war that creates new graves every day.” Even if it seems difficult to imagine at the time of the fighting, at some point the hour of reconciliation will come.
310 victims of the Second World War and the National Socialist dictatorship are buried in the Rudolstadt North Cemetery. The dead buried there were forced laborers from the former Soviet Union, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and other countries. But civilian bomb victims and soldiers also found their final resting place there. Throughout Thuringia, war graves commemorate around 106,000 victims of war and tyranny in the 20th century.
According to the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, around a third of the war graves in the Free State still need to be cleaned up. In addition to preserving the approximately 570 war cemeteries in Thuringia, more must be done for the educational use of these memorials, said the managing director of the state association, Henrik Hug, the German Press Agency.
“With the increasing time between the two world wars, it is all the more important to let the graves speak,” stressed Hug. The fate of the victims and also the historical background to the local events could be made visible with information boards. Such plaques already exist in the cemeteries in Apolda, Bad Salzungen and Erfurt.
However, for the care and maintenance of the war graves as well as for educational training, the funds provided annually by the state would have to be increased, Hug demanded. At least one million euros per year is necessary. The funds made available in Thuringia in the amount of around 600,000 euros per year have not been increased for years.
According to its own statements, the Volksbund is responsible for the preservation of more than two million graves from both world wars at more than 800 war cemeteries in 45 countries worldwide on behalf of the federal government.
