Voices from Germany on the anniversary of the liberation

79 years ago, Germany’s war of robbery and annihilation was finally over. The Allied troops had liberated our country and Europe from fascism. For this, we say from the bottom of our hearts: Thank you!

Of the victorious powers, the peoples of the Soviet Union bore the brunt of this liberation, with 27 million deaths. There was no family whose members did not play their part in it as soldiers, partisans, workers in the back country. The suffering as well as the strength of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents remain immeasurable. Nothing and no one should ever be forgotten.

We are deeply moved by the fact that so many people in the Soviet Union and Russia were nevertheless willing to trust Germans and establish good neighbourly relations.

After the German reunification, there was a brief window of opportunity to build a space of peace and cooperation in Europe, from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Instead, NATO kept expanding to Russia’s borders, and Russia is once again to become the enemy of all of us.

This is not only oblivious to history, it is extremely dangerous, as NATO expansion, the dizzying arms race and the war in Ukraine are on the verge of a large, all-out war with the potential to reduce Europe to rubble.

None of this is done in our name!

We demand from the German government: stop arms deliveries to the Ukraine war, diplomatic initiatives to end it, stop demonizing Russia. We don’t want a Germany that is war-capable, it must finally become ready for lasting peace.

Under pressure from our government, the manifold German-Russian partner relations between cities, universities, schools, associations, cultural and many other institutions were put on ice or completely broken off. We want to revive it from below, from the grassroots, according to Bertolt Brecht: „If the peoples themselves first speak, they will quickly be united“.

Peace in Europe cannot be achieved without Russia. We are committed to a European security architecture that takes into account everyone’s security interests into account equally, in which conflicts are resolved peacefully in the sense of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, and where weapons become superfluous. Our planet is too vulnerable, and the development of weapons of mass destruction too dangerous, for another major war to even come within the realm of possibility.

Signatories as of publication: (05.05.2024)

A Michael Aggelidis, dieBasis | Malte Albrecht, Chairman of NatWiss | Dieter Ammer, Friend of Peace | Dr. Mona Aranea, Spokesperson of the Peace Alliance NRW | Prof. Dr. Jörg Arnold, International League for Human Rights | B Dr. Fritz Balke, Berlin | Cornelia Barth, Working Group Peace and Antimilitarism Bremen | PD Dr. Johannes Becker, Peace Researcher | Rolf Becker, Actor | Olaf Beckers, Initiative ‚Mondays in Moers‘ | Norbert Birkwald, VVN-BdA Frankfurt am Main | Peter Blechschmidt, VVN-BdA Chemnitz | Reiner Braun, International Peace Bureau (Peace-Left Initiative) | Raimon Brete, Chemnitz | Prof. Dr. Michael Brie, Philosopher | Heinrich Brücker, Anti-War-Café Berlin | C Lea Campbell | Isabelle Casel, PeaceLab Europe | D Sevim Dagdelen, Member of the German Bundestag | Diether Dehm, musician | Wolfgang Dockhorn, Rot-Fuchs-Förderverein | Brigitte Dornheim, German Communist Party DKP | Hartmut Drewes, retired pastor, Bremen Peace Forum | E Andreas Eichner, Karl-Liebknecht-Kreis Brandenburg | Tino Eisbrenner, Song Poet | Rosa Engel, Peace Alliance Mönchengladbach | F Renate Fest, Peace Forum Düsseldorf | Dieter W. Feuerstein, | Bernd Fischer, sculptor | Peter Franke, Chairman of the German East-West Societies | Peter Franz, Curator of the Jewish Memorial Prager-Haus in Apolda | Gerhard Fuchs-Kittowski, German Peace Council | G Dr. Leo Gabriel, Institute for Intercultural Research and Cooperation, Vienna | Wolfgang Gehrcke, former Member of the German Bundestag (Initiative Frieden-links) | Karl-Heinz Gläser, Magdeburg | Bernd Gnant, Kühlungsborn | Annette Groth, former Member of the German Bundestag | Dr. Joachim Gruber, retired physicist | Andreas Grünwald, Hamburg Forum for International Understanding and Global Disarmament | Joachim Guilliard, Heidelberg Forum against Militarism and War | H Angelika Haas, THE ANTI-ICE AGE COMMITTEE | Klaus-Detlef Haas, Journalist | Gerd Habenicht, Energy Consultant | Jürgen Hagenguth, Duisburg | Prof. Dr. Hajo Funke, Political Scientist | Cella Maria Halafi | Dr. Werner Haltinner, AK Geschi | Kerstin Hanisch, Action Group for Peace Troisdorf | Heike Hänsel, former Member of the German Bundestag (Initiative Frieden-links) | Hubert Heck, Free Left Aachen | Barbara Heller, Bremen Peace Forum | Lühr Henken, Co-Spokesperson of the Federal Committee on Peace Advice | Dr. Günter Hering, Rostock | Rainer Hesse, People’s Correspondent | Irene Himbert, Campaign Stop Air Base Ramstein | Philipp Hoffmann, Workers‘ Music Archive Kassel | Gerd Hommel, former Lieutenant Colonel of the National People’s Army | Andrej Hunko, Member of the German Bundestag | J Ulla Jelpke, former Member of the German Bundestag (Initiative Frieden-links) | Matthias Jochheim, IPPNW Frankfurt am Main | K Kristine Karch, Co-Spokesperson Network ‚No to war – No to NATO‘ (Initiative Frieden-links) | Jutta Kausch-Henken, Spokesperson Peace Coordination Berlin | Metin Kaya, Member of the Hamburg Parliament | Liane Kilinc, Peace Bridge War Victims‘ Aid | Gisela and Helmut Kohlmann | Hartmut König, author and songwriter, Deputy Minister of Culture of the GDR | Hermann Kopp, Marx-Engels Foundation | Ralf Krämer, trade union secretary | Dr. W. Krieger, Philosophy + Mathematics | Peter Krips, Karl-Liebknecht-Kreis Rostock | Karl Krökel, District Master Craftsman Dessau-Roßlau | Prof. Dr. Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, Author | Dr. Dieter Kruse, AK Geschi | Prof. Dr. Karin Kulow, Middle East and Islamic Studies (Peace-Left Initiative) | Günter Küsters, attac Federal Working Group „Globalization and War“ | L Michael Lang, Campaign Stop Air Base Ramstein | Prof. Dr. Anton Latzo, Historian | Dr. Helga Lemme, Citizens‘ Initiative Good Neighbourliness with Russia Leipzig | Gisela Lingenberg, Working Group on Peace of the Berlin VVN-BdA | Dr. Marianne Linke, former Minister of Social Affairs | Sonja and Walter Listl, Munich | Anja Lücke, Harz | Ingeborg and Dr. Dieter Luhn, AK Geschi | Pascal Luig, NatWiss (Initiative Frieden-links) | M Andreas Maluga, GDR Cabinet in Bochum | Henry and Andrea Marek, Peace Alliance Schwerin | Karin Masche, Kommunalpolitikerin Fulda, Partnerstadt von Sergiew Possad | Matthias Marterer, Fulda | Prof. Dr. Roswitha März, mathematician, graduate of Leningrad University | Birgit and Klaus Meier, WasTun? Lower Saxony | Gerhard Mertschenk, Society for Peace and International Solidarity | Anja and Bernd Mewes, Peace Bell Society Berlin | Renate and Jürgen Müller, German Chinese Friendship Association | N Mike Nagler, GlobalE Film Festival | Prof. Dr. John Neelsen, University Lecturer | Dr. Alexander Neu, former Member of the German Bundestag (Initiative Frieden-links) | Frithjof Newiak, Chemnitz | Sonja Newiak, Chemnitz | O Willi van Ooyen, Co-Spokesperson of the Federal Committee for Peace Advice (Initiative Frieden-links) | Lajos Orban, The Indomitable – Left Rally Movement | Kathrin Otte, Network What Is To Be Done? | P Prof. Dr. Norman Paech, expert in international law, former member of the German Bundestag (Initiative Frieden-links) | Dr. Inge Pardon, Berlin | Dr. Artur Pech, Chairman of the Left Party in the Oder-Spree district parliament | Karl Heinz Peil, Peace and Future Workshop Frankfurt am Main (Initiative Frieden-links) | Dr. med. Ingrid Pfanzelt, Physician | Karin and Burkhard Pflug, Karl-Liebknecht-Kreis Sachsen-Anhalt | Gina Pietsch, singer | Ursula and Dr. Rüdiger Preuße | Gerdt Puchta, Karl-Liebknecht-Kreis Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | R Achim Reichardt, Former Ambassador | Christiane Reymann, Publicist (Initiative Frieden-links) | Prof. Dr. Werner Ruf, Political Scientist, Peace Researcher (Peace-Left Initiative) | S Gudrun and Hans Sauer, Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support | Dr. Lidia Shevchenko | Friederike Schlegel, Peace Bridge Association – War Victims‘ Aid | Dr. Gisela Schleife | Torsten Schleip, Leipzig Peace Centre, Cooperation for Peace | Lothar Schlüter, Berlin Friends of the Peoples of Russia | Thomas Schmidt, pensioner | Jochen Scholz, former Lieutenant Colonel of the German Armed Forces | Manfred Schönebeck, Psychological Psychotherapist | Prof. Dr. Wilfried Schreiber, Military Economist | Jürgen Schuh, Spokesman of the VVN-BdA Düsseldorf | Conrad Schuhler, Publicist | Gerd Schulze | Jürgen Schütte, Peace Alliance NRW | Dr. Dr. h.c. Arne Seifert, Ambassador (ret.) | Regina Silbermann, Freethinkers‘ Association Saxony | Peter Sörgel, former Chairman of the Group Works Council | Norbert Staffa, Association of Friends of the Ore Mountains of Russia | Maria Anna Steenken, Computer Scientist | Manfred Steglich, Aufstehen Bremen | Alexei Stolyarov, Video Producer | Tanja Stopper, FriedenundDiplomatie.de | Marina Stroisch, AG German-Russian Friendship in the party DIE LINKE Sachsen | Elisabeth Sukowski-Pfohlmann, | T Waltraud Teige, Communist Platform DIE LINKE | Hannelore Thürfelder, AK Geschi | Bea Trampenau, Managing Director of the Anti-Fascist Meeting Centre Heideruh | Bernhard Trautvetter, Essen Peace Forum (Initiative Frieden-links) | Mathias Treschog, Human Rights and Peace Activist | V Jürgen Vogelsang, Communist Platform in the Left Party | W Roland Wanitschka, Staff Council | Dr. Matthias and Marion Werner, Berlin | Bodo Weser | Martin Winter, Tangermünde | Britta Wollenweber, Editor | Dr. Karl-Heinz Wollner | Z Olaf Zimmer, Working Group Peace and Antimilitarism Bremen

Abbreviations used:

• AG: Working Group
• AK: Working Group
• AK Geschi: AK History of the Youth College „Wilhelm Pieck“
• NatWiss: Natural Science Initiative Responsibility for Peace and Sustainability
• IPPNW: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
• MdB: Member of the Bundestag
• MdL: Member of the Landtag (regional parlament)
• NRW: North Rhine-Westphalia
• VVN-BdA: Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime – League of Anti-Fascists

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