8th of May: Staying Vigilant and Standing Together
It is little and red. This felt corsage shines on the lapels of jackets, the collars of coats, and can be seen on the scarves of people who have gathered at the Soviet Memorial in Berlin’s Tiergarten. 74 years ago the National Socialist regime surrendered in Germany, and the Second World War ended. The red poppy is a symbol, a sign of remembrance of the people who died during the war. Everyone wears one on this day: the embassy representatives of numerous countries, politicians and the few very elderly survivors.
“Today we remember the past suffering, created by war and human insanity, the fallen soldiers, the innocent civil communities, and the millions of orphaned children in conflict zones,” said Imam Örs in his invocation. Together with Cantor Esther Hirsch and Minister Gregor Hohberg, Örs was invited as a representative of the interreligious peace project: House of One. The remembrance service was organized with the help of Archbishop Heiner Koch, Minister Oleh Polyanko (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), Minister Serhij Dankiv (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and Boris-Baruch ben Izrael haKohen Schapiro (Jewish Community of Berlin).
“We Germans are saddled with a heavy debt,” Minister Hohberg said. “Independent from how hate and violence were sown and will be sown again and again, whether out of religious or ideological reasons, we ask for forgiveness. To forgive but not to forget is the first step towards a reconciled togetherness between people who were once enemies, and the first step towards peace."
Different religions together in prayer: that is a hopeful sign for the future. Or as Osman Örs looked forwards in his prayer: “We make ourselves aware that our present is also filled with suffering, and we carry the responsibility – today more than ever – to stay vigilant and to stand together in humbleness and in appreciation of the diversity of Your creation and of our pluralistic world. It falls to us, to create a better tomorrow and to leave behind a world worth living in for our children.”
The US Ambassador Richard Grenell, Senator of Culture Klaus Lederer, as well as representatives of the German Parliament lay wreaths down, accompanied by the sounds of the National Police Orchestra: “I pray to the power of love.”