Ditching the Holiday: The 8th of May - A Day of Remembrance or No Big Deal According to AfD
Commemorating May 8th as a public holiday is unwarranted, according to the Alternative for Germany (AfD). - "AFD Proposes Abolishing Public Observance on May 8"
Let's talk about the 8th of May, shall we? Jörg Urban, the AfD party leader in Saxony, thinks it's high time we stopped treating this day as a holiday. He threw this idea out there in Dresden, stating that it's also a day of unconditional surrender. A stark reminder that 7.5 million people fell into Allied captivity, with three million forced into labor, and a whopping third of them never making it out alive. Not to mention the staggering number of women who were brutally raped.
Urban's call to silence the war chatter
The 8th of May is a day of somber reflection in some states, like Saxony, and a public holiday in Berlin. But Urban believed that every single victim of conflict should be honored, not just those who fell before the Nazis. "Never war again! That's the lesson we should carry from the traumatic Second World War," he said.
The 8th of May, 1945, was a day of liberation for millions who suffered under Nazism. Urban pointed out the courageous dissidents, all politically oppressed individuals, and the liberated concentration camp prisoners. The Hitler regime, with its barbaric methods, claimed the lives of millions.
AfD wants to remember all war casualties
Urban argued that we should remember all the hardships endured by 12 to 14 million Germans who faced displacement. "We should recall this suffering today and mourn every victim, no exceptions. Germany truly experienced its freedom on the 9th of November, 1989," he asserted.
(Note: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been vocal in wanting to end what they call Germany's culture of penitence. Some German citizens want to move past the Nazi past. While there's no specific mention of Jörg Urban's stance on this issue, the AfD's general view is to shift the focus away from defeat and guilt associated with World War II, favoring a more optimistic or forward-looking approach to national identity. Their stance on rememberancing all war victims is not explicitly outlined in available information, but their opposition to making the 8th of May a holiday suggests a critique of how Germany's past is commemorated.))
- Jörg Urban, the AfD party leader in Saxony, proposes ending the 8th of May holiday, viewing it as a day of unconditional surrender that serves as a stark reminder of the 7.5 million people who fell into Allied captivity, including three million forced into labor, many of whom did not survive.
- Urban believes that every victim of conflict should be honored, not just those who fell before the Nazis, and advocates for a shift in focus to remember all the hardships endured by 12 to 14 million Germans who faced displacement.
- Urban argues that we should remember all the victims of war, including those political dissidents, oppressed individuals, and concentration camp prisoners who were liberated on the 8th of May, 1945.
- In the context of politics and policy-and-legislation, the AfD party, led by Urban, seeks to shift the country's commemoration of war victims away from a culture of penitence and toward a more optimistic or forward-looking approach to national identity, with the 8th of May holiday as one potential point of change.
