Unleash the Past, Reframe the Future – Does Germany Really Celebrate Victory Day?
Nazi-supporting party AfD argues against commemoration of Germany's WWII surrender on May 8 as a national holiday. - "Right-wing party AFD proposes abolishing May 8 as a national holiday"
Here's the skinny: The far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) ain't feeling the love for the 8th of May being celebrated as a national holiday. Their party leader, Jörg Urban, recently dropped a bombshell in Dresden, slamming the idea of turning Victory Day into a holiday, considering it as a bleak day of unconditional surrender.
Let's see what he's all about: With nearly 7.5 million folks winding up in Allied captivity, and around three million of 'em forced to do hard labor, with about a third of these laborers kicking the bucket – it's no wonder he's got beef. Furthermore, Urban highlights that hundreds of thousands of women endured unspeakable horrors, including being raped during this time.
Chillin' in Berlin, the 8th of May is, amazingly, a public holiday. Urban wants all the victims to be remembered, without a doubt. He's also calling for a halt on war rhetoric, telling us that "Never Again War!" should be our damn lesson from the bloodcurdling Second World War.
The 8th of May, 1945 saw millions of souls under the thumb of National Socialism experience what they considered as liberation, including the brave resisters, persecuted souls, and the freed concentration camp prisoners. However, Urban wants to remember all the war victims in the mix, especially the 12 to 14 million Germans who suffered from displacement and expulsion. Let's not forget, the liberation truly began for the Germans on the 9th of November, 1989, he says.
Now, the AfD crew is all about remembering the suffering of all, without bias – they got all sorts of strings attached to this remembrance thing – but that’s another story for another day.
- AfD
- Jörg Urban
- 8th of May
- Victory Day
- Second World War
- Germany
- Dresden
- Berlin
- Liberation
- War Victims
- Jörg Urban, the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), expressed his disapproval towards celebrating the 8th of May as a national holiday, considering it as a symbol of unconditional surrender.
- Urban, during his speech in Dresden, pointed out the hardships faced by the war victims, including the millions of people who ended up in Allied captivity, the around three million forced laborers who perished, and the hundreds of thousands of women who suffered sexual violence.
- Despite the 8th of May being a public holiday in Berlin, Urban emphasized the importance of remembering all war victims, including the 12 to 14 million Germans who experienced displacement and expulsion.
- The AfD aims to remember the suffering of all war victims without bias, though they have numerous stringent views on remembrance, which are best explored in a separate discussion.
