JBC News
  • Login
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World

    Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB

    Harvey Weinstein: Court agrees $17m payout for accusers

    Russia Navalny protests: Kremlin hits out at West as it downplays rallies

    Tse Chi Lop: Alleged Asian drug lord arrested in Amsterdam

    Trump impeachment: Senate trial delayed until next month

    Google threatens to withdraw search engine from Australia

    Biden sets to work on reversing Trump policies with executive orders

    Coronavirus: Why South Africa has yet to roll out vaccines

    Kyrgios criticises Djokovic over Australian Open quarantine row

  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More
    • Future
    • Culture
    • Music
5 °c
London
8 ° Fri
4 ° Sat
2 ° Sun
5 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result

Welcome to JBC.com

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
JBC News
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World

    Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB

    Harvey Weinstein: Court agrees $17m payout for accusers

    Russia Navalny protests: Kremlin hits out at West as it downplays rallies

    Tse Chi Lop: Alleged Asian drug lord arrested in Amsterdam

    Trump impeachment: Senate trial delayed until next month

    Google threatens to withdraw search engine from Australia

    Biden sets to work on reversing Trump policies with executive orders

    Coronavirus: Why South Africa has yet to roll out vaccines

    Kyrgios criticises Djokovic over Australian Open quarantine row

  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More
    • Future
    • Culture
    • Music
No Result
View All Result
JBC News
No Result
View All Result
Home World

VE Day: Berlin marks end of WW2 with unprecedented holiday

May 8, 2020
in World
5 min read
316 6
0
351
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Image copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

Friday is a one-off holiday that will only be marked in Berlin

Berliners have been given an unprecedented public holiday on Friday, to mark the end of World War Two but also liberation from Nazi rule.

Not since reunification has a German city acknowledged 8 May as a day of liberation in this way; some Berliners are unaware of its significances.

A street party and several events have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The holiday is one-off and is not being held outside Berlin.

But there are growing calls for a public holiday to be held across Germany.

What does 8 May mean for Germans?

For some, particularly in areas of the old West Germany, 8 May has long been associated with defeat in World War Two. Many families preferred to draw a veil over the period, both those who had suffered persecution as well as those who hadn’t.

In the areas of the old communist East Germany, 8 May was taught as a “Day of Liberation” from the Nazi regime by the victorious Red Army. Post-war Berlin itself was divided into four sectors – the Soviets in the east and the US, French and British in the west.

Image caption

Berlin was a divided city for decades

In the latter years of the West German state, the date was also seen as marking liberation from the Nazi regime.

In 1985 President Richard von Weizsäcker made clear the day should be seen as a day of liberation and not defeat. Ten years later, on the 50th anniversary of liberation, a reunified Berlin was at the centre of a state ceremony.

Nowadays the date is viewed more significantly as the rebirth of democracy.

But the only national public holiday currently marking German history is 3 October, which celebrates the date of reunification in 1990.

Why now?

“It’s the principles of democracy that we want to get across,” explains Moritz van Dülmen, whose Kulturprojekte is behind a number of events.

Image copyright
Kulturprojekte

Image caption

A campaign highlights how voters should not allow democracy to be overthrown: “At the beginning was the vote – a vote and its result”

Although many of the plans for Berlin’s public holiday have been scrapped, including a street party, an open air exhibition and numerous events at museums, some projects will still take place online.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will lay wreaths at Berlin’s memorial for victims of war and tyranny.

Image copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath at the German memorial for victims of war and dictatorship in 2004

“We are also keen to reach a young audience, particularly those with a migrant background, who have little knowledge of German history,” Mr van Dülmen explains.

Remembering history, he argues, is more important than ever in light of recent deadly far-right attacks at a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle and a shisha bar at Hanau near Frankfurt.

Is the idea popular?

Talk to Berliners and many will not see the significance of 8 May as the end of the war, or even the surrender of Nazi Germany. Many only found out this week that Friday was a public holiday.

Hannelore Steer, who grew up in East Germany, sees the holiday as a good idea as she was used to seeing it celebrated many years ago.

  • Fall of Berlin Wall was ‘worst night of my life’
  • ‘Cut the Iron Curtain’: Germany’s 1989 freedom picnic

Weng Yuen believes it would help people remember what had happened. “17 June used to be a public holiday in West Germany to remind us of the uprising in East Germany in 1953. That’s now largely forgotten particularly with a younger generation,” she told the BBC.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionThe punk rocker who took on the East German Stasi

Berliner Tina Michael, who has two teenage sons, says that’s important as the history curriculum has recently been cut in German schools.

Related posts

Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB

January 27, 2021

Harvey Weinstein: Court agrees $17m payout for accusers

January 26, 2021

“As history and geography classes have been merged, a lot of material can’t be covered any more,” she complains.

Friday’s holiday has also been a subject for political debate.

Holocaust survivor Esther Bejarano, 95, wrote an open letter to Mrs Merkel and President Steinmeier calling for 8 May to become a lasting and nationwide public holiday.

She believes it could help Germans appreciate that 8 May 1945 was “a day of liberation and the crushing of the National Socialist regime”. One hundred thousand people have signed a petition supporting the proposal.

Politicians including Katrin Göring-Eckardt from the Greens and Katja Kipping of the left-wing Linke party have backed her proposal. It was Die Linke that lobbied for the day to become a public holiday in Berlin.

Not everyone backs the idea. The far-right AfD party, which is the biggest opposition force in Germany’s Bundestag, is bitterly opposed to the holiday.

  • Just how far to the right is AfD?
  • How far right caused earthquake in German politics

Co-leader Alexander Gauland sees 8 May as an “ambivalent” date, because while it may have meant liberation for some, it also represents the “absolute defeat” of Germany and the “loss of big parts of Germany”.

The day is being widely covered by German media, in an attempt to portray the broad array of experiences that Germans had as the war came to an end.



Source link

Previous Post

Coronavirus bailouts: Which country has the most generous deal?

Next Post

VE Day: Europe marks 75th anniversary while under lockdown

Next Post

VE Day: Europe marks 75th anniversary while under lockdown

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

How the rAInbow AI chatbot is tackling domestic abuse

3 months ago

Patel ‘unreservedly’ apologises over bullying claims

2 months ago

Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig with chip in its brain

5 months ago

Week in pictures: 8-14 August 2020

5 months ago

FOLLOW US

  • 79 Followers
  • 26.5k Followers
  • 79.6k Subscribers

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

  • Business
  • Have your say
  • In Pictures
  • Politics
  • Reel
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top News
  • World

Top Stories

  • FA Cup: Wycombe Wanderers 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur highlights

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • Covid-19: Boris Johnson on quarantine hotels for UK arrivals

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • Russia Navalny protests: Kremlin hits out at West as it downplays rallies

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • Harvey Weinstein: Court agrees $17m payout for accusers

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • Arcadia: Buyers to ‘pick over carcass’ of Topshop owner, says former boss

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88

Features

World

Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB

by admin
January 27, 2021
0

David Solomon is being punished for the bank's involvement in the fraudulent Malaysian investment fund. Source link

Read more

West Bromwich Albion 0-5 Manchester City

January 27, 2021

Student rent: 'We're paying for a service we're not getting'

January 26, 2021

Co-op and Morrisons see queues over payments outage

January 26, 2021

Farmers clash with police in Delhi

January 26, 2021

Recent News

  • Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB
  • West Bromwich Albion 0-5 Manchester City
  • Student rent: 'We're paying for a service we're not getting'
JBC News

Breaking news, sport, TV, radio and a whole lot more.
The JBC informs, educates and entertains - wherever you are, whatever your age.

Follow us on social media:

Category

  • Business
  • Have your say
  • In Pictures
  • Politics
  • Reel
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top News
  • World
  •  Staged stars  DavidTennant and  MichaelSheen as two actors forced to take their West End rehearsals online        Continues 10 45pm on  BBCOne  plus all episodes availble now on  bbciplayer    BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Comedy  BBCComedy  Drama
  • Joe Wicks   thebodycoach  has become  the nation s PE teacher  during lockdwn  keeping families fit during strange times with his daily live streams of  PE with Joe          Listen to his Desert Island Discs episode with  laurenlaverne on  bbcsounds         Via  bbcradio2                          JoeWicks  TheBodyCoach  BBCRadio4  DesertIslandDiscs  DID  LaurenLaverne   BBCSounds  BBC  PEWithJoe
  • Just some of the incredible memories from decades of  Glastonbury sets     what   s been your favourite moment from Worthy Farm   Relive them all with The Glastonbury Experience  June 25th-29th  at bbc co uk glastonbury     wellies optional        Glastonbury2020
  • Now that s an angry bird                    Via  bbcscotnews      Stephen Kennedy                              BBCScotland  Scotland  Scottish  BlueTit  Birds  Nature  AngryBird  FunnyAnimals  Photography  PictureOfTheDay  PicOfTheDay  BBCScotlandPics  BBCScotlandNews  BBCNews  BBC  Bird  BirdsOfInstagram  AngryBirds  Angry  Fluffy  Queensferry  SouthQueensferry  Ornithology  Birdwatcher  BirdLover  Birdwatching  BirdPhotography  BirdwatchersOfInstagram  BlueTits  Fledgling
  •     Ambulance   Streaming Now    BBCiPlayer   Via  bbciplayer    BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  Paramedic  Paramedics  NHS
  •  TheSalisburyPoisonings concludes at 9pm on  bbcone   All episodes streaming now on  bbciplayer      bbc in 37wAgUv   BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Drama  BBCDrama  Salisbury
  • An intricately woven  suspenseful tale of love  murder  magic and revenge set in New Zealand at the height of the 1860s gold rush   The Luminaries  Starts Sunday  9pm  BBC One  with all episodes streaming on  BBCiPlayer immediately afterwards    TheLuminaries  Luminares  BBC  BBCOne  BBCiPlayer
  • Don   t swipe if you   re squeamish - the  phobia challenge  creations on  GlowUp are  in the nicest possible way  disturbing                    Catch  glowupbbc on  bbciplayer                   Via  bbcthree                                            StaceyDooley  MakeUp  MakeUpArtist  MakeUpArtists  MUA  MUAs  GlowUps  MakeUpTips  MakeUpTricks  AmazingMakeIp  MakeUpTutorial  BBCThree  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Phobia  Creepy  Horror  CreepyMakeUp  HorrorMakeUp
  • Really never thought we d see a beautiful picture of a pigeon                       Despite their reputation  pigeons are remarkably smart birds  They form cooperative family units and have the ability to find their way home from hundreds of miles away                       Via  bbcearth        4elementphotos                                   BBCEarth  Bird  Pigeon  BirdsOfInstagram  Ornithology  BeautifulBirds  BirdWatching  Wildlife  WildlifePhotography  NaturePhotography  AmazingAnimals  Nature  NatureLovers  Earth  EarthLovers  PlanetEarth  Pigeons  PigeonsOfInstagram  BBC

Recent News

Goldman Sachs boss takes $10m pay cut for 1MDB

January 27, 2021

West Bromwich Albion 0-5 Manchester City

January 27, 2021
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World
  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More

© 2020 JBC - BBC Clone JOOJ.us.

  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • Travel
  • WorkLife
  • Future
  • World
  • Technology
  • Login

© 2020 JBC - BBC Clone JOOJ.us.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In