Speech at the wreath-laying ceremony on 5 March 2022

Dear Members of the German Bundestag, the Saxon State Parliament and the Chemnitz City Council,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear people of Chemnitz,

5 March 1945, a Monday: after almost 600 tonnes of bombs had already fallen on Chemnitz in the morning, a soft, white layer of snow covered the streets in the evening. But the calm mood is deceptive. 77 years later, we are talking about the worst night in the city's recent history.

That night, 2,100 people died in the flames and rubble. They were killed by falling debris, hit by the bombs. They suffocated or burned to death.

Every year on Chemnitz Peace Day, we, the city, invite contemporary witnesses of that night. Just yesterday again. These encounters, the conversations and personal meetings always touch me deeply. They keep the memories alive and allow me to share in the suffering of the people at that time.

I immerse myself in their experiences with them, share in their suffering, walk with them and their families through bombed-out Chemnitz. Standing on the mountains of rubble and ashes, desperately searching for survivors. Hear the cries of the injured and wounded. Everything was destroyed. Destruction everywhere, rubble. The misery and fear, but also the luck of having survived, were close together.

The witnesses of that night, the survivors, have an incredible aura for me in their presence, because they had to experience the horror of that night, which was caused by the terror of National Socialism, first-hand. Their stories are so vivid, exciting and yet so cruel and disturbing.

We will be able to experience this after my speech when two contemporary witnesses give their accounts.

[Salutation],

5 March is a day of remembrance and reflection for all of us in Chemnitz. And that is how it should and must remain.

We, those of us alive today, bear no personal guilt for the genocide that originated in Germany almost eight decades ago.

But we bear a great responsibility for ensuring that what happened remains unforgotten. Even if most of us are not contemporary witnesses, it is our duty to listen to those who had to experience it back then. To listen to them and thus keep their memories alive.

We have a great responsibility to ensure that the truths of those times are passed on from generation to generation.

And we must not allow the memory of the German victims of the Second World War to be misused.

[Salutation],

It was hoped that people would learn from this history. The younger generation can only imagine how lucky it is to live in a country where there has been no war for 77 years. Where they can sleep in peace at night, where they don't have to look for something to eat, where they don't have to look up at the sky in fear, where they don't have to worry about their loved ones, where they can feel safe.

The images that have reached us from Ukraine over the past few days are all the more shocking. War and fear reign again in Europe. No one can really comprehend that we have to witness a war on European soil in the 21st century.

Our sympathy and solidarity go out to the people of Ukraine. Just a few weeks ago, I met the Mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, at Chemnitz Town Hall. We talked about Ukrainian doctors who come to Chemnitz and undergo further training. We talked about the local transport plan and thought about student exchanges between the two cities. None of that matters any more.

Because now Ivan Fedorov and the citizens of his city are fighting for their country, their city and my life. He is just one of the many faces of this war. But he and his citizens are particularly close to me because of the personal meeting. Absolutely unimaginable.

Last Thursday, Vladimir Putin had the whole of Ukraine attacked. His tanks surrounded the cities, this warmonger fired rockets at blocks of flats, he let the homes of countless people go up in smoke. He doesn't seem to care about the lives of innocent civilians.

Families are separated, children have to say goodbye to their fathers, wives to their husbands.

They all stand before the ruins of their existence. The scars of the survivors remain for a lifetime. Every victim is one too many.

[Salutation],

We must not forget the events around 1945 if we are not to become indifferent to warlike events. No matter where in the world people are fighting or shooting against each other. It is always the civilian population that has to endure the suffering, especially the children, because the experiences burn themselves much deeper into their minds. That is why we must never forget the war. We have to tell people about it again and again.

It is in all our hands what our world will look like in the future.

In view of the global political situation, this year's Peace Day is a special day. Tonight, Chemnitz must send out a signal of peace. A signal that peace can never be taken for granted.