Germany to celebrate Veterans Day for first time since 1871 unification
Germany will commemorate Veterans Day for the first time since its unification, as Berlin seeks to increase the armed forces’ prestige and public profile in the face of mounting threats from Russia.
On Thursday, MPs in the Bundestag approved a bid to make June 15 a day of honouring all Germans who have worn a military uniform, inspired in part by UK Armed Forces Day.
“It is about making it clear to our soldiers that we treat them with respect, with appreciation, with gratitude for their service and that we are very proud of them,” said Eva Högl, Germany’s federal armed forces commissioner, before the bill was passed.
“It is also about taking a look at wounds and injuries, and remembering that German soldiers also lost their lives in the line of duty,” she added.
Veterans Day, which will not be a bank holiday, is a major step for Germany in terms of its public relationship with the armed forces.
During the Cold War, the communist East held annual military parades for the National People’s Army, but that was not the case in the West owing to Germany’s Second World War shame and the Holocaust.
Germany has vowed to transform itself into a “kriegstüchtig”, or a war-ready nation, amid fears that it could be facing a direct conflict with Russia within as little as five years.
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, has ramped up investment in the German armed forces and is also considering a return to conscription.
It also emerged this week that the Bundeswehr, the German army, is updating its emergency planning documents to include scenarios where it needs to host thousands of US troops on German soil in the event of war with Russia.
In an interview with German newspaper FAZ, Lt Gen André Bodemann said one area of planning was how to feed “thousands” of US soldiers and repair their tanks if they needed to pass through Germany onto the eastern front.
In February, in an interview with The Telegraph, German armed forces chief Gen Carsten Breuer said he had “no doubt” Germany could repel a Russian assault on the eastern flank.
