Day of Liberation?
"The end of the Second World War doesn't come around every day. So, you'd think, this 9th of May should be an extraordinary day. But it was a completely ordinary day. The streets were empty. People walked around as if nothing had happened. Only the sky was as blue as rarely seen." (Erich Kästner, Notabene 45, entry from May 9, 1945)
I'm currently reading "Notabene 45," Erich Kästner's diary-like accounts of a year that made world history. May 9, 1945 – a completely ordinary day, he writes. And yet nothing was the same. The Second World War was over. At least in Europe. Germany surrendered unconditionally. In Moscow, the calendar already showed May 9th when the surrender took effect at 12:01 a.m. That's why they still celebrate this date there: Victory Day. In Germany, people usually refer to it as May 8th.
Four decades later, on May 8, 1985, Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker delivered a speech whose clarity and dignity still sets standards today. It was the 40th anniversary of the end of the war, and he said: "May 8 was a day of liberation. [...] It liberated us all from the inhumane system of National Socialist tyranny." A sentence that sparked debates at the time – and resonates to this day. Liberation? Many felt differently. Especially those who were alive at the time.
One Day – Many Realities
How this day was experienced depended on where one was. In Bavaria, where American troops had already marched in for weeks, it had become quiet. The fighting had stopped. People were exhausted, many glad it was over. In Thuringia, the Americans were withdrawing – the Red Army was moving in. People knew that a different kind of occupation was now beginning.
In East Prussia and the Sudetenland, the end of the war meant not liberation for many Germans, but flight, expulsion, and fear. Millions of people lost their homes. Entire cities like Königsberg and Breslau changed their names, languages, and cultures.
In Berlin, ruins lay in ruins. The city was divided—not visibly by walls, but by power. The Soviet soldiers were celebrated as victors—not peacefully everywhere. Many Berliners remembered violence and fear of attacks. In the western sectors, people waited, starved, and hoped.
The liberation of the concentration camps revealed the full extent of German crimes. For the survivors, it was indeed a day of redemption, but for many, this liberation came too late. The images of the emaciated prisoners in Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, and Dachau went around the world, shocking even those who had already heard of the atrocities.
Liberators or occupiers?
For the Allies, May 8th and 9th were a triumph. In London and Paris, bells rang, people danced in the streets. For them, it was a victory over a monstrous regime. The images from the concentration camps had swept away all doubts. In the USA, the day was known as "V-E Day" – Victory in Europe. Roosevelt hadn't lived to see this moment; he had died a few weeks earlier, on April 12th. His successor, Harry S. Truman, announced the victory with the words: "This is a solemn but glorious day."
And in Germany? Emotions oscillated between shame, relief, repression, and grief. Thomas Mann, from American exile, wrote in May 1945: "Germany will only be redeemed through suffering. [...] This day is not a day of triumph, but a day of responsibility." This, too, is true: the responsibility was only just beginning.
For many Germans, May 8th initially meant material misery. Forty percent of the cities were destroyed, the infrastructure lay dilapidated. Millions had fled or been displaced. Hunger and cold dominated everyday life. The "zero hour" was not an hour of new beginnings, but a time of survival and uncertainty.
Changes in the culture of remembrance
The interpretation of May 8th has changed in Germany over the decades. In the early Federal Republic, people spoke of the "collapse," later of the "end of the war." In the GDR, the day was celebrated as the "Day of Liberation from Hitler's Fascism" – state-mandated and ideologically exaggerated. West Germans struggled for a long time with the concept of liberation. It was too closely associated with defeat, loss, and guilt.
It was Weizsäcker's speech that marked a turning point in West German historical consciousness. He said: "There are no definitively liberated peoples." In doing so, he pointed to a twofold truth: liberation is not a one-time act, but an ongoing process. And: freedom always carries within it the seeds of its own endangerment.
After reunification, memory became more complex. The different experiences in East and West, the memories of the displaced persons, the survivors of the Holocaust, the prisoners of war – they all demanded their place in the collective memory. May 8 became a prism through which the complexity of German history becomes visible.
Remembrance with a Question Mark
"Day of Liberation?" – The question in the title remains. Not because the National Socialists shouldn't have been overthrown. But because remembrance is rarely clear. Because many who lived back then felt differently than we think today.
Kästner wrote: "The day was so quiet that one was afraid. As if walking through a cemetery one had created oneself." Perhaps that's a fitting metaphor. May 9th was not a day of jubilation, but of reflection. And perhaps that is precisely the right way to remember: not loud celebration, but quiet questioning.
What does liberation mean? What do we do with it today? Are we capable today of not slipping back into something like that – without realizing it? Have we become more mature and more responsible? Have we achieved the level of independence to avoid times like that in the future?
At a time when war is raging again in Europe, when democratic values are under pressure worldwide, these questions take on new urgency. May 8 not only commemorates the end of a terrible chapter, but also reminds us to remain vigilant. For freedom and democracy cannot be taken for granted; they must be continually won and defended.
The answers to these questions lie not in the past – but in our daily actions. In our willingness to learn from history. In our courage to stand up for humanity. And in the recognition that peace and freedom are not just gifts, but challenges that each generation must master anew.
Sapere aude!
S. Noir
The link to the original German text: https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/o49g7bxBxv
