May 8 - 80th anniversary of the end of the war
Memorial service and discussion with guests from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine
May 8, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Berlin Cathedral is marking the occasion with a special service followed by a discussion. The evening will focus on remembering the struggle of the Eastern European states in particular against the german NS-Regime. Their contribution to the liberation of Germany has received little attention in the collective memory and therefore little appreciation.
The sermon at the memorial service will be given by Pastor Oleksandr Gross from Odessa, Deputy Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine. In the subsequent discussion, which will be moderated by Markus Meckel, Oleksandr Gross will be joined by Jerzy Samiec from Warsaw, the leading bishop of the Evangelical Augsburg Church in Poland, and the Orthodox theologian Natallia Vasilevich from Belarus, who is active in exile in Germany and in the organization “Christian Vision”. Prof. Dr. Peter Steinbach, initiator and long-standing director of the German Resistance Memorial Center, will also take part in the discussion.
Background:
Without Ukraine, without Belarus - as part of the Soviet Union and therefore part of the Red Army - and without Poland, which found its own destiny when it was divided up by the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact between the German Reich and the USSR, Germany's liberation from National Socialism could not have taken place in the way it did. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, all the countries mentioned went their own, very different ways through severe crises. The fact that they and their freedom are once again threatened today by an increasingly dictatorial Russia, which has been waging a terrible war against Ukraine for years, is also the subject of the commemorative evening.
For our neighbors to the east, the Second World War and its consequences are still a deep-seated trauma today and have a major impact on their memories. For too long, Germany concentrated solely on its responsibility towards Russia - and did not take sufficient notice of the suffering of other peoples. It is important for us to hear how this memory is still present in our eastern neighbors today.
Thursday, May 8, 2025 - 6 p.m.
80th anniversary of the liberation from the NS-Regime:
Memorial service and discussion
Sermon: Oleksandr Gross, Deputy Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine (DELKU)
Liturgy: Jerzy Samiec, Senior Bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland and Cathedral Preacher Christiane Münker
Other participants in the discussion: Markus Meckel, Bishop Christian Stäblein, Peter Steinbach, Natallia Vasilovich
Choir: Berlin State and Cathedral Choir
Ensemble: lautten compagney Berlin
Musical direction: Kai-Uwe Jirka
Organ: Cathedral organist Andreas Sieling
You are cordially invited!