17 November 2014

Volkstrauertag

Today I participated in the Volkstrauertag ceremony, which is a German form of Rememberance Day. As you can probably appreciate, this has a different focus to typical Commonwealth and US ceremonies.  It was held at the local cemetery which holds two German U-Boat sailors from WW2.
The first was from U-550, sunk off the US coast in May 1944.

The second grave is for an unknown sailor from U-853, sunk close by on 6 May 45 - ironically one day after the cessation of hostilities, which the U-boat likely did not receive.
It was clearly a very emotional day for our German friends, in the spirit of remembering the victims of war and the appreciation of freedoms enjoyed by many since 1945.  I was very pleased to be a part of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkstrauertag
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2 comments:

  1. Stefan (aka. Monty)Monday, 17 November, 2014

    Thanks a lot for sharing your sympathy, Paul.

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  2. Moiterei_1984Tuesday, 18 November, 2014

    Can't agree more. We all should take these occasions be it Rememberance Day or the Volkstrauertag to reflect on the tragedies past and present. Lest we forget.

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