We have something that makes us feel calm, said Jan Rott, who honored veterans in Berlin on Sunday. There are around ten million veterans in Germany. The definition is that one serves in the defense or has been pensioned without losing one's rank. Unlike many other countries, Germany has no tradition of honoring its veterans. With the end of World War II, the country stopped honoring and celebrating war veterans, and veteran associations were long forbidden.
Quiet celebration
In the German capital, a smaller ceremony was held, led by the Bundestag's speaker Julia Klöckner from the conservative CDU. One of those who participated in the manifestation was 24-year-old Jan Rott, who ended up there by chance because he was not aware of the honoring. But I am very pleased that soldiers in Germany receive more support from society, he said to the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel. The question of veterans became relevant for the first time in the 1990s when more German soldiers served abroad and sometimes returned injured and traumatized.
Small protests
In April last year, a nearly unanimous parliament made a decision to introduce a national veteran's day to strengthen the bonds between the defense and society. The then-defense minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) called the day a "delayed sign of recognition and appreciation". In connection with the celebration, smaller protests were held by demonstrators who saw the veteran's day as part of a militarization of society. In front of the defense forces' Bunderswehr's premises in Berlin, demonstrators built a wall and held up signs with messages such as "We do not celebrate your wars".
