Overview

• Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a keynote address at Neuengamme, urging the defense of a united Europe against autocratic threats.
• Major commemorations are taking place at former concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück, with speeches highlighting democracy and remembrance.
• The German Foreign Office has barred Russian and Belarusian representatives from attending official events, citing concerns over the war in Ukraine.
• Brandenburg’s Landtagspräsidentin Ulrike Liedtke called for the focus of May 8 to be on human liberation and drew parallels to Ukraine’s current fight for freedom.
• Historians and officials warn against historical revisionism, linking it to rising extremism and the fragility of democracy in contemporary times.