Overview
- Italian President Sergio Mattarella delivered the main address in the Bundestag, urging European unity and warning against "imitators of dark times."
- For the first time, the official Totengedenken text explicitly included Nazi victims persecuted for their gender or sexual identity and police officers killed in service.
- Bundestag President Julia Klöckner called for an active defense of peace and democracy, while President Frank‑Walter Steinmeier spoke the Totengedenken.
- Senior leaders, including Steinmeier, Klöckner, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and court president Stephan Harbarth, laid wreaths as flags flew at half‑mast nationwide.
- Volksbund chief Wolfgang Schneiderhan cautioned that a €2.5 million federal increase will not close a structural shortfall, citing a backlog of over €20 million and the risk of deteriorating gravesites, as local ceremonies highlighted youth engagement but falling attendance.