Overview
- At the central North Rhine-Westphalia commemoration in Erkelenz, School Minister Dorothee Feller urged that the suffering of war and dictatorship must never be forgotten and described remembrance as a dialogue between generations.
- State parliament president André Kuper said society must endure contradictions and open questions to prepare a path toward ending violence, stressing young people's responsibility for reconciliation.
- Students from Erkelenz prepared the event and presented staged readings of a World War I soldier’s letters to underline the gap between propaganda and lived experience.
- Volksbund NRW chair Thomas Kutschaty called for responsibility for democracy and human rights, noting the commission’s care for about 2,100 war gravesites in the state with more than 330,000 dead.
- In a pastoral reflection, city pastor Harald Heinrich wrote that those who mourn and remember refuse indifference, framing the day as a moral act of accountability.