Marzabotto, Steinmeier’s speech
Today I stand before you as German Federal President and I only feel pain and shame. I bow before the dead. On behalf of my country today I ask you for forgiveness. The victims and you, the descendants and family members, have the right to memory. The memories, the pain and the horror continue to live in your families. This entire area around Monte Sole is still marked today by deep and visible scars. And I know that the pain is even greater because most crimes have gone unpunished. This is the second fault we Germans have committed. That I can speak here today is only possible because you all have granted reconciliation to us Germans. What a precious gift! You experience this reconciliation very concretely here in Marzabotto and in the neighboring municipalities. And it is particularly important that you pass it on to young people, and for this I thank you. And it is even more important for young people to know the past, as there are only few witnesses left.
Our two countries know that democracy, even after it has been achieved, is never a given. We know that freedom and democracy must be protected and defended, that excessive nationalism leads to war. We must, therefore, move forward on our path of reconciliation and friendship, towards a good future for our children and grandchildren in a strong Europeunited and democratic. They are the children who were able to hope for a better world and fight, every day, for its realization.’ Thus wrote Anna Rosa Nannetti, also a survivor of the massacre, referring to the children of Marzabotto. To whom he dedicated a touching written monument. To the surviving children. This phrase is a mission for us. We must believe in a better world. Fight every day together for its realization!.
Remembering why what happened never comes back – this is Primo Levi’s legacy. This is the responsibility before our history – especially for us Germans. And this responsibility cannot be dismissed. On this day of commemoration I would like to very consciously remind all Germans of this. I would like to remember this very consciously also because we live in a moment in which even in my country we are witnessing a resurgence of nationalist and far-right forces. Forces that intend to weaken or undermine democracy – right in my country. This worries me. But it also gives me determination. Our responsibility today is greater again than many years ago: to commit and fight for the values that underpin our united Europeof our democracies. Europe has a peaceful future only if we Germans never forget this responsibility before history and defend it. Never again, this is the moral imperative that must guide us now and forever in the future! It is at the same time a warning and a mission. As German Federal President I promise you: I will do everything to ensure that we Germans honor this responsibility and the gift of reconciliation. I will fight for this every single day.
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