Germans' VE Day

From the DW:

"Marking VE Day in Germany becomes a time for reflection near Cologne"

For Germans, VE Day is both a day to remember the victims of fascism and a time to celebrate liberation from fascism. At one time it meant defeat.  Melodious bird songs and shrubby overgrowth now mask what was once a Nazi firing range in a forest outside of Cologne, where 25 soldiers were executed for desertion or "subversion of the Wehrmacht." The six parallel firing ranges, each 400 to 600 meters long, are today cut by a trail only a few minutes walk from a local swimming pool, where children splash away. Yet those who stroll through the Dünnwald forest these days are unaware of its dark history. Between October 1940 to December 1943, 23 men were executed for desertion in Dünnwald. Two more were executed in March and April of 1945, in the waning days of World War II. The Nazis executed nearly 20,000 men accused of treason and desertion during World War II, according to noted historian Fritz Bilz, who collaborates with the National Socialism Documentation Center in Cologne. The museum's friendship association, EL-DE Haus, and the Union of Victims of the Nazi regime - Federation of Anti-fascists, highlight Nazi atrocities.  To mark the end of World War II in Europe, or VE Day, on May 8, the two organizations led members through some of the less well-known crimes of the Nazi regime in the Cologne area. The tour included the Dünnwald firing range, a visit to one of six Jewish cemeteries around Cologne and the site of a mass grave of Soviet forced laborers. Several million eastern Europeans were forced into labor in Nazi Germany during the war, including some 100,000 in Cologne. Many perished. Around the world nations celebrate VE Day as a defeat of Nazi Germany. But in Germany, VE Day is both a day to remember victims of fascism and a moment to celebrate freedom from fascism. It wasn't always that way, Bilz told DW. For years many Germans viewed May 8 as a day of defeat. First there was the generation that experienced and fought in the war, a majority of which supported the Nazis and suffered in the war's immediate aftermath.Then there was a second generation, who did not want to accuse their fathers of crimes, Bilz said. But a third and fourth generation, Bilz noted, has now come to view May 8 broadly as liberation day.

^ For the 50th V-E Day back in 1995 Germany was still considered (at least by the Americans I knew stationed in Germany) as being defeated. Back then I was forced to go to numerous German-American "Friendship" events that praised the Germans and even played their national anthem (which has the same tune, but different words than the Nazi national anthem.) Needless, to say it didn't go well with us children - who were learning about what the Germans did during the Holocaust and also forced to be in Germany because of the war they started and lost. Now for the 71st anniversary of V-E Day it is nice to see that Germany is considered both defeated and liberated at the same time. The Germans that were too young during the war (under 18) and those born since it ended should not be blamed for the horrors of their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. The generations that were involved in the war were defeated while the newer generations were liberated. It's good to see that the distinction is being made and the Germans as a whole aren't all grouped as Nazis. ^

http://www.dw.com/en/marking-ve-day-in-germany-becomes-a-time-for-reflection-near-cologne/a-19243433