Berliner on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war: “It pains me very much that we cannot welcome Russians here.”

Thoughtful tones at the World War II commemoration in Tempelhof: "It pains me deeply that we were unable to welcome any representatives of the Soviet Union or Russia here." This was said by Joachim Dillinger, chairman of the house community of the house at Schulenburgring 2 in Tempelhof on Friday morning.

By not inviting Russian representatives, the organizers were following a recommendation from the Senate Chancellery. The Senate Chancellery had updated its invitation policy for the World War II commemoration in response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This was intended to mitigate potential conflicts over legitimate commemoration.

To avoid excluding Russia – and Belarus – from the event appearing too one-sided and confrontational, the Senate Chancellery is not inviting any official representatives of other states to the events during the May 8th Remembrance Week. A Berlin approach, if you will.

But what should happen if undesirable individuals still show up at events that are usually freely accessible? "The Senate expects that official representatives of Russia and Belarus will not participate in any commemorative events to which they have not been invited. We assume that official representatives of other states will respect the Senate's decision and therefore the question of house rules will not arise," the statement reads.

Berliner does not want representatives of other states at the war commemoration

At Tempelhof on Friday, no participant identified themselves as an official representative of another state. Historically speaking, a bilateral commemoration would have been appropriate: one between German and Russian representatives, since Russia, after all, sees itself as the successor state of the Soviet Union .

For a few weeks, the Soviet military leadership housed its Berlin command center in a mezzanine apartment of the building near the former Tempelhof Airport. On May 2, 1945, Wehrmacht representatives signed the surrender order for the troops fighting in Berlin there . Six days later, the entire German Reich surrendered.

80 years since the end of the war: In Berlin the war ended six days earlier

In addition to Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), his predecessor Michael Müller also participated in the memorial ceremony and wreath-laying ceremony on Friday. The family of the future SPD politician moved into the house when Müller was ten years old.

Around this time, the idea arose to research and honor the history of the historic site and the event that occurred 80 years ago. The anniversary is now regularly commemorated, often with Soviet or Russian participation in the past. Soviet representatives and contemporary witnesses have repeatedly visited the house in Tempelhof, and members of the house community have made return visits to Moscow.

House community spokesman Dillinger concluded his speech with the words: "We hope that times will soon come in which this friendship can develop again." In the final days of the war, a total of around 173,000 soldiers on the German and Soviet sides fell in the Battle of Berlin between April 16 and May 2, and a further 480,000 soldiers were wounded.