Natalia Tokareva has been living in Berlin for ten years now. Since then she has been coming regularly on May 9 to the Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten, which is surrounded by two tanks. She is wearing a rather tight red dress, a blazer and a strong black headband. In her right hand she holds a dozen pink roses and a holder with her grandfather’s photo attached to the top. He was one of the Soviet soldiers who fought to liberate Germany from Nazism. In 2004 he died.
Until then, the whole family had lived together in Omsk, Siberia, says Ms. Tokareva. “On May 9 there was always a big table and lots of food. Then we watched the parade in Moscow on TV,” the granddaughter recalls. “That was very important to him.” And now, the war against Ukraine? “Yes, it’s a very difficult situation,” she says. “But you have to keep that apart.” One is history, the other is the present.
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But on this day of remembrance in Berlin it hardly seems possible not to mix the two together. This is already evident from the wreaths that were laid early in the morning in front of the memorial in the Berlin district of Treptow. It is only the closest allies who want to celebrate this day together with Russia. Armenia for example, Uzbekistan or Belarus. Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador, was at the Tiergarten yesterday to commemorate the victory over the Germans.
The day before, Ukrainians were already commemorating the liberation.
(Photo: Christophe Gateau/dpa)
More than 20 events had been registered for Monday, including one entitled “Thanks to the Soviet soldiers for the liberation from fascism”, another entitled “Stop the war! Peace and freedom for Ukraine!”. The security authorities were particularly concerned about the so-called night wolves, a Putin-related rocker group that had announced their presence. But they remained more of an evil spook, only a handful of them were spotted by the police.
Flags, uniforms and military insignia are prohibited
In order to prevent confrontations, Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) sent 1,700 officials onto the streets. In addition, comprehensive regulations for performances around the 15 most important memorials were issued. These include the ban on showing flags, wearing uniforms and wearing the St. George’s ribbon, an originally Russian military badge. There are only exceptions for World War veterans and for embassy events.
The list of bans can be read on a conveyor belt on the back of a police car. Around 500 participants in the “Red Army Memorial Elevator”, the largest demonstration announced that day, trotted behind. They carry pictures of Red Army soldiers who died in World War II and sing Russian songs. Among them the ambiguous classic “Katyusha”, a love song that has the same name as a Russian rocket launcher. One demonstrator has put on a blue workman’s suit and a Red Army cap. So it looks like he’s wearing a uniform.
Again and again the police officers enforce the long list of regulations, collect flags or a small Z, the symbol for the Russian campaign in Ukraine, which a woman has pinned to her lapel. The ban on displaying flags in particular was heavily criticized. Even from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in distant Kyiv. “Berlin made a mistake in banning Ukrainian symbols. It is deeply wrong to equate them with Russian symbols,” wrote Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter. Conversely, supporters of Russia were annoyed that no Soviet flags were allowed to be displayed.
The flag dispute was something like a quintessence of these days of remembrance. Each side exploited the ban for their own purposes. Stefan Evers, general secretary of the opposition Berlin CDU, even announced that he wanted to take legal action against the regulation. But like the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) before, Police President Barbara Slowik also defended the decision. It was about “ensuring a dignified commemoration and avoiding disputes, including verbal ones, at the places mentioned”.
Elena Gaeva, 24, wears the flag below her right eye. It’s painted on like a football fan and only shows the colors blue and white, the colors of the Russian anti-war protests. But because these are also flags, she had to vacate the space in front of the memorial in the Tiergarten. Gaeva, a slim, lively woman, has set up camp across the street. Together with some of her fellow campaigners, she is presenting a photo exhibition on the opposition to Putin in Russia. It is about how the opponents of the regime in Moscow are harassed and imprisoned. In addition, music is played again and again on a small stage and there are interviews on the situation in Russia. “We also want to show our position here,” says Gaeva. “Above all, we want to show that not all Russians are followers of Putin.”