Germany dedicates new fallen soldiers memorial
Germany has inaugurated a new memorial to some 3,100 German soldiers killed in service since 1955, breaking with usual reticence over military pride amid a heated debate about the country's role in Afghanistan.
"We are aware that in the past the death of soldiers has often been used for propaganda, especially in Germany," said President Horst Köhler, alluding to the Nazi past, during a ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday evening.
The monument located in the center of the German defence ministry, near the place where the head of a failed plot against Hitler was executed in 1944, is not there to glorify any war, Köhler said."It is a place for mourning," he said.
The inscription on the monument reads:"In memory of the dead of the Bundeswehr (armed forces). For peace, justice and freedom."
It is the first memorial dedicated to German soldiers and civilian workers killed during combat, attacks or military accidents and exercises, since the founding of the Bundeswehr in 1955...
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"We are aware that in the past the death of soldiers has often been used for propaganda, especially in Germany," said President Horst Köhler, alluding to the Nazi past, during a ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday evening.
The monument located in the center of the German defence ministry, near the place where the head of a failed plot against Hitler was executed in 1944, is not there to glorify any war, Köhler said."It is a place for mourning," he said.
The inscription on the monument reads:"In memory of the dead of the Bundeswehr (armed forces). For peace, justice and freedom."
It is the first memorial dedicated to German soldiers and civilian workers killed during combat, attacks or military accidents and exercises, since the founding of the Bundeswehr in 1955...