Berlin Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) defended German military aid to Ukraine, citing the lessons of the Second World War as a justification. “Putin will not win the war,” said Scholz in a television speech on Sunday evening. Ukraine will survive. “Contribute to this as best you can, today that means ‘never again!'” said Scholz. Therein lies the legacy of May 8th.
The occasion for the Chancellor’s appearance is May 8, the day of liberation from the Nazi regime by Allied troops 77 years ago. In Russia, on the other hand, the victory over Nazi Germany is commemorated a day later, on May 9, with a large military parade through Moscow.
It is feared that Putin will use the national holiday to put on a propaganda show for his war against Ukraine. Or worse, to intensify the aggressive war against the Ukrainians.
“We cannot commemorate the end of the Second World War in Europe without facing the fact that there is war in Europe again,” emphasized Scholz. “Russia unleashed this war.”
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The Chancellor began the speech by commemorating the millions who died in World War II. “Germans committed this crime against humanity,” he said.
It is all the more painful to experience how, 77 years after the end of the Second World War, brute force again breaks the law in the middle of Europe, “how Russia’s army kills men, women and children in Ukraine, reduces cities to rubble and ashes, even refugees attacks,” says Scholz. Russia’s President Putin wants to subjugate Ukraine and destroy its culture and identity.
Four Conditions for Arms Deliveries
“President Putin even equates his barbaric war of aggression with the fight against National Socialism. That distorts history and is infamous,” said Scholz. For Germany, this can only mean: “We defend justice and freedom – on the side of those who are attacked. We support Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor.”
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke at the German Trade Union Confederation of a “day of war”, which is also a “day of hope”. During her visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) saw a big step in the fact that she had been invited to Ukraine “as a representative of the country responsible for the Second World War (…).”
At the same time, the chancellor emphasized that he took the concerns of many Germans seriously, who feared that “peace could also be endangered here,” particularly with regard to the delivery of heavy weapons. That is why Germany will only act in coordination with the alliance partners.
In addition, you get your own defensive ability. Don’t do anything “that harms us and our partners more” than Russia. “And fourthly: We will not make any decision that will turn NATO into a war party. It stays that way,” says Scholz.
That there should be no more world wars – especially not between nuclear powers – is also one of the lessons of May 8th. But the Chancellor also emphasized: “Fear must not paralyze us.”
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When and how the war will end, he cannot say, said Scholz. “There should not be a Russian dictated peace,” stressed the Chancellor. “The Ukrainians will not accept it – and neither will we.”
Before his television speech, Scholz had already held a video conference with the heads of state and government of the G7 countries on Sunday. Germany currently holds the presidency of the G7. This is one of the reasons why Germany currently has a special responsibility internationally.
G7 video conference and visit from Macron
It is certainly no coincidence that Scholz will also receive French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin for the first time on Monday after his re-election. The visit is intended to be a signal that the two most important EU states are resolute and united in opposing Putin’s aggression.
With his second TV appearance since taking office just five months ago – the first time Scholz addressed the people directly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24 – the Chancellor is reacting to criticism of his crisis policy and communication.
Scholz is accused of insufficiently explaining his course on arms deliveries to Ukraine or an energy embargo on Russia. He was too silent and too unclear in his statements, so the accusation. Scholz is also accused of not having traveled to Ukraine since the outbreak of war, unlike other heads of government or opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU).
In particular, Scholz’s hesitant course on the subject of arms deliveries has been criticized. The chancellor is accused of repeatedly giving reasons why the delivery of heavy weapons is allegedly not possible and only acting when the pressure is so great that he has no other choice.
Scholz has been criticized in particular by the Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk, but also internationally and from within his own coalition, for showing too little leadership in this crisis. Scholz, on the other hand, believes that Germany must take a “level-headed” course so as not to provoke Kremlin chief Putin any further.
More: Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister – “A long war plays into Putin’s hands”