Uproar in the Ukrainian community: As in the previous year, Ukrainian symbols will be banned in Berlin on Liberation Day. That’s behind it.
On the day of liberation from National Socialism, no Ukrainian or Russian flags or symbols may be displayed at memorial sites in Treptow, Pankow and Tiergarten in Berlin. The police issued a so-called general decree.
This also applies to symbols that legitimize the Russian war of aggression, such as the “Z”, and to war or march music. The ban applies from May 8 at 6 a.m. to May 9 at 10 p.m. The decree does not apply to the whole of Berlin and only refers to the memorial sites.
The ban in spring 2022 had already caused anger among pro-Ukrainian activist groups. “The Ukrainian flag was (…) put on an equal footing with the Russian flag (…) and the war symbols ‘V’ and ‘Z’,” writes an alliance of pro-Ukrainian organizations.
Ukraine organizations: ban on a “false political sign”
This expressed a “deep ignorance” of those suffering in Ukraine. “War crimes are committed under the Russian flag every day, including murder and torture, systematic rape of women, children and men.” At the same time, the Russian army is pursuing people who openly wear Ukrainian symbols.
The Alliance of Ukrainian Organizations, the Foreigners’ Representative Office of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany, and the Vitsche association wrote that the people were “deeply appalled” at the idea of banning the flag again. This is a “wrong political sign”.
Veterans of the Second World War, diplomats and representatives and delegations of states “who will take part in the commemoration events on behalf of the states directly involved in the liberation of Germany,” writes the Berlin police.
