Can Ukrainian and Russian flags be displayed around the Soviet memorials in the German capital on "Liberation Day" on 8 May? The question had led to a political and legal dispute in recent days, because the Berlin police wanted to ban the flags of Ukraine and Russia from public memory, as they did last year. The Berlin Administrative Court, however, decided otherwise, allowing the flags to be shown. The police had feared that the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine would lead to clashes between pro-Ukrainian demonstrators and sympathizers of the Russian regime. In the capital, however, it remained quiet on Monday until the early evening.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

This probably also had to do with the fact that the Ukrainian embassy refrained from laying a wreath at the Soviet memorial on the street of June 17 this year. There, police forces secured the memorial. At noon, there were only two wreaths: one from the radical left-wing newspaper "Junge Welt", another from the district mayor of Spandau. Opposite the Russian embassy on the street Unter den Linden, a lonely Ukrainian flag flew. Instead, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksiy Makeyev laid flowers at the Neue Wache Unter den Linden, the central memorial to the victims of wars and tyranny in Berlin.

Makeyev had previously announced that this year they were "deliberately refraining from laying wreaths and flowers at Soviet memorials in Germany." Last year, Makeyev's predecessor Andriy Melnyk had done so, and there had been riots and shouts of pro-Russian demonstrators such as "Melnyk out!" On Monday, the website of the Embassy of Ukraine said: "The Russian Federation appropriated the victory over Nazism through propaganda and continues to manipulate it to this day. We emphasize that no country can claim an exclusive role in the victory over Nazism."

Legal dispute until the afternoon

The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner (CDU), laid flowers at the Neue Wache together with Ambassador Makeyev. Wegner resolutely sided with Ukraine. Putin's invasion has shaken the European peace order to its core, he wrote in a statement. "Never again must violence prevail against freedom. Ukraine must win this war," Wegner continued. It was therefore a "special honour" for him to commemorate the victims of the Second World War together with Makeyev.

Until Monday afternoon, there were legal disputes over the commemoration. As in the previous year, the Berlin police had initially banned the display of Ukrainian and Russian flags around the Soviet memorials for May 8 and 9. Russia's war against Ukraine must "not break out beyond democratic discourse into conflicts and disputes," she said, explaining the ban.

The Ukrainian association "Vitsche" then filed a complaint with the Administrative Court of Berlin on the grounds that the flags of Ukraine should not be equated with those of the aggressor. Makeyev had also called on the authorities to reverse the decision. The administrative court lifted the ban on Ukrainian flags, but the police did not file an appeal against it. In a separate decision, the Administrative Court also lifted the ban on Russian and Soviet flags. In this case, the police lodged a complaint with the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin. The court upheld the complaint on Monday: Russian and Soviet flags may not be displayed on Tuesday.

Because the nightly signing of the surrender document in Berlin fell on May 9 according to Moscow time, "Victory Day" is celebrated in Russia on this date and not on May 8. On this occasion, as in previous years, the rocker group "Night Wolves" wants to travel to Berlin on Tuesday, whose members support Putin and glorify the Soviet dictator Stalin. This year, it was a group of 50 people, the Brandenburg police said on Monday. The group wanted to visit the Sachsenhausen Memorial in the afternoon. The police said they wanted to prevent "any misuse of the memory for propaganda purposes".