Bavaria puts a flag on official buildings: commemoration of escape and expulsion!

Bavaria puts a flag on official buildings: commemoration of escape and expulsion!

On Friday, June 20th, all state buildings in Bavaria will be ceremoniously flagged. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder calls for a sign of remembrance. The occasion is the national “Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Flight and Expulsion” and the Bavarian “Day of Homeland”. In many communities and districts people will also join this campaign and raise flags. Public institutions such as corporations and foundations are also invited to follow this call. [tixio.de](https://www.tixio.de/875783-bayerns-dienstgebaeude- Werden-zum-tag-der-heimat-beflaggt.html) reports on the entire initiative.

Remembrance Day has a special meaning. It commemorates the fate of thousands of people who were expelled from their homeland or had to flee after the Second World War. The German Remembrance Day has been celebrated annually on June 20 since 2015 and coincides with World Refugee Day, an international day established by the United Nations. On this day, the relatives affected worldwide and in particular the German displaced persons are remembered, as can be read in Wikipedia.

A look back and forward

Over the last ten years, the situation of refugees in Germany has changed again and again. The global number of refugees rose from 51.9 million in 2010 to 117.3 million. Within Germany there are around 15 million people who had to suffer from flight and expulsion, many of them from the Second World War. Remembrance Day gives the opportunity not only to think about the past, but also to shed light on the current challenges faced by migrants. Bund-der-Vertriebenen.de emphasizes that flight and expulsion are human issues that affect us all.

In Berlin, the day of remembrance will be celebrated with a memorial hour, which will be opened by Lisa Paus, the Federal Minister for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Her speech will be accompanied by music from scholarship holders from the Kurt Sanderling Academy Foundation of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Personal stories of those affected are also told, which illustrate the relationship between the past and the present.

Remembrance and obligation

The speakers include the President of the Association of Expellees, Dr. Bernd Fabritius, who remembers the Nemmersdorf massacre and the expulsion of the Germans from the Danube region. Stories from individuals like Mohammed Rabbie, a Syrian refugee who came to Germany in 2015, also show the current reality of flight and asylum. The memorial hour underlines the importance of remembrance and raising awareness in society.

With the flagging of the official buildings on June 20th, an important signal is sent throughout Bavaria - both for the memory of the past and for the support of today's refugees. This commitment shows that the issues of flight and expulsion concern us all and that we should come together as a community to meet these challenges in solidarity.