The Berlin police and the Higher Administrative Court have not only banned the Russian flag for May 9, but also the Soviet one. For Russians and Germans, the latter is the ultimate symbol of victory over Hitlerite fascism. Who could be bothered by this symbol? The logic is inexorable.
By Anton Gentzen
Nothing symbolizes mankind’s victory over Hitlerite fascism quite like the Soviet flag that flew over the Reichstag in May 1945 and later over the Brandenburg Gate. She, exactly she, meant Bertolt Brecht when he wrote in his “Song of the Future”:
“As we went east,
Ah, defeated by our Lord,
who wooed us against miracles,
Got the ones with tank and wagon
Beat us in the Caucasus.
And those who didn’t die starved.
And already there are new masters
That drag us into new wars.
But one day it won’t be like that anymore
And at an end are the thousand years of trouble.
Out of misery!
Above the granary lifts high
A wonderful flag, it’s red.”
In the Berlin of the year 2023 is the red flag forbidden. Ironically, on the day that it symbolizes: the day of the victory over Hitlerite fascism, the day of the liberation of Europe from madness, war and mass murder. It itself is banned, its offshoot, the Soviet state flag, is banned, the banner of victory is banned. The latter a replica of the division flag that was hoisted on the Reichstag at the end of April 1945 and thus stands directly for the destruction of Hitler’s Germany and for nothing else.
The Berlin police ordered the ban. It was confirmed by the 1st Senate of the Higher Administrative Court in Berlin. You should find out the names and memorize them well, as well as the name of the one courageous judge at the Berlin administrative court of first instance who opposed the new German reason of state. The raison d’etat, which, of all things, has placed itself under the leadership of the Social Democrats in the most unfortunate of German traditions. Hopefully the day will come when individuals will also be held accountable for the unprecedented humiliation of the best anti-fascist sentiments, the memory of the fallen who fought and died under the Soviet flag for freedom and human life, for perversion of justice and arbitrariness. Nothing should be forgotten on the day and no judge’s privilege should apply.
The surprising, brave one decision of the first instance, which temporarily suspended the outrageous ban on the symbols of anti-fascism, recognized quite correctly: It is not the task of police law to educate the citizen to a “correct” attitude or even just to evaluate it. In a free-democratic order, the citizen has the inviolable right to express his opinion and to demonstrate his convictions. This is (also) done by carrying posters, flags, symbols and singing songs. All of this is legitimate and protected by Article 5 of the Basic Law.
It is the task of police law to ward off direct threats to the law, to the life and limb of those who are in the right. For example, protecting those who celebrate peacefully and peacefully express their sentiments from assault, provocation and violence. But who is the troublemaker in this sense? Those who fell and ultimately won with Soviet flags under which the liberators fought, demonstrating their solidarity with the fallen and the great victory, or those who with flags of a country that explicitly and against all reason, committed itself to the tradition of Hitler’s collaborators, get in the way of those who commemorate, provoke and accost them? Ukrainian flags, i.e. flags of that state in the tradition of Bandera and Shukhevych, are, it should be remembered, permitted.
Yes, it is indeed so: Today’s Ukrainian “patriots” and their German followers rub themselves against the Soviet flag, Soviet medals, Russian war songs, every sign of anti-fascism and anti-Hitlerism. Not just since February 24, 2022, by the way. The red flag (with or without the Soviet insignia) has been banned in Ukraine since 2014, and for all these years Ukrainian nationalists and Maidan supporters bullied and attacked veterans and other commemorators in military cemeteries in Kiev and elsewhere in the country on May 9 at. The Soviet symbols remind the Ukrainian Nazis that their heroes, the aforementioned Bandera and Shukhevych, all the other collaborators and Jew-murderers from the ranks of Ukrainian nationalists lost that war.
But what are these Bandera fans and the German fans of Adolf Hitler doing on May 8 and 9 at Soviet memorial sites, in the cemeteries of Soviet soldiers? What else do they want there besides provoking? It’s not their day, it’s not their commemoration, it’s not their celebration. Police law does not have to protect them, but from them. Don’t get confused: Ukrainians who actually want to celebrate May 8th and 9th are in the majority. THOSE Ukrainians don’t mind Soviet symbols either. On the contrary: the Berlin ban also hits her in the heart.
The Berlin Higher Administrative Court writes in its reasoning that Russian and Soviet flags are an expression of an increased willingness to use violence. That’s a lie. Anyone who has ever attended the commemoration on May 8th or 9th, whether in Treptower Park or elsewhere, knows that. The mood is relaxed and peaceful. Anyone who comes with flowers and good intentions is welcome and a brother in spirit. There were never any clashes or violence on these occasions. At least not as long as Ukrainian nationalist provocateurs stayed outside.
The Berlin police and the Berlin Higher Administrative Court unintentionally confirmed what Russia is fighting against in Ukraine: against a state that is bothered by the victory over Hitlerite fascism and the symbols of this victory. And Germany chose its side in this conflict as if 1945 had never happened. Germany protects the feelings of WWII losers who might be hurt by an openly carried Soviet flag.
And so everything that justifies the ban is far-fetched. It is designed to cover up the true motives. Who can be bothered by the symbols of the Soviet victory over Hitlerite fascism? Logic is merciless: only the one who regrets that victory. Since deplorable in the Berlin police and the Berlin OVG nested. A bad sign for the future of Germany. A bad sign of the times.
more on the subject – When fascism behaves as anti-fascism
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On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would launch a special military operation in Ukraine together with the armed forces of the Donbass republics to protect the population there. The goals are to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Ukraine speaks of a war of aggression. On the same day, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy declared a state of war across the country.
The West condemned the attack, reacted with new deliveries of weapons, promised help with reconstruction and imposed sanctions on Russia.
Scores of soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides of the conflict. Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of various war crimes. Thousands of Ukrainians have now fled their homeland.
