1 day Ago By Beatriz Juez
Eighty years after dictator Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945, while surrounded by Soviet troops, the crimes of National Socialism continue to weigh heavily on Germany. However, more and more Germans want to turn the page on the past. and in Europe.
The year 2025 has been particularly full of acts of historical remembrance in Germany: since the commemoration in January until the 80th anniversary on May 8 of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II in Europe, passing through numerous anniversaries. Eighty years after the Nazi defeat, 55% of Germans agree that the chapter of National Socialism should be closed, according to a recent survey conducted by the Policy Matters institute for the German weekly The percentage of those in favor of turning the page on the Nazi past has increased by two percentage points since 2020. When Germans are asked whether they agree with the statement that "the period of National Socialism is presented in a too one-sided and negative light, and also had its positive aspects," 28% of respondents 2020.
Among voters of the far-right party , 58% agree. "The constant reminder of National Socialism prevents Germans from developing a healthy national consciousness," say 59% of respondents. In 2020, the percentage was 56%, and in 2010, 44% in similar surveys.
Although more and more Germans want to turn the page on the Nazi past, the culture of Holocaust remembrance is still alive in Germany. 79% of respondents agree with the following statement: "It is our duty as Germans to ensure that the history of National Socialism and the Holocaust is not forgotten." The Culture of Holocaust Remembrance In German schools and universities, Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust are discussed in order to raise awareness among young people about this historical period.
Many German students visit Nazi concentration camps, the Holocaust Memorial, or the museum supporting Israel as a government. For example, since Hamas's brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, German authorities have repeatedly emphasized that Israel's security is part of Germany's "reason of state." books, documentaries, museums, events, plaques, monuments to the victims of Nazism, and commemorations on important dates.
The Reich Chancellery and very close to the Holocaust Memorial. Remains of the air-raid shelter where the Führer celebrated his final birthday and spent his final days before taking his own life by bouncing off a cyanide capsule in his head just hours after marrying Eva Braun. Soviet troops.
He was horrified to think he could end up like his ally, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, shot by partisans. His body was hung and displayed in a square in Milan. Teeth confirmed his identity.
Their charred bodies, recovered by the Soviets, were cremated in 1970 and the ashes thrown into a river in Magdeburg, although their less-than-heroic final act has also given rise to conspiracy theories. blew up part of Hitler's bunker in the autumn of 1947. Other parts of the Nazi bunker complex were later discovered, but were demolished, filled with rubble, and sealed again.
here," says history journalist Sven Felix Hellerhoff in his book ..
