Germany mourns Covid dead
Germany held a national memorial service on Sunday for its nearly 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, with the president urging the country to put aside deep divisions over Covid restrictions to share the pain of grieving families.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-walter Steinmeier joined an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction, before attending a ceremony later at the capital’s Konzerthaus concert hall.
“Today, as a society, we want to remember those who died a lonely and often agonising death during this dark time,” said Steinmeier.
“I have the impression that we as a society do not make ourselves aware that behind all the numbers there are human fates, people. Their suffering and their deaths have often remained invisible to the public,” he said.
With pandemic curbs still in force restricting the number of people who can attend, the ceremonies were being broadcast live on public television.
As debate raged in Germany over measures put in place by Merkel’s government, including the limitation of social contact to halt contagion, Steinmeier said it was a “bitter truth” that such Covid restrictions had “also brought about suffering”.
Besides the pain of losing a loved one, restrictions in place mean that relatives are often unable to even hold their family members’ hands as they lay dying.
Others have been left grieving on their own, as funerals or memorials are curtailed.
“We have restricted our lives to save lives. That is a conflict where there can be no way out without contradiction,” admitted Steinmeier.
But he also defended the actions, saying that “politicians must make difficult, sometimes tragic decisions to prevent an even greater catastrophe.”