Germany news: Germany holds national day of remembrance

Events are taking place throughout Germany for Volkstrauertag, the people's day of mourning, which honors armed forces personnel and civilians who died in conflicts and victims of violent state oppression. The main commemoration ceremony is being held by the German War Graves Commission at midday.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will deliver a speech at the parliamentary ceremony, acknowledging the significant number of Austrians who died while serving in the German Wehrmacht during World War II following Austria's annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the commission's patron, will also address attendees and lay a wreath. Last year, Steinmeier expanded the remembrance to include people persecuted and killed by the Nazis due to their sexual identity, as well as police officers killed in the line of duty.

Democracy Defense

In remarks to the DPA news agency, Bundestag Speaker Julia Klöckner called on society to actively defend democracy, describing Volkstrauertag as a reminder of tyranny's destructiveness.

Aiwanger's Funeral

Hundreds gathered at Munich's Frauenkirche on Saturday for a funeral Mass and state memorial service for former Bavarian deputy premier Hubert Aiwanger, who died unexpectedly at age 55 on November 4.

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder expressed shock at his former deputy's death, recalling his disbelief when first hearing the news. Bavarian parliament president Ilse Aigner praised Aiwanger as one of his generation's greatest political talents, crediting him with transforming the Free Voters party from a local movement into a governing force.

Microsoft Outage Warning

Experts have warned German companies, schools and government agencies against relying on a single provider for digital services following a major worldwide Microsoft outage that affected Outlook, Teams and Copilot services.

Bitkom president Ralf Wintergerst emphasized the risks of production downtime and competitive disadvantages from single-source dependency. IT security expert Christopher Kunz warned that such reliance exposes German society to both technical failures and potential US government sanctions.