Today, 75 years after the unconditional German surrender, Berlin attempts to stand still for the day to commemorate this historic date with an extraordinary public holiday.

It has been the subject of our discussions at WagArb and for every team member individually, over the past weeks and days. We wish to share with you Anne’s story. It also connects to Hegelplatz and to the 30th anniversary of the German reunification this year:

„My connection to this date can only be made through my grandad, who was forced to flee from East Prussia to Berlin via the Baltic Sea in early 1945 when his hometown was under attack.

In Berlin, he took up an apprenticeship, caring for his sister and mother. The end of the war to him should have meant that things would start to slowly normalize.

However, it would be a matter of years still until his father would return from the war and find his family again.

My grandad was then stuck in East Berlin (and met my grandma while working for Mitropa, right next door to our office at Hegelplatz!).

To this date, he often actually uses the phrase “after the war” to mean “after the fall of the wall” – because to him it felt like the war did not end in 1945, but only truly ended when Germany was reunited another 45 years later.”