National Veterans Day
Sunday, 15 June 2025 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische UnionCategory/Kategorie: General Reading Time: 3 minutes National Veterans Day on June 15 is a day of remembrance in Germany. Starting in 2025, the day will be held annually to honor the commitment and service of active and former soldiers—i.e., veterans—of the Bundeswehr. Germany and the Bundeswehr will celebrate their first National Veterans Day on June 15, 2025, with a celebration at the Reichstag in Berlin and events nationwide.
In November 2018, Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen instructed the development of proposals for further commemorating veterans. The German veterans’ movement also worked toward this goal. In September 2023, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group submitted a motion to the 20th German Bundestag for a Veterans Day on November 12, the founding day of the Bundeswehr. It was referred to the Bundestag’s Defense Committee. The Association of German Bundeswehr Reservists opposed the date and wanted a link to the Invictus Games held each September.
In February 2024, the first National Veterans’ Congress took place at the initiative of the German Bundeswehr Association. At this event, representatives of the German veterans’ movement and federal politicians from the SPD, CDU/CSU, Alliance 90/The Greens, and FDP parliamentary groups agreed on four criteria for a National Veterans’ Day: creating incentives for social activities, avoiding a day “by the Bundeswehr for the Bundeswehr,” involving the federal, state, and local governments, and gradually expanding the event nationwide. The patron of the Veterans’ Congress was Bundestag President Bärbel Bas.
In June 2024, at the invitation of the parliamentary groups of SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens, FDP, and CDU/CSU, a reception was held in the Bundestag in Berlin, as well as a ceremony for National Veterans Day in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament in Schwerin. Events were held at several locations in Germany on June 15, 2024. The day of remembrance is to be observed nationwide from 2025 onwards; a major event is also to be held in Berlin on the weekend before or after June 15.
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