On the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, a shadow has fallen over Berlin—not from the past, but from the present.
This week, the city’s Administrative Court upheld a controversial ban: no Soviet flags, no Red Army songs, no St. George ribbons, no Victory Banners. Not even the old wartime uniforms are welcome. What once symbolized liberation from fascism is now deemed a threat to “public peace.”
In the eyes of Berlin authorities, these symbols—once draped in honor and blood—now echo with political danger, linked too closely to the ongoing war in Ukraine. But to millions of Russians and descendants of Soviet soldiers, this is something far darker: a grotesque rewriting of history.
The Russian embassy in Berlin didn’t mince words. They called the ban discriminatory, degrading, and revisionist. Their statement dripped with outrage, condemning what they see as an assault on human dignity and a calculated attempt to erase the memory of those who paid the ultimate price in the battle against Nazism.
Let’s not forget: 27 million Soviet citizens died in that war.
Yet, as Berlin prepares to mark Victory Day, the city has outlawed the very symbols carried by those who crushed Hitler’s Reich. The Victory Banner—the flag raised over the Reichstag in 1945—is now criminalized. Soviet songs that once rang out in defiance of tyranny have been silenced. And those who dare to remember in uniform risk arrest.
A local group tried to fight the ban, arguing it stomped on their right to peacefully assemble at the Soviet Memorial in Treptow. But the court sided with the state, insisting that in today’s world, red flags may stir more fear than remembrance.
The justification? These symbols might be seen as “supporting the Russian war effort” in Ukraine. But is that enough to bury history beneath the politics of today?
This isn’t the first time. In 2023, both Russian and Soviet flags were barred. By 2024, even the red letters “Z” and “V” were outlawed. But each year, a quiet defiance brews—people still show up. In old uniforms. With forbidden flags. Whispering forbidden songs.
This is no longer just about geopolitics. It’s about what we choose to remember, and what we are told to forget.
