“The German people owe much to the Soviet Union, despite the shameful war against your people. I am very sad that the Russian and Soviet peoples lost so many people in the war against Nazi Germany. I am also very disappointed that modern Germany shows Russia so little respect and gratitude. But many people, especially in East Germany, have not forgotten what the Soviet Union did for us, and they still keep the love of your country and your people in their hearts, ”Berlin resident Michael Haugk wrote in a letter to Boris Shaposhnikov.
He also expressed hope that young people in Russia and Germany will be able now and in the future to find common ground and strength to maintain peace.
At the end of the letter, Haugk wished Shaposhnikov health and all the best.
Friedrich Hoppe in a letter to veteran Spartak Sychev said that, as a German citizen, he can only ask for forgiveness from those countries that Germany attacked.
“I am 71 years old, and I still remember very well the consequences of the war. I remember the bombed houses, an injured father and an aunt whose husband went missing. Unfortunately, the suffering of the peoples attacked by Germany was supplanted. About what we did in relation to the Soviet Union, I learned much later. Since I do not want to live under the Nazi dictatorship, I thank you, your comrades and the peoples of the former Soviet Union for liberation from it, ”Hoppe wrote.
Spartak Sychev also sent a letter to Lothar Hübner from Berlin.
“I am very pleased with my family that your affairs are going well, despite the inhuman suffering you have experienced. We wish you health, longevity and joy among your family. May such a war never happen again, ”the letter says.
Hübner noted that the 75th anniversary of Victory Day would soon come.
“I constantly tell my eight-year-old grandson how terrible a war can be and what terrible sorrows the Second World brought to Russia (the Soviet Union), Germany and other countries. Fortunately, I did not have to live during the war. I only know about those events from films. May it continue to be so, ”he wrote.
Hübner added that his family would lay flowers at the cemetery of the murdered Soviet soldiers in the Wünsdorf district of Zossen and honor the memory of the fallen.
“Let it be a gesture of the fact that we never want to fight with Russia,” he said.
The project #Post-Victory contains the stories of those who survived the siege of Leningrad, signed on the walls of the Reichstag, who hid Soviet soldiers escaping from concentration camps.
With the help of the project #Post-Victory, anyone can write letters to veterans, their stories of wars and victories will be told over the next months.
Letters sent to the editorial office of the channel will be handed over to veterans.