Don't see any problem in this, many ordinary soldiers were just following orders and towards the end of the war you had many kids fighting who were also killed, they too were victims of that terrible war and now that German troops are fighting alongside NATO allies I guess they've earned their right to honour their dead, many of whom weren't Nazis. As long as this is a remembrance of the dead rather than a celebration of past military might I don't think too many people will be offended as many Germans also needlessly died due to Hitlers crazy policies.
Honouring the Nazis: Germany plans Veterans' Day for fallen soldiers INCLUDING those who fought in Second World War
* May 22 will honour Germany's living and dead soldiers
* Anger at army being honoured, given bloody history
Germany is breaking one of its major post-war taboos by announcing there will be an annual Veterans' Day to remember fallen soldiers.
The country's defence minister has unleashed a storm of criticism from opposition politicians and pacifists who object to the army being honoured given Germany's bloody past in the 20th century.
German Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière has proposed May 22 as an annual Veterans’ Day to honour former soldiers living and dead.
Taboo: Germany will have an annual Veterans' Day to remember fallen soldiers, including those pictured here who invaded Austria in 1938
This would mean honouring those troops of both world wars who acted as aggressors - and in the case of the Nazis in World War 2 - often as criminals.
'Against the background of our operations and the questions they pose our society, it is time to speak objectively and openly about our veterans' policy,' de Maizière said.
The centre-left Social Democratic Party is against the move. 'I'm sceptical whether there can be a day that really reaches society,' said SPD defence spokesman Rainer Arnold.
'If the defence minister wants to do something for former soldiers, he should get some money and improve their social security, instead of invoking some cheap 'ideal honour',' said Left party defence spokesman Paul Schaefer.
Tributes: German soldiers, such as these ones engaged in the trenches in the First World War, will be honours on the Veterans' Day
The Green Party was equally scathing. Their defence expert Omid Nouripour called the Veterans Day nothing but a 'fig-leaf' for a minister who is 'avoiding his core duties'.
He condemned the Veterans' Day as 'superfluous', unless it was used to open a debate on military operations abroad - and also honoured development workers and diplomats abroad.
Germany's first foreign military mission since World War II took place in 1991 during the second Gulf War.
Since then since 300,000 German soldiers have been in action abroad and more than 100 have been killed.
More than 5million German servicemen fell in WW2, and 2million in the First World War.
There has not been a specific day to honour the military dead ever since the Third Reich fell in 1945.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...NCLUDING-fought-World-Wars.html#ixzz1r6xWm6pW
