BERLIN — Every year Berlin and Frankfurt host major events on or about April 24, to honor the memory of the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide, often flanked by smaller gatherings in other locations. This year members of the Armenian community organized remembrance days over a week-long period from April 19 to 26 and throughout the country, in more than 20 cities. Beginning in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, ceremonies took place inside churches and outside at sites where khachkars have been erected, Halle/Saale, Mainz, Cologne, Bremen, Munich, Stuttgart, Kehl, Neuwied, Hamburg, Nurnberg, Höchstadt/Aisch, Bielefeld Giessen, Würzburg and Mülheim in the Ruhr region.
In Leipzig, on April 20, a new khachkar was inaugurated. The welcoming remarks were delivered by Pastor Bernhard Stief of the Nikolai Church, Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung, the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Germany Victor Yengibaryan and the head of the Armenian Cultural Union of Leipzig Anahit Babayan.
During the event, children from the Armenian community sang Kakavik and Lorik in Armenian with the Propsteikirche St. Trinitatis Leipzig Choir. Further Armenian musical offerings came from Ani Poghosyan on the kanoon, singer Arpi Grigoryan, Tilman Lutwig on the duduk, and Hank Galnkambi on the organ.
After the memorial event, organized by the Armenian Cultural Association of Leipzig, the ceremonial unveiling and consecration of the khachkar took place in front of the Leipzig City Hall, adjacent to the Prop stay Church. The khachkar was consecrated by the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Germany, Bishop Serape Isakhanyan, with the prayers of Father Hakob, as well as the priest of the Propsteikirche St. Trinitatis, Ralph Kochinka, and Stief of the Nikolai Church.
Prayers and commemorations took place in the historic St. Paul’s church in Frankfurt and in the Evangelical Cuisenaire as well as at the Ecumenical Memorial for the Genocide Victims of the Ottoman Empire at the Evangelical Luisenfriedhof Cemetery.
In Berlin, on April 24, Yengibaryan and the Vice President of the German Bundestag (Parliament), Bodo Ramelow, together with members of the embassy staff and of the Armenian community, honored the memory of the genocide victims of 1915. The event, organized by the Armenian embassy, took place near the Armenian khachkar in the court of the St. Hedwigs Cathedral.
