Merkel Calls For Commitment To Democracy On German Unity Day

Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a continued commitment to democracy 31 years after German unification.

Photo Insert: Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel

"Democracy is not just there. We have to work for it together again and again, every day," the conservative politician said at the ceremony marking the 31st Day of German Unity in the central city of Halle on Sunday, Wilhelm Pischke, Petra Buch, and Verena Schmitt-Roschmann reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Sometimes, she feared, democratic achievements were being treated too lightly. These days, she said, we are seeing more and more attacks on such noble values as freedom of the press. We are witnessing a public that is stirring up resentment and hatred with lies and disinformation, she noted.

"Democracy is under attack," Merkel said. Therefore, nothing less than social cohesion is being put to the test. The Chancellor also referred to attacks on people who work for the common good, such as firefighters and local politicians.

"The verbal brutalization and radicalization that can be experienced there must not only be answered by those who fall victim to it, but must be rejected by everyone," she said, adding that all too quickly verbal attacks lead to violence.

Merkel recalled the courageous efforts of many people in the former East Germany during the peaceful revolution of 1989-90, saying that one should never forget that things could have turned out differently.

She also paid tribute to the democracy movements in Eastern Europe and the support of Western partners on the path to German unification. The German Unity Day celebrations began earlier on Sunday with a joint religious service in Halle that included Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

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