Berlin, November 15 (Adnkronos) – The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, is in conversation at the Palazzo Bellevue, in Berlin, with the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Furthermore, at 16.00, the two Heads of State will take part in the presentation of the ‘President’ Award for urban cooperation between Italy and Germany’.
Now in its third edition, this award, which has been awarded in 2021 and 2023, was established by Mattarella and Steinmeier in September 2020 after the Covid emergency, to pay tribute to Italian-German cooperation at municipal level and promote twin initiatives and future-oriented projects. In particular, the Award aims to enhance collaboration between Cities in Italy and Germany, especially in the sectors ‘Youth and intergenerational dialogue’, ‘Civic commitment’, ‘Europe and the culture of memory’, ‘Sustainability and social cohesion’. The initiative, financed equally by both Ministries of Foreign Affairs, has a total budget of 200,000 euros, with awards of up to 50,000 euros per project.
But tomorrow, Mattarella will speak before the Bundestag on the occasion of the National Day of Mourning, after paying tribute, together with Steinmeier, at the Federal Republic of Germany’s Central Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny, 80 years after the end of the Second World War. National Mourning Day was introduced in 1919 as a day to commemorate the fallen of the First World War. The first official ceremony took place in 1922 at the Reichstag in Berlin. In the Federal Republic of Germany, this day was reinstated in 1952 as a day of “national mourning”, which also includes commemoration of civilian victims of war. This year, for the first time, people who were persecuted and murdered during Nazism because of their gender or sexual identity will be remembered explicitly. Police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty will also be included.
