German leaders attend memorial service for victims of July floods

One and a half months after flooding hit Germany, the victims were mourned at a remembrance service held in Aachen Cathedral that was attended by families of the dead, survivors and German leaders.

Aachen, Germany (dpa) – An ecumenical memorial service presided over by the heads of Germany’s Catholic and Protestant churches was followed by an address by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who took the opportunity to call for determined action to be taken against climate change.

Germany must prepare itself to be harder and more regularly hit by extreme weather in the future, he said, adding “we must also take comprehensive measures to better protect ourselves.”

People in the areas devastated by the floods would still need assistance and support “when the television cameras have been packed up and other news has long since been dominating the headlines,” Steinmeier said, pledging to those present that “we, the whole country, stand by your side.”

Among the 180 attendees of the service at one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe were Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rhineland-Palatinate State Premier Malu Dreyer, North Rhine Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet and Bundestag President Wolfgang Schaeuble.

However, the majority of those present were members of the public impacted by the catastrophe, including those who were injured or lost their home, those who lost loved ones, volunteers in the clean up effort and emergency service workers.

More than 180 people lost their lives in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine Westphalia as a result of the flash floods that occurred overnight on July 15 after days of heavy rain. Four people from the Ahr valley remain unaccounted for.

When the leader of the Protestant Church in Germany, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm spoke, he was even more categorical in his assessment of the floods: “The consequences of man-made climate change have reached us. We have understood that,” he said, adding that he hoped that in 20 years from now people would be able to say that the 2021 floods were a turning point that had lead to a new beginning.