Volkstrauertag

Volkstrauertag
Observed by	Germany
Date	Second Sunday before Advent
2016 date	November 13
2017 date	November 19
2018 date	November 18
Frequency	Annual

Volkstrauertag (German for "people's day of mourning") is a public holiday in Germany two Sundays before the first day of Advent. It commemorates members of the German armed forces and civilians who died in armed conflicts, to include victims of violent oppression. It was first observed in its modern form in 1952.

In 1893, the Kingdom of Prussia consolidated many days of repentance and prayer celebrated by various Protestant denominations and in various German-speaking regions into Buß- und Bettag, a national work-holiday celebrated on the Wednesday before November 23.

In 1919, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) proposed a Volkstrauertag for German soldiers killed in the First World War. It was first held in 1922 in the Reichstag. In 1926, Volkstrauertag became a feature on what Catholics considered Reminiscere (the second Sunday of Lent.)

In the Weimar years, Volkstrauertag was not a legal holiday for several reasons:

On 27 February 1934, the National Socialists introduced national holiday legislation to create Heldengedenktag ("Day of Commemoration of Heroes"), cementing the observance. In the process, they completely changed the character of the holiday: the emphasis shifted to hero worship rather than remembering the dead. Furthermore, five years later the Nazis abolished Buß- und Bettag as a non-working day and moved its commemoration to the following Sunday, to further the war effort.

Joseph Goebbels as Propaganda Minister, issued guidelines on content and implementation, instructing that flags no longer be flown at half-mast. The last Heldengedenktag was celebrated in 1945.

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