New face: Passersby walk past the tower of the Garrison Church in Germany on August 22, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
Germany’s president on Thursday (August 22, 2024) inaugurated the renovated tower of a church linked to the Nazis’ seizure of power and whose remains were demolished under Communist rule. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it offered an opportunity to reflect on the country’s complex past amid a surge in authoritarian and undemocratic attitudes. The Baroque tower of the Garrison Church, renovated with a viewing platform 57 meters (187 feet) above street level, rises in the center of Potsdam, just outside Berlin. Mayor Mike Schubert said it “offers a new perspective into the expanse of our city and the depths and abysses of our history.” On March 21, 1933, the Garrison Church, or Garnisonkirche, was the scene of the first opening of parliament after Adolf Hitler became chancellor. Outside the church, Hitler shook hands with President Paul von Hindenburg. The scene became a symbol of the alliance between the Nazis and conservative traditionalists, of “new” and “old” Germany. The church was originally built in the 1730s to serve the Prussian royal court and army. It was gutted in a bombing raid shortly before the end of World War II in 1945, and the remains of the tower were blown up in 1968 under East Germany’s communist government. The tower has been open to the public since Friday.