 Scholz said eight decades on, Germany can show there was an alternative to the Nazi dictatorship and stressed that democracy is dependent on the tireless efforts of each and every individual. Also speaking at the ceremony, Steinmeier warned that democracy is not a given and that hatred and violence destroy it. He paid tribute to the entire German resistance against Hitler's dictatorship and stressed they were not flawless heroes, but people who did the right thing with the greatest risk to themselves and their families. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nicholson in Berlin.