On 7 February the flags in MNC NE in Szczecin flew at half - mast. MNC NE commemorated Johannes Rau, the deceased former Federal President.
At the same time Germany said goodbye to Johannes Rau. All representatives of the constitutional bodies participated in the state ceremony that was initiated by a funeral service in the Berlin Cathedral. In addition, numerous guests both from Germany and from abroad attended the ceremony. Federal President Horst Köhler, the Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer and the former Federal Minister of Justice and Chairman of the SPD, Hans-Jochen Vogel, delivered the funeral orations.
Following a military farewell ceremony, Rau was buried in the early afternoon on the Dorotheen municipal cemetery in Berlin-Mitte. Only the closest members of the family attended the funeral. Subsequently, the Federal President hosted a reception on the occasion of the funeral in the Berlin City Hall. The Federal Minister of the Interior ordered the flags to be flown at half-mast all over Germany
