Weizsäcker's speech was praised both nationally and internationally. The New York Times called it a "sober message of hope to the uneasy generations of young West Germans". The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Werner Nachmann, thanked Weizsäcker for his strong words, as did Karl Ibach, a former member of the German Resistance, who called his speech a "moment of glory (Sternstunde) of our republic". Weizsäcker was however criticized for some of his remarks by members of his own party. Lorenz Niegel, a politician of the sister party CSU, who had not taken part in the ceremony, objected to the term "day of liberation", referring to it instead as a "day of deepest humiliation". The Greens were also absent during the speech, choosing instead to visit Auschwitz. A year later, the Green politician Petra Kelly called the speech "correct, but not more than self-evident", pointing to speeches president Gustav Heinemann had made during his presidency. The harshest criticism came from the Federation of Expellees, whose president Herbert Czaja, while thanking the president for highlighting the expellees' fate, criticized his remark that "conflicting legal claims must be subordinated under the imperative of reconciliation".
