Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Joachim Gauck and hundreds of dignitaries and relatives of 150 people killed in last month's crash of a Germanwings jet packed Cologne's landmark cathedral Friday to pay tribute.
The steps to the altar were covered with 150 lighted candles, one for each person who died — including co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who investigators believe deliberately crashed the plane.
"It's not for us to judge," Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, told Bild newspaper ahead of the service about the decision to include a candle for Lubitz.
Most victims of the March 24 crash in France were Germans or Spaniards. Flight 9525 was en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
Theme from "Schindler's List" being played at #Germanwings crash memorial service. And I don't know how to feel about that.— Deborah Cole (@doberah) April 17, 2015
French and Spanish ministers were among some 1,400 people at the memorial service, which was carried live on German television.
Lufthansa, Germanwings' parent airline, took out full-page advertisements in many of the country's leading newspapers expressing sympathy and carried a livestream of the service on its website.
The memorial service for the victims of 4U9525 will be held at Cologne Cathedral tomorrow at 12:00 CET. A live broadcast will be provided.— Germanwings (@germanwings) April 16, 2015
Flags were ordered flown at half-staff around the country as part of the tribute.
#Cologne city centre stands still to remember the 150 victims of the #Germanwings crash #Trauerfeier pic.twitter.com/6yq2tUQZeC— Kate Brady (@kbrady90) April 17, 2015
Bells ring out to remember the dead. National memorial about to begin #Germanwings pic.twitter.com/Gr6PHHFJZ0— anna holligan (@annaholligan) April 17, 2015
Woelki told the relatives of the victims that words alone were too weak to give them any solace, but that they should take comfort in the numbers of people with them at the memorial service, and those following it online or on television around the country.
One of most moving moments of #Germanwings crash memorial service, opera singer Luiza Fatyol performing Faure's Pie Jesu for 2 lost friends— Kate Connolly (@connollyberlin) April 17, 2015
"You are not alone in these hours of loneliness," he said.
More than 80 percent of the debris from the plane crash in the Alps has now been recovered and removed.
Though prosecutors believe Lubitz intentionally crashed the plane, they are still trying to determine why.