Steinmeier thanked “all those in the world who gave this country the chance to start again”. The president said that while 8 May is known today in Germany as Liberation Day, three-quarters of a century ago “it was far from being that in the minds and hearts of most Germans”. ![]() We had made ourselves the enemy of the whole world,” Steinmeier said. “Perhaps this being alone will take us back to May 8, 1945, because at that time the Germans were actually alone … defeated militarily, politically and economically … morally shattered. Steinmeier spoke of his sadness that representatives of the allies and thousands of young people were unable to join the two German leaders to lay a wreath at the Neue Wache in Berlin, the country’s main memorial to the victims of the war and the Nazi dictatorship. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/AFP via Getty Images For them, raise our colours high.” GermanyĪt a distance of 1.5 metres, Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, came together to mark a “lonely” commemoration.Īngela Merkel with the president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 75 years later, women and men are fighting for this peace to live. ![]() The flame of the Unknown Soldier is still burning for the heroes who brought us peace. A small military choir sang the national anthem, the Marseillaise.Įarlier, the French president visited and laid a wreath at the foot of a statue of Gen Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French forces during France’s occupation and liberation. The event was observed by about 20 spectators, including the presidents of the national assembly and senate, the minister of the armed forces, Florence Parly, and Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo.ĭuring the 30-minute ceremony, Macron lay a wreath and relit the flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. ![]() France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, helps lay a wreath of flowers at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
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