VE Day: A locked down Europe commemorates as best it can
Countries across Europe are marking the 75th anniversary of the Nazi regime’s surrender as best they can while most of the Old Continent remains under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the UK, commemorations started with a military flypast over London shortly after 11:00 CEST.
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A nationwide two-minute silence to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice was then held at 12:00 CEST, led by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
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Countries across Europe are marking the 75th anniversary of the Nazi regime’s surrender as best they can while most of the Old Continent remains under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In the UK, commemorations started with a military flypast over London shortly after 11:00 CEST.
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A nationwide two-minute silence to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice was then held at 12:00 CEST, led by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
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The Queen will deliver a televised speech at 22:00 CEST — the exact time her father addressed the nation 75 years ago.
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‘A day of liberation’ for Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will lay a wreath to mark the occasion at the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is also expected to be illuminated. The German capital has turned the commemoration into a public holiday sparking a debate in the country as to whether Victory Day should become an annual federal public holiday.
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a speech that on May 8, 1945, the country was alone.
“Germany had suffered military defeat, political and economic ruin, and moral collapse. We had made enemies of the entire world,” he said.
He added that the country is now “forced to commemorate alone” because of the pandemic, but we are not alone!”
“We live in vigorous and well-established democracy, in a country that has been reunified for 30 years, at the heart of a peaceful and united Europe. We are a trusted member of the international community and reap the fruits of cooperation and partnership around the world.
“It has taken three generations for us to admit wholeheartedly: 8 May 1945 was indeed a day of liberation.
“Seventy-five years after the end of the war, we Germans have much to be thankful for. But none of the positive achievements since that data are safe in perpetuity. May 8 was not the end of the liberation — preserving freedom and democracy is the never-ending task that has been bequeathed upon us,” he stressed.
‘Turning point for our continent’
In France, President Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath in front of the statue of General Charles de Gaulle in Paris before attending a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe. The ceremony, also attended by former leaders Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, has been closed to the public because of the pandemic.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter that May 8 not only “marks a decisive moment in the history of humanity” but also “represents the turning point for the fate of our continent”.
“Grateful that we have our European union today,” she wrote, adding “#NeverAgain”.
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