London (AP) – Even if the End of the Second World War in Europe Engendid one of the happiest days that the continent ever lived, the 80th anniversary of the day of the FI Thursday is haunted as much by the specter of the current conflict because it celebrates the defeat of ultimate evil.
The Nazi Germany of Hitler had finally gone after a half of the invasion of other European powers and the propagation of racial hatred which led to the genocide, the holocaust and the murder of millions.
This surrender and the explosion of hope for a better life are celebrated with parades in London and Paris and cities across Europe while even the leaders of former fatal enemies are linked again.
Germany itself expressed its gratitude for the change again that May 8, 1945 brought-to the world and itself.
“It was the Germans who sparked this criminal war and trained all of Europe with them in the abyss,” German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Parliament. “Today, 80 years later, our deep thanks still go to allied soldiers and European resistance movements that have gathered all their strength and have suffered great losses in order to defeat the Nazi regime.”
Dark perspectives
His comments underline that the former European enemies can prosper – insofar as the European Union of 27 nations even won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize – but that the prospects have become dark in the past year.
Bodies continue to accumulate in Ukraine, where Russia’s large -scale invasion in 2022 Has the worst war with the continent began since 1945. The rise of the hard right in several EU member states puts the founding democratic principles of the block under increasing pressure.
“We are not celebrating this May 8 today in a spirit of calm insurance. Because we can see that freedom is not the great final of history,” warned Steinmeier. “So we no longer need to ask: 8 Can 8 free us?” But we ask: how can we stay free? ”
Such warnings have continued the stretch of improbable peace in most of Europe something other than a fact.
And even NATO, the transatlantic military alliance which assured peace in Europe under the American nuclear umbrella and its military influence, has been rarely seen since its creation.
There too, the German president, who has a largely ceremonial role but embodies the moral resolution of the nation, also made a blow so watched to the American administration of President Donald Trump, saying that the way in which the United States turns away from international order “is a completely new shock”.
American contributions to the war effort
The United States has played a decisive role in transforming the wave of war into Europe, invading with the Allies the beaches of D-Day in Normandy of France on June 6, 1944 in what turned out to be the point of switching war in Europe which inexorably led to the invasion of Germany and the defeat of Hitler.
On Wednesday, American president Donald Trump proclaimed Thursday as a day for the United States to celebrate victory during the Second World War, insisting that the country should better recognize its essential role in the war.
“We are going to start celebrating our victories again!” He said.
War has dragged beyond Europe, especially in the Pacific against Japan, but even Taiwan joined the marking of the day For the first time – and highlighting threats on the days. Instead of Russia, she focused on China, her immediate rival. China claims that Taiwan within the framework of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.
“The military assault against another country is an unjust crime that will not fail,” said Taiwanese president Lai Ching-Te.
He added that Taiwan and Europe “now faced the threat of a new authoritarian block”.
European celebrations
The commemorations have gone through all week in Europe and Great Britain took the lead. Here too, the current fate of Ukraine in its fight against Russia has taken the spotlight.
“The idea that it was only in history and that it does not matter now, is completely wrong,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “These values of freedom and democracy are important today.”
In London, a service took place in Westminster Abbey, where the royal family took the time to chat with the veterans, leaning on to hear the older veterans in a wheelchair, many of whom the Royals have now met during the previous services.
In Paris, French president Emmanuel Macron should supervise a ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier of the Arc de Triomphe.
And in Berlin, Chancellor Friedrich Merz will again underline how Germany renovated in a lighthouse of European democracy by throwing a crown to the central memorial of the victims of war and tyranny.
And, symbolically, Russia and President Vladimir Putin will be completely outside the rest of Europe, Celebrate his victory day A day later, with a huge military parade on the Red Square in the center of Moscow to mark the massive Soviet contribution to defeat Nazi Germany.
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RAF Caset has brought in Brussels. Mike Corde in Wageningen, Netherlands, and Jamey Kealen in Geneva contributed to this report.
