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Armistice Day breakthrough
Source: Agencies |
November 12, 2009, Thursday
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FOR the first time since World War I, the leaders of Germany and France appeared together at a ceremony yesterday to commemorate the end of the conflict, saying it was now time to celebrate their countries' reconciliation and friendship.
"French-German friendship is sealed with blood," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said under the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel together laid a wreath of flowers at the tomb and symbolically relit the perpetual flame above it to mark the 91st anniversary of the end of World War I.
"This small flame is also the flame of hope," Sarkozy said.
The departure from traditional Armistice Day commemorations came two days after Sarkozy went to Germany to help fete the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"One must learn to rise above one's history," Merkel said in a speech. "What happened cannot be forgotten, but there is a force that can help us - the force of reconciliation."
Tens of millions of civilians and soldiers were killed during the Great War between Germany and allied nations France, Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada.
Other nations that served as World War I battlefields, notably Britain and Belgium, also marked the day.
Yesterday's service at Westminster Abbey in London coincided with the ritual two-minute silence that marks the end of the Great War and pays respect to all war dead.
In Belgium, King Albert II led the royal family and government officials in a commemoration in Brussels.
"French-German friendship is sealed with blood," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said under the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel together laid a wreath of flowers at the tomb and symbolically relit the perpetual flame above it to mark the 91st anniversary of the end of World War I.
"This small flame is also the flame of hope," Sarkozy said.
The departure from traditional Armistice Day commemorations came two days after Sarkozy went to Germany to help fete the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"One must learn to rise above one's history," Merkel said in a speech. "What happened cannot be forgotten, but there is a force that can help us - the force of reconciliation."
Tens of millions of civilians and soldiers were killed during the Great War between Germany and allied nations France, Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada.
Other nations that served as World War I battlefields, notably Britain and Belgium, also marked the day.
Yesterday's service at Westminster Abbey in London coincided with the ritual two-minute silence that marks the end of the Great War and pays respect to all war dead.
In Belgium, King Albert II led the royal family and government officials in a commemoration in Brussels.
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