From Gdansk to Dachau: Europe marks 70 yrs since WW2 victory
Europe marked the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II on May 8th with commemorative events across the continent.
The ceremonies kicked off in the Polish port city of Gdansk,
known as Danzig in German, where the first shots of the deadliest
conflict in history were fired on September 1, 1939.
The sky over the Baltic Sea was lit up by a salute fired from 21
guns at the Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk late on Thursday
night.
Poland initially organized the event as an alternative for
Western European leaders, who decided to boycott Moscow's Victory
Day Parade due to the dispute with Russia over the conflict in
Ukraine.
However, most of European leaders opted to attend WWII
commemoration events in their home countries.
The Gdansk ceremony was attended by UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, European Council president Donald Tusk, Ukrainian
president Petro Poroshenko and heads of several Eastern European
nations, including Lithuania, Bulgaria, Estonia and Romania.
The UN leader praised the “collective effort” and
bravery that led to the “ultimate triumph” over the Nazi
threat.
“The terrible long years of World War II were a time of
unspeakable atrocities, of lost faith and lost humanity. The war
took a heavy toll on many countries, including all those
represented here, and particularly on their youth,” Ban is
cited by the UN website.
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande and US Secretary of
State John Kerry laid wreaths on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
under the Arc de Triomphe.
According to Hollande, the victory in World War II 70 years ago
represented the “victory of an ideal over a totalitarian
ideology.”
“We didn't experience the war, we see it as a far-off
reality, sometimes abstract, even though it is not so far from
us, in Ukraine, further still in the Middle East… There is also
terrorism which can strike us, racism, anti-Semitism. There are
still causes which should spur us on,” the French president
said.
200 beacons were lit across the UK to remember the 55 million
lives that were lost during the war.
Earlier in the day, a two-minute moment of silence was observed
and wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph in London’s Whitehall by
re-elected British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Duke of
York, Prince Andrew.
In Germany May 8 isn’t considered a holiday, but the country’s
MPs from Bundestag and Bundesrat still met on Friday for joint
observances.
Bundestag President Norbert Lammert said that the end of the WWII
in Europe “was a day of liberation" for Germany.
“On May 8, a war was ended that a German regime had begun
with criminal intent,” Lammet is cited by Deutsche Welle.
During the session, the speakers paid tribute to the Soviet Army
and the Allied forces which defeated Adolf Hitler’s regime.
German president, Joachim Gauck, laid a wreath at a military
cemetery in Lebus dedicated to Soviet soldiers killed fighting
Nazis.
A Mass was held at the infamous Dachau concentration camp, where
32,000 people died according to official documents, but where
thousands more were killed unofficially.
Ukraine celebrates Victory Day with Europe, not Russia
For the first time in 70 years, Ukraine celebrated the end of
World War II on May 8, the same day as Europe, but one day ahead
of Russia.
The new holiday, entitled the Day of Remembrance and
Reconciliation, is seen by the country’s leadership as a symbolic
change marking Ukraine’s break with its Soviet past.
"On May 8, for the first time, the people of Ukraine will
join the European tradition to commemorate the victims of World
War II. The very next day in Moscow, under the pretext of the
Great Victory, the aggressor's army will brandish its lethal
might in front of the world,” Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian
president, said.
The country has also adopted the red poppy as a symbol in memory of war victims, as many countries in Europe have.
The St. George Ribbon, which used to be a traditional symbol of
Victory in the USSR, was dropped due to its use by eastern
Ukrainian militias, which have been fighting the Kiev government
for over a year.
Russia has repeatedly denied unsubstantiated claims by Kiev and
the West blaming Moscow for supporting the rebels with arms and
manpower.
On May 8, 1945 Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender,
marking the end of the war in Europe. The document was signed at
22:43 CET – or 00:43, May 9 Moscow time.
The global conflict continued for another three months, however,
until the surrender of Japan in September 1945.
