The Hindu : Front Page : VE Day commemorated in city where Nazi surrender was signed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

VE Day commemorated in city where Nazi surrender was signed

Liberators of Europe will forever stay in the hearts of people, says French Minister

STALWARTS ALL: Russian World War II veterans look out from a military truck in Moscow on Sunday during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. — Photo: AP

REIMS (FRANCE): French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Saturday paid homage to the victims of World War II and said the liberators of Europe would forever stay in the hearts of its peoples.

Marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe in the ancient city where surrender documents were signed on May 7, 1945, Alliot-Marie said France and the world will forever be grateful to the generals and troops that defeated Nazi Germany after years of barbaric terror and oppression.

``On this memorable night, the night no one will ever forget, the objective set out by General de Gaulle was accomplished. This memorable night brought out the glory of the United States. The liberators, General Eisenhower and his men, entered history, ending years of German oppression, terror and folly,'' said Ms. Alliot-Marie in a speech prepared by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who could not attend because of a gallbladder problem that required surgery.

``Forever in our hearts: the English pilots, the inhabitants of the bombed city of Coventry, the siege city of Stalingrad, the great people of the Soviet Union, nations of Central Europe, the women of Ravensbruck, all those who perished in death camps, all those who were so savagely oppressed,'' she said in the speech delivered at the Reims city hall.

Ms. Alliot-Marie kicked off the VE Day ceremonies earlier in the day with a visit to the room where surrender documents were signed 60 years ago. Ms. Alliot-Marie was accompanied by Albert Meserlin, a veteran U.S. Army photographer who served as personal photographer to Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Susan Hibbvert, the secretary who typed the text of the capitulation speech.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page