ANGELA MERKEL yesterday became the first German chancellor to take part in an Armistice Day ceremony in Paris as she joined President Nicolas Sarkozy to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the end of hostilities in the first World War.
In a ceremony that brought parts of central Paris to a standstill, the two leaders – visibly moved by the occasion – laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe and symbolically rekindled the eternal flame at the site.
Saluting Dr Merkel’s participation as “historic”, Mr Sarkozy said the Franco-German friendship was a “treasure” that should underpin closer co-operation between the two countries.
“We gather this November to commemorate not the victory of one people over another, but hardship that was as terrible for one side as it was for the other,” Mr Sarkozy said in a speech delivered in the shadow of the monument. “German orphans cried over the death of their fathers in combat, just as French orphans did.” The Avenue des Champs Élysées and surrounding streets were closed off as thousands of onlookers stood silently in the morning chill for the ceremony, children waving French, German and EU flags as the French army choir projected the two countries’ national anthems across the stilled expanse of the Place de l’Étoile.
Mr Sarkozy and Dr Merkel greeted veterans of the second World War and were applauded as they reviewed the rows of troops posted around the monument.
“The Germans and the French, once bitter enemies, now stand united as neighbours in a way that gives hope and confidence that elsewhere in the world too, deep trenches can be bridged and overcome,” Dr Merkel said.
Although the past could not be forgotten, the power of reconciliation helped to bear the burden of what had gone before, she added. “We show other countries in the world that it is possible to rise above the pain of the past.”
Both leaders used the anniversary of the end of hostilities in 1918 to stress the importance of the modern Franco-German relationship and their commitment to the European project.
“We share the same values, the same ambition for Europe, the same currency,” the French president said. “So it is natural that French and German policy should be conducted more and more closely. “It’s based on our friendship that we will be able to deepen our partnership in Europe and on both sides of the Atlantic,” Dr Merkel remarked. “It’s together that we will get to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.”
France’s last human link to the first World War was finally severed last year with the death of Lazare Ponticelli, its last recognised veteran of the trenches.
The German chancellor’s attendance in Paris came 25 years after Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand famously held hands at a commemoration at Verdun, the site of one of the war’s fiercest battles. Dr Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, declined an invitation to attend the Paris armistice ceremony in 1998.