Europe marks 80th anniversary of VE Day
發佈日期: 2025-05-09 21:53
TVB News
Events were held across Europe to remember Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender in World War Two.
Following a sombre thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, Britain's King Charles and senior royals joined 10,000 guests including veterans for a music concert at Horse Guards Parade near Buckingham Palace to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
The Monarch said the world had a duty to commit to seeking lasting peace and preventing warfare.
"We should also rededicate ourselves not only to the cause of freedom, but to renewing global commitments to restoring a just global peace where there is war, to diplomacy and to the prevention of conflict," said King Charles. "For as my grandfather put it we shall have failed and the blood of our dearest would have flowed in vain if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace founded on justice and established in good will."
French President Emmanuel Macron led a ceremony in Paris. The president laid a wreath in front of a crowd at the statue of General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French Resistance against Nazi Germany.
A presidential motorcade drove up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, followed by Republican Guard on horseback and a marching band.
Macron presented the Legion of Honor to a 98-year-old former Resistance fighter, before the Patrouille de France performed a flypast to end the commemorations.
Leading German politicians attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Berlin's Neue Wache.
Later, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told parliament "Germany's profound thanks still goes to the Allied soldiers who endured great losses in order to defeat the Nazi regime."
In Prague, around 400 people, dressed in period uniforms and armed with authentic weapons, recreated the scenes of urban warfare that marked the Czech capital's liberation from the Nazis.
