BERLIN, May 8 (Xinhua) -- German politicians commemorated the end of World War Two (WWII) in Europe 75 years ago at a wreath-laying ceremony in Berlin on Friday.
"Remembrance never ends. There can be no deliverance from our past," said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the official ceremony. "It is not professing responsibility that is shameful, it is denial that is shameful," he said.
The originally planned state act commemorating the end of World War Two and a related international meeting of young people had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the ceremony was held at the Neue Wache in Berlin, Germany's main memorial for the victims of war and tyranny, under strict hygiene rules and without an audience on site.
"Today, 75 years later, we are forced to commemorate alone, but we are not alone," stressed Steinmeier. "We live in a vigorous and well-established democracy, in a country that has been reunified for 30 years, at the heart of a peaceful and united Europe."
With the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany, World War Two ended on May 8 in 1945 (also known as Victory in Europe Day or VE-Day). At least 55 million people had died during the war and around six million Jews had fallen victim to the Nazi's Holocaust throughout Europe. Enditem
