14-18: MM brace. Gauck and Holland to celebrate friendship … – Le Nouvel Observateur

14-18: MM brace. Gauck and Holland to celebrate friendship … – Le Nouvel Observateur

Hartfield (France) (AFP) – The French and German presidents, François Hollande and Joachim Gauck were given Sunday a long hug to celebrate the friendship between the two countries, during ceremonies in the Haut-Rhin for centenary of the beginning of the First World War.

In a speech, Hollande then invoked the reconciliation between France and Germany call for “more than ever” to a cease-fire in Gaza.

“All our efforts must be held to impose, today more than ever, the cease-fire in Gaza and end the suffering of the civilian population,” he has said.

“To those who despair of the peace process in the Middle East, what more beautiful message we can deliver that today?”, said the Head of State. The history of France and Germany demonstrates, he has said, “that the will can always triumph over fate and that of the people who were regarded as hereditary enemies can be reconciled in a few years.”

Once on the site Hartmannswillerkopf (Haut-Rhin) before 10:00, MM. Holland and Gauck were first put together side by side “trench honor” leading to the crypt of the monument, surrounded by about sixty-bearers, veterans of the Haut-Rhin.

After brief presentation of the scene, they signed a joint declaration on the occasion of the laying of the first stone of the Franco-German historial Hartmannswillerkopf “first binational institution devoted to the Great War”, which is scheduled to open in 2017 .

“The terrible fighting that ravaged (…) have made Hartmannswillerkopf a sacred place where the memory keeps tearing the twentieth century. Through the construction of this unique museum of its kind, it will also become a symbol of friendship between France and Germany and a symbol of their memory reconciled, “the statement said. The text will then be sealed in a cylinder placed in the cornerstone of the museum.

The two presidents are then collected in the crypt of the monument in front of the bronze shield under which are buried the ashes of some 12,000 French and German soldiers.

Tight against each other, they are given a long and warm hug on camera lenses and photographers.

Hundred Years day day after the declaration of war by Germany to France, MM. Holland and Gauck also celebrated in their speeches the sacrifice of thousands of men from both countries who were killed in the fighting that opposed this rock. But also the construction of a Europe of peace, after the Second World War.