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Despite the restrictions of the new coronavirus, Europe and the United States commemorate this Friday the end of World War II, with flower offerings from Washington to Paris, passing through Berlin, where it will be exceptionally a public holiday.

Normally, Germany does not commemorate or celebrate very little the anniversary of May 8, 1945, when the Nazi regime surrendered to the allies, but this time the city of Berlin has decided to declare the 75th anniversary a holiday.

This holiday, synonymous with defeat for the country but also with liberation from National Socialism and concentration camps, will be limited only to the country's capital, where the initiative has caused some controversy.

German diploma chief Heiko Maas expressed skepticism on Thursday about the idea of ​​making it a permanent national holiday throughout Germany. "This is not the main question for me," he assured the ZDF television network.

"The important thing is that this day is understood in Germany as a day of liberation, a day that in fact can be one of celebration" but not of lamentation, added Maas, a vision not shared by the extreme right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD).

For its main leader, Alexander Gauland, May 8 remains a "complete defeat" due to the loss of territories in the east, the bombings and the expulsion of millions of nationals. Germany lost its "autonomy" over its "future," he said.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to participate with Chancellor Angela Merkel in the flower offering in memory of the victims of the war and the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of six million Jews.

Steinmeier will also deliver a speech, a symbolic gesture that represents a call to order in a country that is experiencing a resurgence of anti-Semitism and where the extreme right rebels against the duty to remember.

London paris

Around the world, restrictions in place to contain the pandemic of the new coronavirus, which has killed more than 260,000 people, have forced celebrations to be minimized, with ceremonies broadcast live on the internet.

US President Donald Trump will make a flower offering at 15:30 GMT at the WWII memorial. His French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, will do so in front of the statue of General De Gaulle and the grave of the unknown soldier in Paris.

In London, Queen Elizabeth II will deliver a message to the British that will be broadcast on BBC One at 20:00 GMT, "the exact time that her father King George VI spoke on the radio in 1945," according to a government statement.

In Moscow, where "Victory Day" is celebrated on May 9, the health alert forced to postpone the military parade in Red Square, to which foreign dignitaries had been invited, although the aerial part was maintained.

Russian President Vladimir Putin must address his fellow citizens, who are especially waiting for their decisions for the period after May 11, when the confinement decreed for a month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus ends.

Although popular festivals and veteran parades were canceled due to the pandemic, the government encourages people to celebrate the end of World War II at home, with ideas for games and cooking recipes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Germany
  • WWII
  • Paris
  • London
  • Berlin
  • Europe
  • United States
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Donald trump
  • Angela Merkel

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