Two weeks after the entry into the Pantheon of the Armenian resistance fighter Missak Manouchian, the Élysée announced, Wednesday March 6, a series of new memorial highlights on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation.

"2024 will remember the rebirth of our Nation: our country is preparing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its Liberation and to celebrate the courage of our liberators, resistance fighters, soldiers of allied countries, fighters of the army reconstituted by the Free France on the African continent...", explained President Emmanuel Macron in a video.

"Among all those who liberated us, many foreigners, or many French people of foreign origin, like Missak Manouchian (...) whom we have just honored. Many from Africa, many also from the Pacific or from all over the world,” he added.

The Head of State will launch these commemorations on April 16 in the Vercors, the scene of a major maquis.

He will then travel to Morbihan on June 5 to pay tribute to the Free French SAS parachuted during the night of the Landings in Brittany and to the resistance fighters of the Saint-Marcel maquis.

On the same day, he will travel to Saint-Lô, in Manche, to pay tribute to the memory of the civilian victims of the D-Day operations.

Presence of the last veterans for “D-Day”

The next day, for the 80th anniversary of "D-Day", Emmanuel Macron will chair a British, American and Canadian ceremony in Saint-Laurent-sur Mer, in the Omaha Beach area.

This event will be marked by the presence of the last veterans of the Second World War, including 200 expected from abroad and "a few French survivors", according to the Élysée.

The question of a Russian delegation is under consideration, also indicated the Presidency of the Republic, while Vladimir Putin was present at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, but absent five years ago.

On June 7, the President of the Republic will commemorate the persistence of the Republic in Bayeux (Calvados) and Cherbourg (Manche) and, three days later, he will travel to Tulle (Corrèze) and Oradour-sur-Glane (Haute-Vienne). ), scene of Nazi abuses.

On June 18, the traditional tribute to General de Gaulle's appeal will take place at Mont-Valérien (Hauts-de-Seine) and on the island of Sein (Finistère).

In addition to a July 14 parade during which "the universality of the values ​​of those who liberated the country" will be discussed, a tribute to the liberation of Provence, with a "real landing" by "real soldiers" and "a amphibious maneuver", must take place in August, before a tribute to the resistance fighters in Provence.

Eighty years after the liberation of Paris in August, a "popular" event will be held around Place Denfert-Rochereau in the capital, then, at the end of November, the liberation of Strasbourg and the last fighting on French soil will be commemorated.

“Transmit the torch of this noble fight”

The Élysée also insisted on the establishment of a commemorative program made up of “thousands of local events” under the aegis of a public interest group called “Mission Libération”.

In this context, a vast collection of testimonies, films, photographs and personal diaries was launched among French citizens.

“Make them known, share, make of these sometimes family, intimate traces, instruments of our historians, materials which will become the material of a family memory as well as those of a national history”, asked Emmanuel Macron.

🥁Did you miss it this weekend?



👁‍🗨The Liberation Mission launches its website and a big call for witnesses to the children of the Liberation!



💡To know everything about the 2024-25 commemorative cycle, it's here https://t.co/HpIrCTgvJA pic.twitter.com/JdBTSXRFhe

— Mission Libération (@Mission80ans) February 12, 2024

The French are also called to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of their village and their city.

Finally, students are also asked to "be the actors of this memory" by writing stories about the heroes or witnesses of this era.

"While the war is back in Europe and we have again this year the opportunity to honor the last fighters of our Liberation, we must make the most of this opportunity to measure the price of our freedom, to pass on the torch of this noble fight to our young generations, to draw from it precious energy which will strengthen our cohesion and help us build our future", concluded the French president.

With AFP

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