70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings

On 7 November 2013, the President launched a series of commemorations to mark the centenary of the First World War and the 70 years since the liberation of the territory.

It’s a time for our country to show gratitude to the allied countries which came to help us liberate our territory. It’s a time of sharing and of fraternity with all the countries that fought. You also mentioned the word “reconciliation”.

It’s a time for remembering the military and civilian victims. For the first time, a tribute will be paid by the President to the civilian victims in Normandy.

It’s a time for the people, because all our fellow citizens must be involved – this is already the case – and seize on the French people’s tremendous natural inclination for remembrance.

It’s a time of national cohesion based on quiet remembrance, and finally it’s a time of pride, because we can be proud of our country, proud of our nation and proud of its history at a time when it’s asking questions about itself.

(…) On 6 June, there are expected to be 9,000 guests, around 20 heads of state and a billion television viewers. (…)

I want to thank the President of the National Assembly for the initiative he took, and you, Vice-President Dumont, all the group chairmen and members of parliament present on these benches for the work done on this act of passing on the message of peace to our young people, to us, who haven’t experienced war. I want to remind you that young people came from five continents and died on the beaches of Normandy, giving their lives, their youth, to defend an cause which transcends any partisan links and which has a wonderful name: freedom./.