The devastation in Oradour-sur-Glane. - Steinmeier urges the safeguarding of a unified Europe.
Following the triumph of conservative parties in the European election, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed for the defense of an open and tranquil Europe. "We must never forget what nationalism and antipathy have wrought in Europe," he asserted on Monday in Oradour-sur-Glane in western France during a commemoration for the victims of an SS massacre 80 years ago. "Let us not forget the miracle of reconciliation that the European Union has attained. Let us defend our unified Europe! Let us never forget the merit of freedom."
Right-wing parties had emerged victorious in France and Italy, and the AfD had emerged as the second-strongest force in Germany after the Union.
The President recalled with French President Emmanuel Macron the victims of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. Steinmeier bitterly denounced the fact that the culprits in Germany were not punished later. He was ashamed that they had not been punished and that the most vile crimes had not been avenged. "My country has once again taken on a second shame."
On June 10, 1944, members of the SS Division "Das Reich" had annihilated the village. They murdered 643 men, women, and children and torched the village. Only a couple of survivors remained. The massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane is considered the most horrific war crime of Nazi Germany on the western battlefield. Just one of the approximately 150 implicated SS soldiers was sentenced to life imprisonment in East Germany in 1983, but was released from jail early. The remains of the village are preserved as a memorial. Steinmeier and Macron strolled side by side along the cobbled street past the ruined houses.
"I would like to convey my horror and sorrow in the name of Germany regarding the inconceivably cruel and inhuman deeds that Germans have perpetrated here," Steinmeier expressed in his address, which he delivered in French. For Germans and French, the hope for a brighter future with the Franco-German friendship has become a reality.
"Our responsibility is the European Union," Steinmeier underlined. He also recalled the landing in Normandy a few days before the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, with which the Allies, at great price, had liberated both France and ultimately Germany from dictatorship and terror. "Liberty must be fought for and shielded," Steinmeier opined.
