{"id":79131,"date":"2025-05-08T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/05\/08\/europe-marks-80th-anniversary-of-world-war-iis-end\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:52:03","slug":"europe-marks-80th-anniversary-of-world-war-iis-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2025\/05\/08\/europe-marks-80th-anniversary-of-world-war-iis-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe marks 80th anniversary of World War II\u2019s end"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LONDON \u2014 Even if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/06\/04\/centenarian-vets-are-sharing-their-memories-of-d-day-80-years-later\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/06\/04\/centenarian-vets-are-sharing-their-memories-of-d-day-80-years-later\/\">end of World War II in Europe<\/a> spawned one of the most joyous days the continent ever lived, Thursday\u2019s 80th anniversary of V-E Day is haunted as much by the specter of current-day conflict as it celebrates the defeat of ultimate evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hitler\u2019s Nazi Germany had finally surrendered after a half-decade of invading other European powers and propagating racial hatred that led to genocide, the Holocaust and the murdering of millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2025\/05\/08\/vas-online-legacy-project-adds-names-of-210000-vets-lost-overseas\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"190\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18170266841105.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA\u2019s online legacy project adds names of 210,000 vets lost overseas<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The expansion of the veterans online memorial includes the names of almost 93,000 veterans killed overseas during World War II. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That surrender and the explosion of hope for a better life are being celebrated with parades in London and Paris and towns across Europe while even the leaders of erstwhile mortal enemies are bonding again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Germany itself again expressed gratitude for the change that May 8, 1945, brought to the world and to itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was Germans who unleashed this criminal war and dragged all of Europe with them into the abyss,\u201d German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told parliament. \u201cToday, 80 years later, our profound thanks still go to the Allied soldiers and the European resistance movements who mustered all their strength and endured great losses in order to defeat the Nazi regime.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gloomy outlook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Steinmeier\u2019s comments underscore that former European enemies may thrive \u2014 to the extent that the 27-nation European Union even won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize \u2014 but that the outlook has turned gloomy over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The body count continues to rise in Ukraine, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/\">Russia\u2019s 2022 full-scale invasion<\/a> started the worst war on the continent since 1945. The rise of the hard right in several EU member states is putting the founding democratic principles of the bloc under increasing pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are not celebrating this 8 May today in a spirit of calm self-assurance. Because we can see that freedom is not the grand finale of history,\u201d Steinmeier warned. \u201cWe therefore no longer need to ask: Did 8 May free us? But we ask: How can we stay free?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such warnings made the continuation of the unlikely stretch of peace in most of Europe anything but a given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which assured peace in Europe under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and its military clout, is under internal strain rarely seen since its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There too, the German president, who has a largely ceremonial role but embodies the moral resolve of the nation, also took a not-so-veiled swipe at the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, saying the way the United States is turning away from the international order \u201cis a shock on an entirely new scale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">U.S. contributions to the war effort<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States was instrumental in turning the tide of the war in Europe, invading along with Allies the D-Day beaches in France\u2019s Normandy on June 6, 1944, in what proved to be the tipping point of the war in Europe that inexorably led to the invasion of Germany and the defeat of the Nazis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2336\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-109753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg?resize=300,234 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg?resize=768,598 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,797 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1196 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25115561446812.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1595 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thousands celebrate the announcement of Germany&#8217;s unconditional surrender to the Allies in World War II on May 7, 1945, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on V-E Day. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/08\/trump-proclaims-thursday-as-day-for-us-to-celebrate-victory-in-wwii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/08\/trump-proclaims-thursday-as-day-for-us-to-celebrate-victory-in-wwii\/\">proclaimed Thursday<\/a> as a day for the United States to celebrate victory in World War II, insisting the country should better recognize its essential role in the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are going to start celebrating our victories again!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The war did drag on beyond Europe, especially in the Pacific against Japan, but even <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/taiwan-europe-victory-day-speech-china-ukraine-russia-xi-54d15b5f07d56730c21a6be521b0c7db\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/taiwan-europe-victory-day-speech-china-ukraine-russia-xi-54d15b5f07d56730c21a6be521b0c7db\">Taiwan joined in marking the day<\/a> for the first time \u2014 and highlighting current-day threats. Instead of Russia, it was centering on China, its immediate rival. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMilitary aggression against another country is an unjust crime that is bound to fail,\u201d Taiwan\u2019s President Lai Ching-te said, adding that both Taiwan and Europe were \u201cnow facing the threat of a new authoritarian bloc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">European celebrations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commemorations have been going all week through Europe, and Britain has taken a lead. Here, too, the current-day plight of Ukraine in its fight against Russia took center stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe idea that this was all just history and it doesn\u2019t matter now somehow, is completely wrong,\u201d U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. \u201cThose values of freedom and democracy matter today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In London, a service was held at Westminster Abbey, where the royal family took time to chat with the veterans, bending over to hear the older veterans in wheelchairs, many of whom the royals have now met at previous services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In France, where the date is a public holiday, President Emmanuel Macron presided over a wreath-laying ceremony in Paris in front of a statue of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, who refused the Franco-German armistice in 1940. De Gaulle fled to London and founded the French Free Forces, organizing networks of resistance fighters and overseeing anti-Nazi sabotage missions in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Berlin, Chancellor Friedrich Merz will again highlight how Germany has remodeled itself into a beacon of European democracy by laying a wreath at the central memorial for the victims of war and tyranny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Symbolically, President Vladimir Putin will be totally out of lockstep with the rest of Europe as Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-world-war-victory-putin-war-ukraine-7b5230dae0e14cb31523de283d7f45e8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-world-war-victory-putin-war-ukraine-7b5230dae0e14cb31523de283d7f45e8\">celebrates its Victory Day<\/a> one day later with a huge military parade on Moscow\u2019s Red Square to mark the massive Soviet contribution to defeat Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Raf Casert reported from Brussels. Mike Corder in Wageningen, Netherlands, Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This V-E Day marks the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany&#8217;s surrender to Allied 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