The highlight of this commemorative year will be the trip to Normandy by the President of the Republic on June 5, 6 and 7. He will chair a major ceremony in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in the company of foreign leaders, including American President Joe Biden.
Published
Reading time: 4 min
:quality(50)/2024/04/08/080-hl-fpetry-2345600-6613e7e951e94897210264.jpg)
After the commemorations of the centenary of the end of the First World War in 2018, Emmanuel Macron continues until the end of the year a “new memorial roaming” to celebrate another major event in French history: the 80th anniversary of the Liberation and the end of the Second World War. “As war returns to Europe”the Head of State declared that he saw in these celebrations an opportunity to “measure the price of our freedom”. “These commemorations will make us proudassured the Head of State in a video published on March 6. Proud of our values, proud of our history, proud of our ancestors who lost their lives to free us, and proud of our allies.”
The memorial marathon intensified on Sunday April 7 with a double presidential trip to the Alps and Ain. At the end of the morning, the Head of State chaired a ceremony commemorating the fighting on the Glières plateau (Haute-Savoie), the center of the Resistance. Second stop of the day, he then attended a ceremony at the house in Izieu (Ain), paying tribute to the 44 Jewish children rounded up by the Gestapo on April 6, 1944. Franceinfo takes stock of the main national tributes and ceremonies who are waiting for Emmanuel Macron.
Tribute to the Vercors maquis on April 16
On April 16, Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Drôme to attend the commemoration of the Battle of the Vercors and honor “those who stood up”, underlines the Liberation Mission, the interministerial structure which aims to organize and promote the commemorative program. Normally scheduled for July 21, the ceremony was brought forward this year. “We had to take into account all the parameters, including the Olympic Games”, explains the public interest group to France Bleu Drôme Ardèche. The Vercors maquis was the nerve center of the Resistance in the region. Surrounded by the Wehrmacht in July 1944, the massif was stormed by the Germans in gliders. The soldiers had killed nearly 840 French people, including 600 resistance fighters.
Celebration of the liberation of Marseille on May 8
This tribute to the Resistance will continue in Marseille, where the president is expected to celebrate the Marseille resistance fighters and liberators of the city, Wednesday May 8, a date which also marks the end of the Second World War in Europe. The same day, the Olympic flame is due to arrive in the Old Port aboard the Belem. After this stage in Marseille, a new tribute in the presence of the Head of State is planned in Morbihan on June 5, in Plumelec, to pay tribute to the French paratroopers of the 4th battalion of the Special Air Service (SAS) and to the Breton resistance fighters, explains the newspaper West France .
Commemorations of the Normandy Landings in June
The ceremony for the 80th anniversary of the Allied Landings in Normandy, on June 6 in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in Calvados, near Omaha Beach, will be the culmination of this commemorative program. It will be chaired by Emmanuel Macron in the presence of several foreign heads of state, including American President Joe Biden.
#DDay80 🪖 See you on June 6, 2024 at #OmahaBeach !
Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer will host the international ceremony, marking the 80th anniversary of the Landing and the Battle of #Normandy. pic.twitter.com/ruYzj87sEz
— Prefect of Calvados (@Prefet14) October 17, 2023
The day before, June 5, the Head of State will be expected in Saint-Lô (Manche) for a tribute to the civilian victims of the Battle of Normandy. Several binational ceremonies are planned for that day, specifies France Bleu Normandie: one at the cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer (Calvados) with the American president, another with King Charles III at the end of the morning and a last Franco-Canadian at Courseulles-sur-Mer.
On June 7, in Cotentin, in Cherbourg, a ceremony will honor “the strategic importance of the English Channel”, specifies the Elysée to France Bleu Normandie. Last stage of this Normandy journey, a ceremony organized in Bayeux (Calvados), during which the president will commemorate “the permanence of the Republic, of its values”.
Anniversary of the landing of Provence on August 15
August 15 is the other date to remember for this memorial device planned by the Elysée. On the beaches of Var, Emmanuel Macron will honor the colonial troops of Free France during the 80th anniversary of the landing in Provence. Senegalese, Algerian riflemen, Moroccan goumiers and even pieds-noirs of the Liberation Army played a major role in Operation “Dragoon”, allowing the liberation of the cities of Toulon and Marseille in August 1944.
Anniversary of the liberation of Paris on August 25
Added to this program is the anniversary of the liberation of Paris, August 25. The President of the Republic will attend an event organized “on the route of arrival of the Allies and the French in the capital, especially around Denfert-Rochereau”, specifies the Elysée to France Bleu Normandie.
Celebration of the liberation of Strasbourg at the end of November
Finally, Emmanuel Macron will be present at the commemoration of the liberation of Strasbourg at the end of November. The Alsatian capital was liberated on November 23 by the soldiers of General Leclerc of the 2nd Armored Division.