The unprecedented commemorations of the First World War centenary saw a flurry of Franco-German events. If France seemed to be the driving force behind the centenary, its partner across the Rhine was happy to go along with it, mobilising institutional and cultural networks to make the commemorations a Franco-German event.

Responsible for preserving and developing French defence interests in Germany, General Metz presents the distinctive features and diplomatic impacts of shared Franco-German memory. Constantly in touch with his German counterparts, every year he carries out a series of actions to keep that memory alive.

From the origins of the Franco-Prussian War to the present, Franco-German relations have seen many ups and downs, and the two world wars symbolised the ultimate break in relations. The late 20th century was a time for peace, and paved the way for a genuine process of reconciliation. Thus, while bilateral relations between Germany and France may be the result of years of progressive and intense cooperation, they are also indissociable from European integration.

A member of the advisory board of the review Allemagne d’Aujourd’hui (Germany Today), Gérard Valin presents his play, Mémorial de Chartres : le drame de 1940 en noirs et blancs (Memorial to Chartres: the drama of 1940 in black and white). Divided into ten scenes and with a cast of five men and one woman, the play enacts a story based on military archives, official speeches and reports from combat units. Yet the events evoke a little-known episode of the Second World War.

From Montluc prison in France to Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany, there is a Franco-Germany history to be told, and staff at the sites work together today to ensure that this profoundly European memory is passed on and understood.

Rainer Bendick has written a thesis on how the First World War is represented in French and German school textbooks. Since 2018, he has been educational adviser to the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK), the German war graves commission, in the Brunswick area. A former educational adviser to France’s First World War Centenary Commission, Alexandre Lafon is today a high-school teacher and associate researcher at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University.

Normandy’s number-four tourist nationality, the Germans come mainly to enjoy the beaches, countryside, heritage and gastronomy. Although history – in particular, Second World War history – is also one of their motivations, the number of German visitors to the region’s remembrance sites is estimated to be only 300 000. Getting them to go there remains a challenge for the regional authority.

The last of the 1,038 “Companions of Liberation”, who passed away on Tuesday 12 October 2021, was buried on 11 November in the crypt of the Memorial of Combatant France, on Mont Valérien. He joins the remains of the 16 war dead who represent the diversity of French engagements during the Second World War. 

Ceremonies in tribute to the last Companion of Liberation on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 November.

Press release issued by the Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération

A national tribute was paid to Hubert Germain in the main courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides, on Friday 15 October.

Click here to watch the video of the official ceremony

Remembrance sites in France are seeing an unprecedented rise in visitor numbers, driven by recent improvement works to mark the anniversaries of the two world wars. This tourism development differs significantly from Germany, where managing the traces of the recent past raises countless questions.

For over a hundred years, France’s remembrance policy has been structured around “national days”, mostly set by law, and ceremonies to mark the anniversaries of historic events as part of annual themes. Today, with fewer and fewer survivors of 20th-century conflicts still with us, commemorations are taking on new, more up-to-date forms, to rise to the challenge of passing on their memory.

Recalling at times the country at its darkest hours, military remembrance in the Federal Republic of Germany is embodied today in two symbolic dates. Direct heir to that history, the Bundeswehr, the present-day name of the country’s armed forces, has managed to reconcile itself to the origins of that remembrance culture and accept its specificities.

While France’s commemorative calendar centres around 11 national holidays in honour of contemporary conflicts, across the Rhine there are only five, in addition to Germany’s national day. There is also room in German remembrance programming for other commemorative dates, which vary from year to year according to the anniversaries being celebrated. This occurs at different levels, in line with a highly specific protocol and rules.

Although the policy of reparation and recognition for veterans was abruptly interrupted in the wake of the Second World War in Germany, it has been resumed in recent years for service personnel deployed on overseas operations.

In Germany, in view of the crimes committed by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, there immediately arose, post-1945, the question of what place general officers should occupy in the armed forces and in German society, as the country was split in two by the Cold War.

In France, the catastrophe of the First World War laid the foundations for veteran policy as we still know it today.  It is based on the linked principles of reparation, recognition and solidarity, and is implemented in close partnership with the voluntary sector.

In France, besides the upkeep of the war graves, the Ministry of the Armed Forces has for a number of years now had an ambitious policy in place to renovate the 275 national cemeteries, 2 200 military plots across the country and the 1 000 French military burial places in nearly 80 countries, emblematic sites for honouring and preserving memory.

In France, the landscape bears the mark of the two world wars that were fought on its soil. In particular, the military cemeteries are an invitation to remember, honour and reflect. In addition to the French graves maintained by the Office National des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre (ONAC-VG), France has many German cemeteries that are managed by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK).