Pandemic measures have forced leaders across Europe to mark the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II with low-key ceremonies this year.
In Great Britain, two minutes of silence were held in honor of the victims of the war, and Queen Elizabeth addressed the nation on the occasion of the anniversary. The leaders of France and Germany, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, laid wreaths in small ceremonies.
Other events also mark the victory over Nazi Germany, but bans on larger gatherings remain in force. The anniversary was supposed to be a colorful public tribute to the veterans of the war who freed Europe from Nazism, but the measures due to the coronavirus forced them to stay at home, according to the BBC.
On May 8, 1945, the Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany after almost six years of war.
That day, however, did not mark the end of World War II, as the Allies did not defeat Japan until August 1945.
Macron laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris, with only a small group of officials attending the ceremony. They maintained social distance, and a small military choir performed the Marseillaise. Macron opened the ceremony by laying a wreath at the monument to General Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French government-in-exile. The ceremony was attended by only a few officers and attachés, and the streets around the monument were deserted, the BBC reported.
France has been in strict quarantine since mid-March, and the easing of measures, which citizens are eagerly awaiting, will begin on Monday. The lifting of isolation measures will vary and will be slower in Paris and cities in the north-east of the country, which are hotspots of the coronavirus.
Chancellor Merkel led the ceremony at the central German memorial for victims of war and dictatorship - Noah's Ark. The residents of Berlin got a day off this year in honor of the national holiday, which is not the case in the rest of Germany.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on the international community to draw lessons from the end of the Second World War and move towards "more, not less cooperation" in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. "Today, we Germans can say: the day of liberation is a day of thanksgiving. And it took us three generations to be able to say that with all our hearts."
Similar ceremonies are held today in some former Soviet countries, including Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. World War II claimed more than 50 million lives, and an estimated 25 million were Soviet soldiers and civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin planned a big parade in Moscow for today, which was to be attended by the presidents of France and China. However, this event, in which about 15 thousand soldiers were supposed to participate, was postponed due to the epidemic.
Due to the great crisis caused by the pandemic, there were frequent calls for the adoption of an economic package similar to the American Marshall Plan, which accelerated the recovery of Europe after the war.
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