Strasbourg honours liberation heroes 80 years after fall of Nazi regime

RFI

22 November 2024 at 12:23 pm·1-min read

The faces of General Charles de Gaulle (L) and General Philippe Leclerc (R) projected on to the facade of Strasbourg City Hall, on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the city.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Strasbourg on Saturday to mark the 80th anniversary of the city's liberation from Nazi rule. He will also visit Natzweiler-Struthof, the site of the only fully operational concentration camp on French soil.

Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region, was freed on 23 November 1944 by General Leclerc and France’s Second Armoured Division, several months after the D-Day landings in June and the liberation of Paris in August.

During a desert campaign in Kufra, Libya, in 1941, Leclerc had vowed to retake Strasbourg, swearing: "Swear to lay down your arms only when our colours, our beautiful colours, once again float over Strasbourg Cathedral."

His words are now inscribed on a memorial in Place Broglie, where Macron will attend a ceremony after laying a wreath at Place de la République.

The city is hosting a series of 80th anniversary commemorative events, including "dancing battalions" performed by 190 participants, a reenactment of the flag raising on the cathedral, and evening concerts.

Paris commemorates 80th anniversary of liberation from German occupation

At the time of its liberation, Alsace was under Nazi control, having been annexed – along with Moselle – by the Reich in 1940. The region was treated as German territory, unlike the rest of France, which was under occupation.

"Inhabitants of Strasbourg, the spire of your cathedral has remained our obsession. The invader will not return," Leclerc declared on 24 November.

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