War in Ukraine overshadows D-Day celebrations | DW News

War in Ukraine overshadows D-Day celebrations | DW News

and we begin with those who fought and died for Freedom War veterans and leaders came together today in northern France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day US President Joe Biden and French president Emanuel macron led the main ceremony remembering this date June 6th 1944 that’s when Allied soldiers troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany it was the biggest Seaboard invasion in history now US President Biden said that the anniversary comes at a critical time for the Nations that took part we’re living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than they Point since the end of World War II since these beaches were stormed in 1944 now we have to ask ourselves will we stand against tyranny against evil against crushing brutality of the iron fist We Stand For Freedom we deand democracy We Stand Together my answer is yes only can be yes well I’m joined Now by Daniel toddman he’s a professor of modern history at Queen Mary University in London Professor it’s good to have you on the program the lessons of dday what would you say are the main lessons that could help us better navigate the challenges that we face not in 1944 but rather in 2024 thanks a good question um I mean I would think of this as being uh uh an event that’s about an international battle um one that’s fought by an alliance uh an alliance that had to come together and surpass its differences uh of opinion differences of really profound differences of politics and ideology in order to uh achieve something that was a a collective goal so uh you know there’s a ful lesson there thinking about how we confront problems in the future when you look at the pictures of the images of the commemorations today that the average age of those attending I mean they were Advanced they looked to be what the high 70s maybe most of them most of the veterans were about around a hundred years old as World War II has it lost its ability um to Captivate the imagination of of younger Generations I mean has too much time passed well that’s the thing about the past that it does get further away um but I think uh fundamentally that conflict uh is one of uh ideologies and ethics and um uh in my experience young people today are as motivated by the big ideas as they ever have been um of course as we get further away from an event in time um public knowledge can fade but the latest survey results that I’ve seen um from uh Britain uh uh I’m from elsewhere in Europe suggest that actually you know still quite a high percentage of people recognizing what dday was knowing something about it these commemorations this 80th anniversary it comes just days before hundreds of millions of Europeans are going to vote in the EU elections they’re going to choose a new European Union Parliament I mean the polls are predicting a wave of support for the far right the likes of which Europe has not seen in decades do you think that those who sacrific their lives at Omaha Beach do you think they’re turning in their graves now uh I think I’d be very careful about uh presuming the uh contemporary uh political attitudes of people who served during the second world war um it’s important to remember that lots of those American soldiers or all of them had come from a country which was racially segregated um I think the key thing is that they were fighting for democracy that was a strongly shared value a sense of something was combining people at the time and uh the point about these elections is that they are democratic it’s an enormous Democratic moment now people may or may not like who’s standing in those elections or their attitudes or all that sort of thing but that’s the point about democracy the people get a choice there was a story today about a 102y Old World War II veteran from the US who died on his way to attend the D-Day Ceremony in France um it made some of us think what happens when when the generation that that bore witness to the horrors of World War II is no longer among us um you know my grandfather was a a veteran of w war I I mean that generation is is quickly fading away Yes mine too um I mean I think there’s a what we see historically is that there’s a key difference between um uh uh not so much the passing of the veterans generation but actually the passing of their children so I think we’ve still got some time in which these anniversaries still retain their power to have a big hold on the public imagination so while there are still people alive who met veterans who who were their descendants um then that’s something that’s uh uh the past still seems very close the point where you really see a change and we’ve gone through that point with the the first world war now is when you get to the point where uh it’s two generations on so there’s no there’s none of that uh connection anymore uh and that point will come as it comes uh for all historical events um and ultimately I think it’s not necessarily a bad thing if we get to a point where uh we’re not uh thinking about that conflict as much as we do now uh if the other side had won we’d be thinking about it more what about the the comparisons that we we tend to make West Western leaders um they’ve accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a a modernday figure similar to what Adolf Hitler was in the second world war is that a fair comparison uh I think as a historian I’d always be wary uh about making simplistic comparisons uh I think it’s uh think it’s notable that you know I haven’t seen any evidence from um uh any of those Western countries of an active effort to uh exclude dismiss the Soviet Union’s contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany uh what there’s clearly been is a political decision that in the context that we’re in at the moment it’s not appropriate uh to invite the president of Russia to participate in these commemorations um and uh to the extent that uh you know his actions have been characterized by um by aggression um then I think that’s appropriate I want to ask you before we run of time when you look at the course of human history war and conflict they appear to be the norm peace seems to be the exception in many cases the past decades have been exceptionally peaceful do you think our moment in history will go down as just that as an exception I mean are have we experienced an anomaly in the long span of human history uh well we have I mean I I’d point out that that’s that’s particularly true if you live in Northwestern Europe right for lots of other people recent decades haven’t been characterized by peace uh it seems unlikely that that period of peace is going to continue in the same way that it has done um I’d also say though that one of the things that uh anybody studying these wars takes away from them is the power of human resilience and the capacity to survive so I might be pessimistic about uh in the future but I’m optimistic about humans well and as we as we say many many times those who forget history are condemned to repeat it so it’s good that people like you are teaching US History Professor Daniel toddman we appreciate your time and your analysis on this historic day thank you we’re joined Now by DW correspondent Sonia feler who is also in Normandy in the city of khah um Sonia President Biden was very direct in his speech in reaffirming America’s commitment to the defense of Ukraine uh wasn’t he tell us more about what he said that’s right I mean President Biden delivered those remarks at the American Cemetary in kvil Sur here in Normandy uh this is a cemetery which contains nearly 10,000 Graves of American victims of the battle uh for Normandy and President Biden you know Drew strong parallels between the past and the present uh he talked about the war raging u in Europe again the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine now in its uh third year and he said that you know um basically the struggle of ukrainians he said captures the spirit of D-Day it echoes the struggle for freedom and he cast the conflict as being part of an unending uh struggle between what he called dictatorship and and freedom he pledged that NATO and The Wider kind of pro- Ukraine International Alliance would stand by Ukraine and not to walk away and this was essentially President Biden reaffirming the transatlantic relationship reaffirming uh America’s commitments uh to Nato uh which has of course underpinned you know Decades of security and and prosperity uh in Europe um and of course that that um that uh reaffirming of Western solidarity uh a show of Western support and resolve if you like uh is also comes at a time when you know there are concerns mounting among European leaders this may not be they may not be able to take this for granted anymore there are concerns that the possible election of President Trump um in in in presidential elections in November uh you know there are worries about what that could mean for the transatlantic relationship whether that could undermine uh America’s contributions uh to Nato this is a defense Alliance that was set up in the wake of World War II and has served you know as the Bedrock of European security Sonia tell us uh what else is happening in Normandy today as part of these commemorations well earlier today we saw the the British uh the US and Canadian Adan um U Canadians holding kind of their own separate ceremonies to to honor their troops and their contributions and sacrifices and now this afternoon we’re going to see another big International ceremony uh presided over by uh French president Emanuel macron at Omaha Beach now this is one of the five beaches in Nori where Allied Forces came ashore uh 80 years ago and this is where American forces suffered massive losses when they came under German fire more than 2,000 Americans uh died on day uh alone and president macron will be hosting world leaders the the the leaders of uh the US uh Britain and Canada of course but also the leaders of countries that other countries that you know contributed to the DDA uh Landings um uh countries like Australia Belgium Norway Denmark Poland all these you know leaders will be present there uh German Chancellor Olaf Schultz will also be at the Omaha uh ceremony uh you know kind of representing uh the vanquished enemy uh in a show of you know Europe’s uh reconciliation Sonia thank you so much for that that’s DW correspondent Sonia feler reporting from the city of K in Normandy andyw reporter William glucoft joins me now in the studio uh for more on what’s happening in in Normandy uh welcome William um what stood out for you in particular in what we heard from President Biden today because he was quite pointed in certain remarks wasn’t he right he’s continuing a theme of his administration which is a very simplified view of the world that puts democracies versus autocracies or democracies versus authoritarian systems and World War II is the perfect parallel to be able to make that very simplified case and D-Day in particular because D-Day was this very Salient singular point in time that really was you know 150,000 mostly men storming Beaches into one of the most deadliest and dangerous combat situations ever seen to liberate Europe and many of them paid the ultimate price for that of course history has a way of smoothing out the complications and smoothing out some of the the less um the the less nicer bits of History right democracies aren’t just good and autocracies aren’t just bad even at that time World War II the democracies were talking about the United States United Kingdom France were also colonial empires or in the US case had Jim Crow laws and segregation so they had their own racial and ethnic uh divisions and injustices to deal with both during and after the war and we see that again today with democracies picking winners and losers right we heard Joe Biden’s strong case again today for supporting Ukraine at the same time people around the world leaders and protesters are looking at what’s happening in Gaza and saying well wait a minute these are two different standards you’re applying so it’s as complicated then and messy then as it was today but D-Day is a is a is a time to really distill these very overarching them themes of Freedom that Joe Biden brought out in his speech today standing United um as you said you know there was a real reaffirmation of of of Western solidarity in what he said you mentioned um Russia Ukraine there is a war happening in Europe again now um tell us more about the points he was making um about the war in Ukraine Biden wants to make the case that we’re better together than we are apart just as the Western allies were on D-Day before as a NATO then during the Cold War as a formal NATO alliance and now trying to to renew that Alliance through the context of Ukraine by having not just NATO allies but I think as many as 50 countries are part of this broader Ukraine Coalition providing weapons and resources and support uh and financial aid for Ukraine and making the case that just as and I believe Joe Biden I’m paraphrasing but Joe Biden basically said just as the veterans sitting behind him paid the ultimate price and fought for freedom then so too must democracies stand up now and do maybe not the same thing because it’s not us and British and French boots face on the ground facing Uh Russian ones but in a similar vein step up to the political challenges of staring down Russian aggression in Ukraine absolutely and obviously in a year where we’re going to be seeing a US election and there may not be a President Biden next year there may be a president Trump talking about all these themes NATO and the reaffirming Western Sol solidarity President Biden is really trying to push his view here isn’t he yeah he’s trying to set a tone whether he wins or loses we all know Donald Trump’s less friendly views on NATO and traditional Western allies that said we’re a long way even if Trump were to win we’re a long way from NATO dissolving it is a treaty bound uh legal Alliance there Congress would have its say and Trump aside there is strong bipartisan support for maintaining that Alliance and for aining NATO and for as much as there is a shall we say a Readjustment in the American desire to be involved in the world it’s not the same thing as necessarily isolationism or protectionism more of a rebalancing it could be isolationism and protectionism but we don’t quite know yet what what a us might be uh as there is this call both in the US and out of sort of stepping back a bit or rebalancing American power in the world but certainly today standing United and remember ing what happened 80 years ago William glof thank you so much

War veterans and western leaders have come together in northern France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron led the main ceremony remembering June 6th, 1944 – that’s when Allied soldiers troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany. It was the biggest seaborne invasion in history.

00:00 Introduction
01:19 Interview with Daniel Todman, a professor of modern history at Queen Mary University
08:22 Talk with DW Correspondent Sonia Phalnikar
11:40 DW Reporter William Glucroft breaks down the D-Day messaging from US President Joe Biden

#dday80 #ww2 #veterans
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