French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a keynote address in German in Dresden on Monday, with much of the introductory segment in German met with applause from the crowd.
Macron said he was the first French president to visit Dresden since the reunification of East and West Germany. It comes on day two of .
“I’m speaking here to a part of Europe that has found unity again — German unity. But at the same time [a region] which has allowed us not only to enhance Europe, but to allow Europe to be what it was always supposed to be: united,” he said.
“And I am not speaking to Eastern Europe, I am speaking to the center of Europe here in Dresden.”
Macron was speaking at Dresden’s famous , a church that symbolizes both of the destruction of World War II and later of German reunification and the end of the Cold War.
The 18th century building was largely destroyed late in the Second World War, and in former East Germany was left in ruins as a monument in its own right. In the early 1990s, after reunification, it was rebuilt and restored, with financial assistance from all over the world.
Young people made up much of the crowd, and some of them had even traveled from neighboring countries like Poland and the Czech Republic.
Macron honors Franco-German Nazi hunters
Earlier on Monday, Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier each laid wreaths with flowers in the colors of their national flags at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
The saw the Nazis murder more than 6 million Jews across Europe.
Macron also bestowed honors on renowned Nazi hunters .
The Franco-German couple spent decades tracking down the likes of former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and other Nazis .
Beate was appointed Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor while Serge received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.
“They are fighters for remembrance and fighters for justice. They have fought against forgetting and for the victims of the Holocaust to once again become the subject of history,” Macron said.
What’s next on Macron’s agenda?
On Tuesday, Macron will wrap up his state visit in the western German university city of Münster.
In Münster he is set to be awarded the International Peace of Westphalia Prize, a private sector award which recognizes individuals or institutions for their efforts toward sustained peace.
Afterwards, the governments of both countries will hold talks at the Meseberg Palace.
zc/msh (dpa, AFP)
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