Remembrance, a diplomatic instrument

General Jean-Pierre Metz, defence attaché in Germany

What place does combatant memory have in bilateral defence relations between France and Germany?

Franco-German bilateral defence relations are particularly rich and cover almost every sphere. They include much future planning, which is often complex and significant for both our countries, for instance in the field of weaponry for aircraft and armoured vehicles. An essential part is concerned with training, of our young officers in particular. But memory also has an important place and, because of our two countries’ shared history, it underpins everything. It is obviously a key aspect of reconciliation and, today, cooperation between France and Germany. However, it differs in its meaning: a fully embraced and cultivated combatant memory in France contrasts with the German approach where, for historical reasons that are well known, remembrance focuses less on honouring the soldiers and more on remembering all the victims, with an emphasis on repentance and self-criticism.

That said, joint Franco-German activities are entirely possible, provided these fundamental differences are respected. I would go so far as to say it is these joint events that can bring French and German memory closer together. For example, whereas in Germany the participation of a German armed military detachment in a commemorative ceremony at a war memorial outside a military compound is not standard practice – is sensitive even – it is now commonly accepted and even desirable in Strasbourg, where the troops of the 291st German Battalion of the Franco-German Brigade stationed in Illkirch take part – bearing arms – in such ceremonies alongside their French comrades.

Does the memory of the two world wars still have repercussions today for diplomacy, in particular in the sphere of defence?

Although those who experienced the Second World War directly are dying out and the current generations, in particular young people, have their eyes on the future, this memory remains very present. In the collective unconscious, this conflict remains the most important, and not only because it is the most recent. In this respect, seen from Berlin, the Franco-German character applies more to the First World War than to the Second. Although both conflicts are a focus of powerful, largely positive symbolic gestures, the sites where they took place say much about the nature of the remembrance linked to each one.

For instance, the First World War commemorations presided over by the heads of State have been held at Verdun (F. Mitterrand and H. Kohl in 1984) or Hartmannswillerkopf/Vieil Armand (F. Hollande and J. Gauck in 2014, then E. Macron and F.-W. Steinmeier in 2017), while those concerning the Second World War have been in Normandy, on the D-Day landing beaches, or at Oradour-sur-Glane (F. Hollande and J. Gauck in 2013). Despite this difference in the nature of remembrance of the two conflicts, Franco-German relations are largely exemplary and entirely harmonious. The same cannot be said of Germany and its relations with the Eastern and Southeastern European countries, where there are still open wounds caused by the war crimes and crimes against humanity of the Third Reich. But efforts for a return to normality with these countries continue and have gained momentum since the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, being favoured by European integration and NATO. At times, because of this difficult past and its specific historical responsibility, Berlin feels bound by a particular obligation and solidarity towards its Central and Eastern European neighbours when international tensions arise.

France has stone remembrance heritage in Germany. In what way is it a pillar of Franco-German shared remembrance?

The Defence Attaché’s Office in Berlin has identified over 200 French remembrance sites in Germany. These consist of memorial stones, monuments, cemeteries and graves, some of which are important sites like the Turenne memorial in Sasbach or the Hoche monument in Weissenturm, others simple graves and headstones of French prisoners of war who died in concentration camps where they were incarcerated in the last three wars. For the Second World War, we can add the many places of suffering of the diverse victims of Nazism.

Many other countries also have remembrance heritage in Germany, mainly linked to the painful Nazi period. For instance, over 600 000 soldiers and civilians from the former Soviet Union – prisoners of war, forced labourers, deportees and combatants – killed between 1941 and 1945, are buried at approximately 4 000 sites. In a cemetery in Hamburg are buried 6 000 Italians who died in September 1943 onwards in prison camps, forced-labour camps and concentration camps.

According to the guidelines of the defence attaché, in conjunction with the French diplomatic representatives of the French Embassy and Consulates in Germany and a representative of Le Souvenir Français, the French military belonging to a variety of organisations in Germany organise or take part wherever possible in ceremonies on the French remembrance sites. The Germans, civilians or military, are usually included, when they themselves are not the organisers. The prisoner-of-war camps, forced-labour camps and concentration camps, in particular, receive regular visits from relatives of former detainees, French associations and interested individuals. School parties, mainly from French schools in Germany, are taken on visits led by their teachers. There are often, therefore, both French and German students, as well as students from other countries, all of which attend these schools.

In recent years, there have been a series of Franco-German remembrance cycles. Has the Defence Attaché’s Office in Berlin found the German authorities keen to get involved in these commemorations?

The German authorities were invited by their French counterparts to take part in all the major commemorative events held in France. In Germany, there is not so much interest in the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War as in France. These conflicts are partly overshadowed by the events of 1933-45, despite increasingly in-depth work being carried out by historians on those conflicts.

Ceremony in memory of the 117 French soldiers killed in captivity in 1871, Kaditz cemetery, Dresden, 10 May 2021.

©  Denk Mal Fort! e.V. - Die Erinnerungswerkstatt Dresden

However, where commemorative events are organised for these two wars at national or regional level, the Defence Attaché’s office and the French military are included in the vast majority of cases. For example, a Dresden-based organisation invited us to take part in a ceremony on 10 May this year in honour of 117 French soldiers who died in captivity in 1871 and are buried in the local cemetery of Kaditz. It was a very moving ceremony, with many of Dresden’s civilian and military officials in attendance. Dresden is a city whose destruction in the final weeks of the Second World War left deep scars. During the ceremony, schoolchildren read out the names and home villages of the Frenchmen buried there.

As defence attaché to Berlin, you yourself regularly organise ceremonies. Do you include French and/or German schools in these commemorative events?

It is standard practice – outside the context of the health crisis – for pupils of the French primary school in Berlin, the École Voltaire, to take part in the V-E Day and Remembrance Day ceremonies organised by the Defence Attaché’s Office at the French memorial in the former Quartier Napoléon. Representatives of the Bundeswehr, along with selected defence attachés, former French service personnel and veterans, including of the Foreign Legion, are also invited to the ceremony, which is presided over by the French Ambassador to Germany. The children sing the French and German national anthems, which they learn in class as part of their preparatory topic work. Rarely having the opportunity to meet and talk to members of the French armed forces, the children are curious and very interested.

I know the same thing happens in other German cities, although the inclusion of schools in the commemorations can still be developed.

The editorial team