BERLIN : Marking Nazi Defeat
Vice President Al Gore will join British Prime Minister John Major, French President Francois Mitterrand, Russian Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Monday evening at ceremonies in Berlin’s ornate Schauspielhaus concert hall commemorating V-E Day
In Germany, the Allies’ Victory in Europe Day is officially seen as a “day of liberation” from Nazi terror. But conservatives have provoked angst this spring by publishing an open letter stating that the end of the war was also the beginning of a “new injustice” and “expulsion terror” for the millions of Germans who were driven out of their homes in present-day Poland under the terms of the postwar settlement.
Other Victory in Europe celebrations are scheduled in several continental capitals. Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allied armies on May 7, 1945.
The War in the Pacific continued for more than three months after the collapse of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
