French President Emmanuel Macron has decided against holding a military parade on the Great War Armistice centenary as it may offend Germans.
The French leader has chosen not to celebrate the victory of France and the Allies in the First World War but, according to columnist Jean-Dominique Merchet, has decided to mark the 100th anniversary of armistice as a memorial to the casualties of the war instead, Marianne reports.
Mr Merchet contends that Macron had decided on October 18th that “a too military expression” might offend Germans and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has been invited to the Elysée Palace for the occasion.
“The meaning of this commemoration is not to celebrate the 1918 victory. There will be no military parade or parade,” a source from inside the Elysée Palace said.
The source noted that Macron also rejected an idea to commemorate the French leaders during the war which would have included the infamous Field Marshall Philippe Pétain who negotiated French surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940, setting up the Vichy regime.
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The memorial celebration of the end of the war will be attended by German Chancellor Merkel.
The French move is contrasted by the United States and the United Kingdom which both have plans to hold military parades to celebrate their victory in 1918.
In recent years, France has had other controversies surrounding Great War memorials including the anniversary of the Battle of Verdun in 2016 where rapper Black M was scheduled to perform at a concert. The event was cancelled due to outrage over the Guinean-origin rapper’s lyrics which included calling France a nation of ‘Kouffars” or infidels.
Later that month, an art performance during the Verdun memorial ceremony, that saw young people running across the graves of fallen soldiers, also caused offence.
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