French President Emmanuel Macron marked the 80th anniversary of Free French troops liberating the eastern city of Strasbourg from Nazi occupation, while urging for the recognition of overlooked WWII victims, including those forcibly conscripted into the German army.
The commemorations, held on Saturday, featured a military ceremony in central Strasbourg at Broglie Square, where Macron paid tribute to General Philippe Leclerc, who led Free French forces into the city on November 23, 1944.
Macron, accompanied by a crowd that included veterans, also acknowledged the fate of the region’s many conscripts, some of whom were forced to serve in the German army during the war.
Roger Le Neures, a 101-year-old veteran of the liberation, recalled the historic moment when the French flag was raised on Strasbourg's cathedral, marking the triumph of freedom over Nazi oppression. "When we knew the flag was up on the cathedral, we had reached our objective — freedom, freeing Alsace," Le Neures said.
Macron’s remarks focused on the largely forgotten experiences of tens of thousands of Alsatian men who were forcibly enlisted into the German army during the war. These men, known as "Malgré-nous" (literally "against our will"), were coerced into a fight for Germany that they did not support. Macron called for the acknowledgment of their suffering, saying, “This tragedy must be named, recognized, and taught."
The president also visited Natzweiler-Struthof, a Nazi concentration camp in the region, where thousands of inmates died or disappeared. During the ceremony in Strasbourg, Macron highlighted the brutal history of the camp and the forced conscripts’ torment, emphasizing that their tragic fate had often been misunderstood or ignored.
Macron’s speech also included the announcement that the renowned scholar and Resistance fighter Marc Bloch, who was tortured and executed by the Gestapo in 1944, would be reburied in the Panthéon, the French national monument to great figures. Bloch’s contributions to history, particularly his posthumous work "L'Etrange Defaite," critiquing France’s failure to prepare for war, were acknowledged by the president as part of the nation's complex WWII legacy.
The announcement was met with emotional praise from Bloch’s family, with his great-granddaughter expressing deep appreciation for the honor. However, in a letter to the president, the family requested that far-right figures be excluded from participation in the ceremony, citing concerns over the political divisions surrounding the commemoration.
