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In the course of his September 4 visit to Oradour-sur-Glane, a French village destroyed by the SS in 1944, German President Joachim Gauck declared that today’s Germany, which is “a different Germany from the one that haunts memories,” is a country “that wants to build Europe but not to dominate it.”
Gauck emphasised that “having repressed it, Germans are now at pains to assume their past”, notes Süddeutsche Zeitung. This is part of the “major experience” of the post-war Federal Republic and one of the “driving forces of its development.”
The daily reports that —
Joachim Gauck made two impressive speeches. [...] One devoted to guilt and the past, and another focused on the future. Both were addressed not only to Germans but also to the French. His message was: “Be thankful that Europe exists because it was the best thing that could be born from the tragedy of all that happened in this world war. Do not forget our future.”
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