On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed. The First World War was coming to an end. After these years of fighting and horror, Europe mourned its dead by the millions. And so did the world, because the fratricidal war between France and Germany, had extended its coat of blood far beyond our continent.
Why celebrate such a distant armistice? Why turn to the past when the present calls us to heal the wounds of the world?
Indeed, humanity has not ended this scourge: wars frozen for years where, in silence and oblivion, entire peoples are persecuted; wars with still-smoking ruins that leave Nagorno-Karabakh in the Middle East, Africa, abandoned peoples in their devastated country; larval war of terrorism so cowardly, attacking civilians in so many countries. Yes, the world is mourning its dead today.
By rekindling the flame with the Unknown Soldier who has been resting for a century under the Arc de Triomphe, we remember all those who until today have died for France. We remember their immense courage.
But this Unknown Soldier is also the silent ambassador of all those whose lives were cut short, paving the way for reconciliation. Because, in 1918, all of Europe mourned for its children who died in this deluge of fire. French, Germans, British, Belgians, Italians, Poles as far as Russia… They are also all those who came from the French colonies to fight leaving their land, their family… All, united in the ultimate sacrifice.
“The joy of feeling alive”
Also, a century later, we must continue to meditate on the road traveled to cherish its light and avoid its mistakes. Thus, the intransigence of the victors humiliating the vanquished also led to the Second World War: reparations, jostled borders, dismantled empires …
But today, it is no longer the tanks that cross our borders. At the time of the pandemic, it is our patients that Germany welcomes and treats. It is reconciliation. It is solidarity. It is the living awareness that we share the same destiny and that our common civilization, provided it remains faithful to its humanism, can help make the world more human.
The history of Europe shows that war and hatred between peoples are not inevitable. They can be overcome by reconciliation, cooperation, association of all. Europeans should remember this to act at a time when those who are moved by the spirit of revenge and domination threaten world peace. But Europeans, who are among the world’s biggest arms dealers, should lead by example in ending this suicidal trade. Because it is not by fueling the infernos of war that we will build peace!
So yes, it is necessary to commemorate the courage of these men and the sacrifice of their lives in the vigor of their youth. But also to draw strength and courage from “the joy of feeling alive”, so dear to Maurice Genevoix, wounded in 1915. And, if we want to pay them an authentic homage and be faithful to them, it is important to cultivate the bonds of friendship and peace between our peoples and to pursue European construction despite divisions, misunderstandings and uncertainties. For it is by being united that we will succeed in meeting the serious challenges of our time and, hopefully, in saving peace.
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