It is Saturday the 11/11 of the year 2023: France celebrates today the 105th anniversary of the armistice, the end of the 1st World War. President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne pay tribute followed by an official ceremony at the historic Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The France24 television channel reports that “Emmanuel Macron presided over the ceremony to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the Armistice of 1918 on Saturday 11 November in Paris. The head of state laid a wreath and paid his respects in front of the statue of Georges Clemenceau on the Champs-Élysées, a few meters from the presidential palace.He then laid the traditional wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before rekindling the flame and saluting veterans and families of soldiers who died for France.”
Emmanuel Macron:
“This flame always accompanies our days and pierces our nights. The Nation does not forget. (…) November 11, the day of commemoration of the armistice of the Great War, is now the day of all those who died for France.””The unknown is this resistance, this certain idea of France that we cherish. (…) By falling for this carnal and spiritual land that is the soil of France, the unknown soldier signifies this brotherhood of arms, mourning and hope. And the flame on his grave, for a hundred years, has never been extinguished. And it will never go out.”
This light was lit for the first time on 11/11/1923, at 6:30 p.m., by Mr. André Maginot, who was the French Minister of War and Pensions. Installed to watch over the tomb of the unknown #soldat, it has never been extinguished.
This evening of Saturday 11/11/2023 in addition to the ceremonies, a “patriotic and popular” vigil will be organized, it is in this vigil that a “sound and light” will be projected, on the tomb of the unknown soldier, on the Arc de Triomphe.
It was lit for the first time on November 11, 1923, at 6:30 p.m., by André Maginot, then Minister of War and Pensions.
One thought on “November 11th in France, the anniversary of the armistice of the Great War.This date is “henceforth the day of all the dead for France.””
Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne in the ceremony to commemorate 11/11/2023. © Ludovic Marin, AFP
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