World War I Remembered

by Dan Forrest
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

FORT DOUAUMONT, France - Leaders in Europe gathered today for a solemn ceremony to remember the millions that were killed during the first World War.  The ceremony took place in France at Fort Douaumont, the sight of an ongoing battle that lasted almost a year and claimed the lives of some 300,000 men.  This battle is remembered today as the Battle of Verdun. 

Included were French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Prince Charles, German Parliament speaker Peter Muller, and Australia's Governor General Quentin Bryce.  They laid wreaths at the foot of a flagpole overlooking the mass graves to remember the many lives that were lost. 

In a speech to onlookers, President Sarkozy reminded the world of the devastation of the war.  "Imagine the infinte pain of each victim...the pain of the child standing by his father's grave; that of the father and mother learning of the death of their son; the pain of the wife receiving a last letter from her husband.  Behind every destroyed house, each devastated village, there was a wound that will never fully heal." 

The last remaining French veteran of the war died earlier this year.  This ceremony marks the first time that no veterans participated. 

Only a few veterans of this conflict are still alive in the world today.  For this reason, ceremonies like this one grow increasingly important.  They remind us that we must never forget the devastation and impunity wrought by total war.  For the men who lived it won't be around much longer to remind us. 

For more information, please see:

BBC - Verdun hosts somber WWI ceremony - 11 November 2008

CNN - World marks 'end of war to end all wars' - 11 November 2008

International Herald Tribune - Sarkozy memorializes France's World War I dead, including the mutineers - 11 November 2008