VE Day 60th anniversary commemorated across Europe & USA

The 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day has been commemorated Sunday across Europe and the USA.

In Germany: President of Germany Horst Köhler and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attended a service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin and a wreath-laying ceremony at the main Soviet war memorial. VE Day is commemorated as Democracy Day in Germany, as Germans consider it to be the day when they, too, were liberated from Nazism.

In the United Kingdom:

Prince Charles, wearing his uniform of Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy, laid a commemorative wreath at the Cenotaph. Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to attend the main commemorative ceremony to be held on July 10, 2005.

At 19:00 UTC a Dakota DC3, from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby, flew over the Palace of Westminster, Whitehall, and Trafalgar Square to mark the beginning of a televised BBC VE Day concert.

In France: President of France Jacques Chirac laid a memorial wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.

In the Netherlands: President of the United States George W. Bush and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended a memorial ceremony at a United States military cemetery near Maastricht, where the Last Post was sounded.

In Croatia: President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić gave a controversial speech at a commemorative celebration of victory over fascism in Zagreb, starting with "Comrades, ladies and gentlemen." He said that NDH, a World War Two Croatian state, was "founded on crime" and is "a discrace and an insult to Croats." The role of Ustaše and Partisans during the World War Two is still a point of debate in Croatia.

In the United States: Former Sen. Bob Dole spoke during a Sunday ceremony commemorating the anniversary of allied victory in Europe, May 8, 1945. The ceremony was held near the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The 60th anniversary of Victory Day is scheduled to be celebrated in Russia, and other successor states of the Soviet Union, on May 9, 2005.