France marks WWI Armistice Day

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00news that france along with many other countries around the world today of course is marking

00:05armistice day or remembrance day the end of world war one and a public holiday here you can see

00:10these live images coming into us as people prepare for those ceremonies being held in paris over the

00:16next hour or so this year the ceremony here commemorating as well the centenary of the french

00:21cornflower in fact an urn topped with a cornflower containing soil taken from 16 of the 139 first

00:28world war burial and memorial sites is to be symbolically placed on the tomb of the unknown

00:33soldier underneath the arm to triumph in just over an hour's time well we're going to cross then to

00:38our reporter antonio kerrigan who's on the champs elizé uh for us antonio we were talking uh before

00:44we came on air you were telling me that the focus uh today not solely in fact on the end of world war

00:50one yes well of course uh the 11th of november is remembered as armistice day it is today the

00:58107th anniversary of world war one ending but in france the definition the meaning of this day has

01:04evolved over the years since 1975 it was opened up to include all soldiers who lost their lives

01:11defending france and as of 2012 it was opened up again to include those also who gave their lives

01:18in overseas operations now this morning indeed there will be a specific focus on a particular group of

01:24people uh from world war ii uh now at les invalides which is a former military hospital now war museum

01:31emmanuel macron will be unveiling a plaque and holding a moment of silence for the so-called

01:36malgré nous this in french means the in spite of ourselves or against our will these were soldiers

01:42from the border regions of alsace and moselle who were forcibly conscripted into the german army

01:48uh during world war ii uh and of course the memory of world war ii has long stigmatized these

01:54individuals uh and today in this sense this is going to be a day of uh reconciliation with this

02:00painful and uncomfortable part of french history antonio you mentioned some of the different

02:06locations uh there as you were telling us but tell us about the rest of the program because it's a day

02:10that we're very used to seeing unfurl here in france but of course some of our international viewers

02:15may not know generally what tends to happen on armistice day

02:18yes so after the chapter uh at uh les invalides the president the president will make his way to

02:27the champs elysées at the foot of which uh there is a statue of george clémenceau who is of course

02:32uh the man who signed the armistice in that railway carriage in the depths of the french uh countryside

02:38in the middle of a forest uh that cold november morning um and there is a statue of him at the foot

02:44of the champs elysées where the president will lay flowers uh and pay tribute uh the president will

02:50then make his way up the champs elysées uh towards the monument behind me the act de triomphe under

02:56which there is of course uh the famous tomb of the unknown soldier the president will ceremonially

03:01inspect the troops before laying flowers at this tomb and symbolically reigniting the flame the flame

03:08has burnt there perpetually day and night uh since the 1920s in honor uh both of the fallen of the

03:15first world war but of course the widows and orphans that that terrible war left behind this will be

03:22followed by a moment of silence uh then the marseillaise and the proceedings will end with a

03:27procession uh by the cavalry of the republican guard antenna thanks very much and terry kerrigan

03:33talking to us there from the arc to triumph at the top of the champs elysées

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