War, Peace, and Narratives of European History since 1914

On 8 May 2020, a sombre commemoration took place in the heart of Berlin. It marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. The day was supposed to be an occasion to gather leaders of some of the principal combatants of that struggle, but Covid-19 meant that there would be no crowds and no foreign dignitaries. Instead, the political leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany gathered for a quiet wreath-laying at the austereNeue Wache on the Unter den Linden, in front of K€athe Kollwitz’s Piet a. The German Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (born 1956), gave a speech that emphasised the multiple transformations of Europe since 1945. Reflecting on the slow but steady progress that the successor generations made, he reminded the small audience that: