Exactly 60 years ago, my grandfather, German Staff Sergeant Kurt Franz, was sitting in his favourite café in the French town of Cherbourg in Normandy. Like so many German soldiers, the former dedicated high-school teacher was glad that he hadn't been sent to Russia. Having had to leave his wife and his two young children behind in Berlin, he could at least live relatively safely in France - a country whose language he spoke and whose culture and people he adored. But on the evening of June 5th, 1944, Kurt Franz was uneasy. A letter that he wrote to my grandmother on that very eve tells about his sense of foreboding in a frightening way:

It was the last letter my grandfather ever wrote. He died six days later in central Normandy, near the village of
St. Floxel, and lies now buried in the German war cemetery of Orglandes.

I have been to Normandy, have seen his grave and have visited all the sites where "Operation Overlord" changed the fate of Europe, and ultimately the whole world. It was a deeply moving experience, and on a day like today, when the 60th anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy, known as "D-Day", lies ahead, I want to express my deep gratitude to all the brave men who crossed the Channel that night, ready and willing to give their lives for the freedom of Europe and of my country that lay oppressed by the most dreadful of regimes that ever ruled a nation.

Although my mother lost her father and my grandmother her loving husband, for me, June 6th, 1944, is and will always be an example of outstanding bravery and devotion to the just cause.

This year, Germany has first been invited to participate in the official festivities, side by side with her former enemies. This gesture, deeply appreciated by most of my German fellow citizens, shows what remembering those decisive events is all about: