Dear Veterans,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,
Today is a day of remembrance and of gratefulness.
It is a day for the people of Luxembourg, together with the people of Belgium, to express their gratitude to the American soldiers who fought the Battle of the Bulge to liberate them from the Nazi Oppressor. Many of them lost their lives on our soil, fighting for freedom and democracy. Others survived, changed forever. Some were Luxembourgers (and Belgians) and I would like to pay tribute to them as well.
Today our gratitude, beyond symbolic, will receive a tangible presence in the United States – in Arlington National Cemetery.
Along with the existing monuments in the Luxembourgish and Belgian Ardennes, this Memorial will remind us of a fierce and brutal battle of WWII, the last desperate rebound of the German Reich in Europe, turning a large part of the Luxembourg territory into a last battleground, and one of the Allies’ final bids for victory on the Western Front. I am most honoured to pay a tribute to the American Veterans of the Battle for the Ardennes gathered here, and to their comrades in arms who gave their lives liberating our country, ensuring a better future for all of us – indeed, a future at all!
Many of them are buried in the American military cemetery of Hamm, in Luxembourg. It has become a place of homage to the brave American soldiers. They lie reunited, with General George S. Patton, the legendary commander of the 3rd Army who was in Luxembourg during the Battle. His son, Major General George S. Patton, is now buried in Arlington National Cemetary, where we inaugurate today the Battle of the Bulge Memorial. Dear Veterans, one more wheel has come full circle!
As the Secretary of State for Culture, I am here today to represent the grateful Nation of Luxembourg. And as the youngest member of our Government, I am also here as a representative of the post-war generation, we who have not experienced the terrifying Nazi dictatorship – unlike our parents.
My own parents and grand-parents have lived through these terrible times. Like many of their compatriots, they had to evacuate their villages and homes, in their region even months before the Battle of the Bulge, returning home only quite some time after it ended, having lost goods, harvest and cattle. They have recounted their experiences to us and transmitted their abjection against totalitarianism and oppression.
Nowadays, the younger generations hardly know any survivors of the war personally. But we celebrate commemorations and hold other ceremonies in Luxembourg every year to keep alive the remembrance of those times when peace and freedom were absent: it now is our duty to convey to the young people the memory of those times of war, when there was no freedom, no democracy, no respect for human rights, no freedom of expression, no pluralism. The restoration of these, we owe to you, our Liberators. And we owe to you to preserve these precious values in the future.
Europe has learnt the lessons: Uniting for the sake of peace, reconciliation, stability and democracy!
The construction of a European Union and the consolidation of strong transatlantic ties is the best tribute Europe could pay to its American and Allied Liberators! And the best guarantee for a peaceful future with common democratic values. We will pass these on to the younger generations! – on behalf of your merits, dear veterans.
Today is a day of respect, recognition and tribute to the veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and to all those Allied soldiers who fought for a free and democratic Europe.
The people of Luxembourg have not forgotten and will not forget your valour and your sacrifice!
Thank you very much!