MAY 8. This May 8, 2023 is once again a public holiday, but it has not always been the case since 1945 and the end of the Second World War. Why is this date controversial, what is the origin of this day off and what will be the program of commemorations this year?
[Mis à jour le 5 mai 2023 à 11h54] Double commemoration program for Emmanuel Macron this Monday, May 8, 2023. The President of the Republic will take part in the traditional ceremony in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in the morning before heading to Lyon. According to BFM TV, Emmanuel Macron is expected at the former Montluc prison in Lyon, a symbolic place of the Resistance against Nazism and which notably housed Jean Moulin’s last days in France before his transfer to Germany and his supposed death. at Metz station on July 8, 1943.
May 8 is a day with multiple meanings. This day was only declared a public holiday in 1953, eight years after the end of the conflict with 60 million deaths. If it has become the date symbol of the end of the Second World War in Europe, the reality is much more complex. May 8 also obscures the tragic memory of the massacres of Sétif, in Algeria. For its part, the USSR and then Russia used to commemorate the end of the “Great Patriotic War” the next day, May 9.
May 8 has been adopted as the day to commemorate Germany’s surrender in World War II. However, the reality is much more complex. Firstly because this event marks the end of the Second World War only in Europe, the conflict still continuing for four months in the Pacific, between Japan and the United States. Then because different acts of capitulation were signed at different times between the 7th and the 9th mayaccording to the chosen temporal referent.
In any case, the beginning of May 1945 marks the collapse of the Third Reich. On April 30, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his chancellery bunker, while Soviet soldiers were in Berlin. Joseph Goebbels attempts to contact the Allies in order to sign an armistice. Unable to establish the link and refusing an unconditional surrender, he killed himself with his wife and children on May 1. The following day, the Battle of Berlin ended with the capitulation of German General Helmuth Weidling and the men in charge of the defense of the capital. From 4 to 6 May, all remaining Nazi forces (in the Netherlands, North Germany, Denmark, Bavaria, Breslau) surrender to the Allies. Herman Göring, the highest living Nazi dignitary, surrenders to American authorities on the German-Austrian border.
There are actually two capitulation documents: the first capitulation of May 7, 1945, in Reims, and the second capitulation of May 8, 1945, in Berlin. The Grand Admiral Karl Donitz was appointed Reich President by Hitler in his will. At the head of a Provisional Reich Government, he attempts to negotiate a series of partial surrenders to Western allies, in order to be able to continue the fight in the east against the Soviet troops. The Americans refuse to compromise. The German general Alfred Jodl, sent by Dönitz, signs the capitulation on May 7 at 2:41 am. This historic moment took place in a hall of the Technical and Modern College of Reimswhich was then the HQ of the Allied forces.
Only, this signature is not to the liking of Stalin, who regrets the absence of high Soviet representatives during this signature. A second capitulation is organized on May 8 in the evening in Karlshorst, near Berlin. This time, it is the Supreme Commander of the Red Army, Georgy Zhukov, who presides over the signing. It was Wilhelm Keitel, supreme commander of the German armed forces, who signed the capitulation. It comes into effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8. In Moscow time, this time corresponds to May 9 at 01:01 in the morning. Today is May 9 which is celebrated as the day of the German surrender in Russia.
Officially, the name of the holiday corresponding to May 8 is “Victory of 1945”. The use of the word armistice, as in the expression “armistice of 1945”, found on some calendars, is not correct. Indeed, an armistice is a convention signed by governments. It ends an armed conflict in time of war, but does not end the state of war. It is this type of document that was signed on November 11, 1918 in the wagon of Rethondes, starting a cease-fire and the negotiations which will lead to the Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany and the Allies. In 1945, it is indeed a capitulation of the Third Reich. Indeed, it is a pure and simple surrender of a belligerent, the end of the fighting and the state of war. Hence the name “victory of 1945” and not “armistice of 1945”.
On May 8, 1945, at 3 p.m., the bells rang to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe. General de Gaulle himself announces the German capitulation in a radio address. Everywhere in France, scenes of joy accompany May 8 and 9, which are exceptionally public holidays to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany. There then remained German soldiers in France (around the ports of Dunkirk, Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, in particular). The question of commemorations arises very quickly. Government and veterans hesitate between establishing a single date – intended to celebrate the victories of 1918 and 1945 – and setting up a ceremony specific to the Second World War.
Law n°46-934 of May 7, 1946 fixes May 8 (if it is a Sunday) or the Sunday following this date as the commemorations of the victory of 1945. Until then, May 8 was associated with the feast of Jeanne D’Arc (to see further). It was in 1953 that May 8 really became an instituted public holiday, in the same way as November 11th, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls. In 1959, a decree seeking to limit the number of non-working days sends the French back to work. And in 1975, the President of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, removes any official character from the date. His gesture seeks to mark Franco-German reconciliation, but irritates many veterans. It is finally François Mitterrand who gives back to May 8 its character of public holiday. There law n°81-893 of October 2, 1981 add this day to the list of non-working days in the labor code. This day is not celebrated in Great Britain, the United States or Germany.
May 8 is also an essential day of remembrance in Franco-Algerian relations. It is indeed on May 8, 1945, the massacres of Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata began, in an Algeria then colonized by France. The drama kicks off on May 8. A demonstration by Algerian nationalists, demanding the independence of their country, is organized on the sidelines of a procession celebrating the victory of the Allies. They demand in particular the release of their leader – Messali Hadj – leader of the PPA (Algerian Popular Party), imprisoned by the French authorities. These demand that the demonstrators carry neither weapons nor the Algerian flag.
During the demonstration, in the city of Sétif, a young Muslim scout brandished an Algerian flag in the heart of a district largely populated by a population of European origin. The police try to remove the flag and shots break out between demonstrators and police. A 26-year-old young man, Algerian flag in hand, is shot dead by a policeman. Panic and confusion increased as indigenous Muslims and populations of European descent exchanged gunfire. The toll exceeds 20 dead on each side. In Guelma, the police shoot, killing a demonstrator. In the countryside, riots against populations of European origin broke out: 102 people were killed. The government, led by General de Gaulle, sends the army on the spot. The crackdown – which lasts until May 22 – is terrible : summary executions, bombardments of villages, ceremonies of “submission” to the French flag. The official toll established by the French authorities reports 1,000 dead. In reality, the balance sheet would be five to ten times higher according to historians.
May 8 is also the date of the feast of Joan of Arc. It was indeed on May 8, 1429 that an army, led by Jeanne D’Arc, managed to deliver the city of Orleans, besieged by the English. Every year, the Johannine celebrations of Orléans celebrate this event, culminating in a grand parade through the streets of the city center on May 8. In 2015, the Centre-Val de Loire region and the town hall of the city requested the integration of these festivities into the intangible heritage of France, before considering a request for classification by Unesco.
In a different genre, May 8 is also a key day for the French nationalist right. At the beginning of the 20th century, the extreme right, led by Action Française, organized its rally on May 8 in front of the statue of Joan of Arc in Paris. In the 1970s, the National Front participated in these processions, before taking the lead. It was Jean-Marie Le Pen who decided to move this annual event from May 8 to May 1 in 1988: it was then a question of holding a meeting to influence the in-between rounds of the presidential election. . Since then, the rally organized by the National Front continues to be held on May Day. Other far-right groups continue to parade on May 8.