Germany invited to D-Day celebrations

2004 will be the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, an Allied invasion of Normandy that opened up a Western Front against Nazi Germany, and then Soviet Russia. In a deeply conciliatory move, the French authorities have invited German delegates - including Gerhard Schroeder, the current German president - for the first time. There has been inevitable controversy, with some politicians and former soldiers angry, but the decision has been warmly welcomed elsewhere, and why not? Just as the Allied nations reflect on the past during the commemorations, so Germany can do the same. France and Germany have overcome wartime enmity and now stand as strong allies, ready to confront a divided past.