A moving ceremony commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Victory of May 8, 1945, took place this Friday in Quimper. The event was presided over by Prefect Louis Le Franc and Vice-Admiral Jean-François Quéréat, and was marked by many messages of hope in these darker times. Each speaker also drew parallels between the two eras.
Several wreath-laying ceremonies were carried out in front of the war memorial, including one by the mayor of Quimper, Isabelle Assih.
Representatives of the UFAC (Federal Union of Veterans) and the UNC (National Union of Combatants) were present. “On May 8, 1945, in Reims and Berlin, the army of Nazi Germany surrendered. Nazi barbarism was finally defeated. May 8, 1945 brought hope for peace. However, today we witness the trivialization of ideas that led us to the abominations of the Second World War, disregarding the lessons of the past. Religious fanaticism, terrorism, the resurgence of nationalisms… The return of war in all corners of the world reminds us that peace and freedom are never definitively acquired,” said one participant.
A section of the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan military school was also present for the ceremony in Quimper.
Touching texts were read by students from Brizeux. Three Brizeux high school students and a Sainte-Thérèse middle school student read poignant texts about the victory and the end of the war, citing resistance fighters and intellectuals Joseph Kessel and Maurice Druon.
“Never before has expiation been so terrible, complete, and perfect. Its approach has never been so precisely measured and visible. There is an elemental majesty, a sacred reality that has not yet been reached in our memory of the unhappiness of men,” recited high school student Alexis Pitaud.
The German playwright Bertolt Brecht was also quoted. “If we all say no, then war will be peace, and peace the future. People, you are the destiny of the world, remember our strength.”
More than sixty people attended the May 8, 1945 ceremony on the François Mitterrand esplanade.
The French Memory Association highlighted a figure from Finistère, Micheline Le Bot, born in 1927 and deceased in 2025, who joined the resistance at the age of 17 and carried out intelligence and sabotage missions, including derailing a train from Quimper to Brest. “She left behind a legacy of life for France. Her example reminds us that duty is not an abstract idea, it is a concrete commitment. Always essential.”
A section of the 2024 promotion of the naval school was present at the ceremony.
Finally, the prefect mentioned Charles de Gaulle’s speech to the National Assembly on May 15, 1945. “To transmit this moral strength, the first weapon of a people who knew how, on the brink of disaster, to stand back up, a people, ours, that neither military misfortune, nor the failure of institutions, nor lies, nor violence could detract from its eternal vocation.”
Three medals were awarded during the ceremony: Captain of Frigate Solène Rovarc’h, Knight of the Legion of Honor, Reserve Battalion Chief Jean-Marc Collet, and Master Chief Reserve Yann Auffret, Knights of the National Order of Merit.
