'As a German, I celebrate everything about VE Day'

A German vicar in Leicestershire says he was proud to celebrate 80 years since World War Two ended in Europe.

The Reverend Ludger Fremmer, from St Wilfrid's Church in Kibworth, said many people in his home country would have felt "liberated" when Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies.

However, he said his father was a prisoner of war after being captured by Soviet forces, and was not released for another four years after the end of the war.

After taking part in memorial events in the village, he said the 80th anniversary had been an important occasion for reminding the world about the value of peace.

Mr Fremmer said: "Our history makes us what we are, and for me as a German I celebrate everything that we celebrated when we remember the milestones from the end of the war, because for me I always think that nobody really wins a war, everyone loses.

"I think what the British forces did, what the Allied forces did, when they had to fight back against the [Nazi] regime in Germany, they in the end liberated the German people too, and so for me, it's a reason to celebrate and remember."

While the 80th anniversary of VE Day is the centre of celebrations and commemorations across Europe, Mr Fremmer said the reaction in Germany in 1945 would have been "very mixed".

"I think relief would be part of it, relief it's finally ending, because everyone was suffering during that time," he said.

"It took a long time before it was rebuilt and before it became really a liberation for everyone, but where we are today is a result of that day, where this hostility's ended, the Nazis had to give up, they had to be defeated.

"I think many Germans would have either been in fear because they were part of the Nazi party, but many others were glad that freedom was coming."

Mr Fremmer's father had been fighting near Stalingrad on the eastern front when he was taken away as a prisoner of war, where he was forced to work in coal mines.

"Many didn't survive, many didn't come home, [but] he somehow was resilient enough to make it," he said.

"Eventually it was negotiated with the Russian people that they would release those prisoners too, but it was a difficult thing to come after the war, after such a long time."

Mr Fremmer said some of his "most special memories" in 18 years at the parish have been hosting memorial events for the community.

With the 80th anniversary of VE Day marked by rising tensions around the world, he hopes the commemorations of a landmark moment in Europe's history can help the pursuit of a lasting peace.

"I think all of us in Europe - whether German, whether British, whatever we are - we all want to make sure this never happens again," he said.

"We want to make sure that there isn't an opportunity for any kind of evil to rise up, extremism to rise up and take over, and we need to guard that.

"We need to remember - if we don't remember we will not learn, we will make the same mistakes again."

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