With ceremonies drastically scaled down due to the coronavirus, there were no schoolchildren or flag-bearers on hand to join the moment that was closed to the public but broadcast live on television.
Former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy joining a small entourage of dignitaries that included the prime minister, the minister for the armies and the mayor of Paris. However the absence of veterans was salient.
Veterans' groups disappointed
Le Souvenir Français, an association responsible for maintaining the memory of soldiers who died for France, had been pushing for flag bearers to be allowed.
Its president, Serge Barcellini, described the national commemoration as a totally disembodied ceremony.
Victory in Europe is a public holiday in France, and each year on 8 May the country’s local communes hold their own wreath-laying services attended by citizens both young and old.
This year, those commemorations were closed to the public, with mayors and prefects given strict instructions not to allow more than 10 people at any ceremony.
Some mayors asked residents to lay flowers, poems or drawings at the foot of monuments to the fallen.
75e anniversaire de la Victoire du #8Mai 1945
— Préfet des Hauts-de-Seine (@Prefet92) May 7, 2020
En raison de la situation sanitaire, les #cérémonies du #8Mai ne pourront se dérouler dans leur format habituel.
Vous pouvez néanmoins vous associer aux commémorations en pavoisant vos fenêtres ou balcons aux couleurs nationales 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/wiCwttJ911
A new way to celebrate
The Eiffel Tower was decorated with the colours of the French flag, while a limited tribute to the wartime fallen was paid by the National Assembly.
On his Twitter account, Macron encouraged French people to participate in the day by decking out their balconies in the national colours: red, white and blue.
Historians, NGOs, veterans’ groups and students involved in VE preparations have also found new ways to mark the anniversary of peace in Europe.
A virtual concert is being staged in the fortified western coastal city of Saint-Nazaire, which was under heavy Nazi occupation and was not liberated until the last day of the war in 1945.
Virus derails events across Europe
In Britain, three days of celebration – including a procession of war veterans through London – were cancelled, with British people instead invited to watch a re-broadcast of Winston Churchill's speech and an address from the Queen, as well as to participate in a two-minute silence.
In Berlin – where 8 May was declared a one-off public holiday for this year’s milestone – most people will also be marking the day from inside their homes.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to lay a wreath at the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny, while Berlin's Brandenburg Gate is expected to be lit up.
Russia's traditional Victory Day military parade, which was to be attended by Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been postponed.
This week Europe Remembers, run by the Liberation Route Europe Foundation, has been offering a platform for people to virtually converse with veterans and civilians who lived through the six year conflict. It includes a series of live streams of conversations in English, Dutch, French and German.
“Many people don’t know, or have never had the chance to speak with someone who can share first-hand accounts of life during WWII,” said the foundation’s managing director, Rémi Praud.
“This is especially true for younger generations, so we’ve organised a series of video calls with people who can describe what living through the war was like for them.
"Some of them lived through the war as children, others were adults, and we have civilians and ex-service people taking part from many places in world.”
