A first impression

Verdun - for the German and the French nation a symbol of their brotherhood
(in 843 AD the Empire of Charlemagne was divided by his successors), 
but since 1916
even more 
a symbol of the atrocities and the violence of the First World War.

 

Here, an estimated number of 800.000 soldiers on both sides were slaughtered, 
with almost no immediate result for a decision in this outbreak of European violence
(apart from the military and psychological fatigue on both sides).







In the Ossuaire de Douaumont (German: Gebeinhaus)
there lay 130.000 corpses of French and German soldiers.



The memorial is also known for another aspect of French-German history:

in 1984 French president Francois Mitterand and the German chancellor Helmut Kohl
sent a strong signal of
reconciliation
between the two nations around the world.



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