Symbolic moment of franco-german reconciliation
French President François Mitterrand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl held hands during a 1984 Franco-German ceremony to honour the dead at the Douaumont Ossuary, near Verdun. The gesture became a symbol of the reconciliation of Franco-German relations.
The handholding took place on September 22, 1984, in front of a catafalque placed at the entrance to the Douaumont Ossuary, during a ceremony to honour those killed in World War I and World War II.
Unplanned, the President of the French Republic, François Mitterrand, spontaneously held hands with the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Helmut Kohl, as they stood together to listen to the French anthem, immediately after the German anthem had been played.
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