Parliament president says Germans needed time to find end of WWII was liberation

Germany says WWII’s end was liberation

BERLIN — The president of Germany’s parliament says when the Allies won World War II 65 years ago it was not seen as liberation by many of his countrymen but everyone recognizes that now.

Norbert Lammert commemorated the official end of the war in Europe May 8, 1945 — Victory Europe Day — at the beginning the parliamentary session Friday.

He says only those who had suffered directly from Nazi terror realized immediately the Allied victory over Hitler’s Germany was a liberation.

He says many others “needed a long time to be certain, but they are today.”

Lammert says though freedom was brought from the outside Germans have now defended it for 65 years.