The politics of commemorating 80 years of D-Day

Achille Muller, 98, last survivor of the Free French Forces, walks with French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony to pay homage to the Saint Marcel maquis, a force of French Resistance fighters during World War II and the French Special Air Service (SAS) paratroopers, in Plumelec, Brittany, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, 5 June 2024. © Benoit Tessier/Pool via Reuters

Since the 1980s, France has used D-Day commemorations to reaffirm unity with its allies. This year’s 80th celebration comes amid a complex geopolitical situation.

In the early hours of 6 June 1944, more than 150,000 American, British, Canadian and other Allied nations’ troops landed on five beaches along the Normandy coastline, launching a massive invasion that was the first step towards the liberation of France and western Europe from Nazi occupation.