Prague, May 8 (CTK) – President Milos Zeman, Senate chairman Milan Stech, Chamber of Deputies chairman Radek Vondracek, Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Chief of Staff Ales Opata attended the ceremony commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the end of World War Two at the National Memorial on Tuesday.
The wreath-laying ceremony was also attended by Defence Minister Karla Slechtova and Prague Archbishop Cardinal Dominik Duka and war veterans.
The Czech Republic celebrates May 8 as the national holiday.
“A am very glad that all politicians have accepted my invitation and came here,” Slechtova said.
She said it was a good thing that the war veterans had also taken part in the ceremony.
“I love them, these are the guys who fought in World War Two, now telling us all they experienced,” Slechtova said.
Opata said the Victory Day was of major importance not only for the military, but for the whole state.
“People had to sustain much suffering, many of whom were killed,” he told journalists.
The Czech national anthem was first played and then the senior elected officials and representatives of various associations and war veterans laid the wreathes to the memorial.
Two JAS-39 Gripen fighters and a Challenger plane flew over those present.
After the end of the ceremony, Slechtova gave the top Defence Ministry decorations to ten war veterans.
Commemorative events on the Victory Day are held across the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Czechoslovak troops fought both on the Western and Eastern fronts during World War Two.
