WORLD
German WWI graves desecrated in France
Baku, July 9 (AZERTAC). The French Interior Ministry made the announcement a day before the 50th anniversary of renewed Franco-German relations after World War II.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Saturday that the reconciliation between the two countries was one of the world`s most important.
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are to attend a ceremony Sunday in the French city of Reims to celebrate the reconciliation, symbolically achieved on July 8, 1962.
The desecration of the German graves happened in a cemetery some 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the spot where the two leaders will meet to celebrate their post-war ties.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls strongly condemned the vandalism at the Saint-Etienne-a-Arnes cemetery.
According to initial information, some 40 wooden steles were pulled up and some used for a camp fire.
It was not immediately possible to say whether this was a "determined action" or just the work of "irresponsible people," a spokesman at the local prefecture said.
The alert was sounded on Saturday afternoon by the small village`s town hall, a source close to the enquiry said.
More than 12,000 German soldiers who perished in the Great War lie buried at the cemetery in Saint-Etienne-a-Arnes, which extends over four hectares (10 acres).
They were among those who died in the Battle of Champagne in the first part of the 1914-18 war.