Written by Carlos Taylhardat
“This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship… we were liberated from Nazi Rule.”
— Chancellor Friedrich Merz, June 5, 2025
On June 6, 2025 Normandy’s beaches once again echoed with solemn ceremonies and flyovers, the world marked the 81st anniversary of D-Day, the colossal Allied invasion that began to shatter Nazi domination in Western Europe. For Germany, June 6 holds poignant meaning: the start of the downfall of a genocidal regime and the restoration of democracy. Chancellor Friedrich Merz reminded President Donald Trump—on the eve of his Oval Office visit—that “this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship… we were liberated from Nazi Rule”. Across the Channel, 101-year-old U.S. veteran Harold Terens, addressing the crowd at Colleville-sur-Mer, underscored D-Day’s enduring moral imperative: “We fought for freedom—and we must never take it for granted,”.
Amidst these historic recollections, a different drama has unfolded in Washington: over the past three days, President Trump and Elon Musk have traded barbs online—Trump lambasting Musk’s opposition to a spending bill, Musk responding with calls for impeachment and threats to NASA contracts—revealing a fraying of once-cordial ties. As D-Day’s memory reminded leaders of collective sacrifice, the White House saw yet another testament to how 21st-century digital warfare can rival the ferocity of 1944’s beaches.
Below, we explore how the lessons of D-Day—collective security and moral responsibility—continue to shape global policy. We then examine their reverberations in today’s two largest conflicts: the Israel/Palestine struggle and the Ukraine/Russia war. Finally, we consider President Trump’s recent warning about “monster” nuclear weapons—echoing atomic-age anxieties that began with Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and how it still affects our World today.
D-Day and Germany’s Liberation
On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops—including 73,000 Americans and 83,000 British and Canadian soldiers—landed on five Normandy beaches under withering fire, in what Winston Churchill would later call “the greatest amphibious assault in history”. By nightfall, Allied forces had secured footholds at Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, despite 4,414 known Allied deaths on D-Day itself and thousands more wounded. French civilian casualties in the broader Battle of Normandy soared to 20,000, as towns and villages paid a tragic price for liberation.
For Germans, D-Day’s impact was immediate: reports of successful landings in Normandy spurred resistance within occupied Europe and eroded the illusion of Nazi invincibility. By May 8, 1945—less than a year later—Berlin capitulated, and V-E Day (Victory in Europe) was declared. Yet until the Normandy beaches fell, no one could be certain Germany’s defeat was imminent. As Chancellor Merz told President Trump on June 5, 2025:
“This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship… we were liberated from Nazi Rule.” .— Chancellor Friedrich Merz, June 5, 2025. Five point three million Germans died and in most cases the average person was as much of a victim as the rest of the World. A World War raged by a few affecting all.
Merz’s reflection underscores that D-Day did more than free France—it liberated all of Europe, including Germans who had suffered under Hitler’s tyranny and repression. At Colleville-sur-Mer, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth affirmed that “the valour displayed here echoes today—in our alliances and our defence of freedom.” At the same time, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu noted that “the torch of liberty passes from generation to generation” apnews.com.
How WWII’s Victory Shaped the Postwar World
Collective Security: The UN and NATO
The immense scale of WWII revealed that piecemeal alliances could not deter totalitarian aggression. In its aftermath, the Allies created the United Nations (October 1945), vowing to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The UN Charter empowered the Security Council with collective authority to maintain peace, punish aggression, and provide for humanitarian relief.
Just four years later, in April 1949, NATO was formed to bind North America and Western Europe in a mutual-defence pact: Article 5 committed each member to regard an attack on one as an attack on all. With Germany’s rearmament (under stringent oversight) underway, NATO’s creation cemented an era of collective deterrence—a core lesson from 1944: only unified defence could prevent a repeat of Europe’s descent into war. Today’s NATO still upholds that standard, expanding to include Eastern European states once under Soviet control.
Moral Responsibility: Holocaust Remembrance and Human Rights
The Holocaust’s genocide—six million Jews and millions of Roma, disabled persons, and political dissidents murdered—shocked the conscience of the world. At Nuremberg (1945–46), Nazi war criminals were prosecuted for crimes against humanity, establishing a precedent that atrocity would not go unpunished. Meanwhile, in December 1948, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. These postwar milestones codified a moral imperative: even in war, civilian targeting was impermissible, and genocide must be unequivocally condemned.
Lesson 1: Collective Security in Today’s Crises
NATO and the Ukraine/Russia Conflict
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the world tested the very postwar norms born of D-Day. NATO allies—invoking the principle of collective deterrence—provided Ukraine with defensive weapons, intelligence sharing, and economic sanctions against Russia. While Ukraine is not a NATO member, Article 5’s spirit guided member states to bolster their eastern flank, deploying troops to Poland and the Baltic states, invoking WWII’s lesson that failure to unify invites aggression.
Under Chancellor Merz, Germany has moved to bolster NATO commitments: in May 2025, the Bundestag approved a €500 billion defence and infrastructure fund, exempting military spending above 1 percent of GDP from the debt brake—an unprecedented reversal of post-war fiscal orthodoxy. Merz declared, “Europe must defend itself; we cannot outsource our security,” echoing D-Day’s lesson that collective will can defeat tyranny.
UN Diplomacy in the Israel/Palestine Conflict
The UN—born of WWII’s failures—still serves as the primary forum for Israel/Palestine diplomacy. On June 1, 2025, the UN General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a resumption of two-state negotiations, reflecting D-Day’s lesson that multilateral institutions can—and must—mediate conflicts . Yet long-standing vetoes by permanent Security Council members (the U.S. and Russia) often stymie decisive action. Still, agencies like UNRWA and UNICEF deliver critical aid to 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, embodying the postwar vow to protect civilians even amid stalemated peace efforts.
Lesson 2: Moral Responsibility in a Complex World
Safeguarding Civilians in Gaza
The October 2023 Hamas attack against southern Israel prompted an Israeli military offensive in Gaza that has drawn global scrutiny over civilian casualties. By March 2025, over 30,000 Palestinian civilians had died (United Nations figures), renewing comparisons to WWII’s urban devastation. International outcry led to aid corridors being established, though only intermittently, to feed and shelter 1 million displaced Gazans. Critics point to the post-D-Day norm that armies must distinguish combatants from noncombatants; some Western governments have echoed that “security is inseparable from humanitarian safeguards”.
Upholding Sovereignty in Ukraine
Since the invasion, reports of atrocities in Bucha, Mariupol, and other occupied towns have spotlighted alleged war crimes, prompting ICC investigations and sanctions on Russian officials. This mirrors Nuremberg’s legacy: that leaders face accountability for targeting civilians. Western allies have sanctioned 200 Russian oligarchs and more than 1,000 individuals for enabling or condoning crimes, signalling that D-Day’s lesson—“never again” to mass murder—still resonates.
Trump on Nuclear Weapons: “Monster Nukes Could End the World”
“No one ever talks about the dangers of a nuclear weapon, which could happen tomorrow… These ‘monster’ nukes… could be the end of the world.”
— President Donald Trump, April 2025 m.economictimes.com
In a Fox News interview on April 27, 2025, President Trump returned to the uneasy echoes of August 1945, warning that “monster” nuclear arsenals held by the U.S. and Russia posed “the greatest threat to humanity,” m.economictimes.com. He lamented the staggering $50 billion annual maintenance cost for U.S. nukes and urged renewed arms-control talks with Moscow and Beijing—reflecting a belated recognition that, once unleashed, atomic weapons “leave no survivors” m.economictimes.comreuters.com.
His remarks recall President Truman’s fateful decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), which claimed over 200,000 lives and ushered in the nuclear age. While some historians argue those bombings hastened Japan’s surrender, others contend they heralded the dawn of possible mutual annihilation, prompting doctrines like Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)—the logical extension of D-Day’s lesson that total war against civilians must be prevented at all costs.
Since 1945, nuclear arms-control treaties—the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), SALT I & II (1972/1979), and New START (2010)—sought to contain the nuclear threat. Yet, with New START set to expire in February 2026 and Russia’s suspension of participation, the spectre of a renewed arms race looms. Trump’s “monster nukes” warning underscores that, eighty-one years after D-Day, the imperative remains unchanged: nuclear war, unlike any conventional battle, would extinguish entire societies.
Two Conflicts, One Legacy
Israel/Palestine: Between Security and Conscience
After Hamas’s October 2023 assault, Israel invoked its right to self-defence, launching an offensive in Gaza. International humanitarian law—born of WWII’s atrocities—demands that belligerents differentiate combatants from civilians. Yet Gaza’s densely packed urban terrain rendered that principle nearly impossible to uphold. As French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna remarked at a UN Security Council session, “We cannot allow the carnage of civilians to repeat the mistakes of history”.
D-Day taught that ill-defined objectives and civilian underestimation breed catastrophe. Today’s policy—whether Israel’s siege strategy or Palestinian militant tactics—wrestles between deeply entrenched narratives of liberation and survival. Post-D-Day norms posit that any sustainable solution must reconcile Israel’s security imperatives with Palestinian rights, as enshrined in the 1948 UN partition plan, which itself was a direct outcome of Holocaust memory and the imperative for a Jewish homeland.
Ukraine/Russia: Europe’s New Front Line
Russia’s February 2022 invasion defied the post-1945 taboo against conquest by force. Ukraine’s defence has relied on NATO-supplied weapons systems: HIMARS, Stinger missiles, and Western drones—tools unimaginable in 1944. Yet the principle remains: small nations must be able to repel aggressors through collective support. As U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin declared at a June 3 NATO briefing, “Ukraine stands as a testament to what happens when we uphold the sanctity of borders and refuse to bow to aggression”.
German Chancellor Merz has emphasized that “our solidarity in 1944 binds us today to stand with Ukraine—because freedom is never free”. By surpassing NATO’s 2 percent GDP defence target and providing $8 billion in military aid thus far, Germany returns to a leadership role once denounced as improbable in postwar Europe. In this respect, D-Day’s legacy is clear: when the West stands together, tyranny can be repelled.
Conclusion
D-Day’s anniversary serves as more than retrospective pageantry; it is a living reminder that collective security and moral responsibility must guide policy. The beaches of Normandy—where triumph and tragedy intertwined—gave birth to institutions and norms that still inform responses to the Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia conflicts. As Chancellor Merz observed, “we were liberated from Nazi Rule,” and today, the same spirit of solidarity and respect for human dignity must underpin our efforts to avert modern horrors. Yet, as President Trump’s warnings about “monster nukes” attest, the march of technology and the fracturing of alliances threaten to erode these hard-won gains.
On June 6, 2025, as the number of living D-Day veterans dwindles, their stories—and the values they fought to defend—must remain vivid. From Harold Terens’s admonition, “We fought for freedom—and we must never take it for granted,” to Merz’s plea to remember that Germany itself was once liberated, D-Day’s legacy endures as a compass in a perilous century. In an age of social-media feuds and geopolitical fracturing, the lessons of Normandy beckon: freedom demands sacrifice, security demands unity, and peace demands that moral imperatives transcend realpolitik—lest we repeat the mistakes of 1944 on an even grimmer scale.
Sources
- D-Day veterans return to Normandy to mark 81st anniversary of landings — AP News, June 6, 2025. apnews.com
- D-Day was ‘not a pleasant day for you,’ Trump tells German leader — USA Today (Yahoo News), June 6 2025. yahoo.com
- Trump Drops Bonkers D-Day Rant on German Leader in Oval Office — The Daily Beast, June 6, 2025. thedailybeast.com
- Drones, doubts as US allies look to NATO summit — Reuters, May 30, 2025.
- Germany’s new chancellor, Merz, to meet Trump in Washington on… — Reuters, May 31, 2025. reuters.com
- Germany’s Merz to Face Trump in Oval Office on Inaugural Trip — Reuters, June 5, 2025. apnews.com
- Germany’s new chancellor, Merz, secures €1 trillion defence/infrastructure fund — Reuters, May 18, 2025.
- Germany launches Ministry for Digitalization and Government Modernization — Reuters, May 7, 2025.
- Germany debates firewall against far-right parties — Reuters, May 15, 2025.
- Merz labels China’s ‘increasing threat’ and calls for French/British nuclear sharing — Reuters, March 25, 2025.
- Merz doubles down on Ukraine support, commits new German military aid — Reuters, May 10, 2025. tiktok.com
- 10 key numbers that sum up Trump’s first 100 days — NPR, April 29, 2025. news.yahoo.com
- Trump expands travel ban to 19 countries — The Washington Post, June 4, 2025. theguardian.com
- Trump reinstates and raises steel/aluminum tariffs to 50 percent — Reuters, June 2, 2025.
- Trump puts 25 percent tariff on European auto imports ahead of July deadline — Reuters, June 2, 2025.
- Trump demands NATO allies to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence — Reuters, May 3,0 2025.
- ‘Beyond anything…’: Trump warns of ‘big monster’ nuclear weapons that pose ‘greatest’ threat to US — The Economic Times (via Reuters), April 2025. m.economictimes.com
- Russia sees bleak prospects for expiring nuclear arms pact given ‘ruined’ ties with US — Reuters, June 6 2025. reuters.com
- Trump: Putin said Russia would respond to Ukraine drone attacks — Reuters, June 4, 2025. reuters.com
- Putin is ready to help Trump on Iran nuclear negotiations, the Kremlin says — Reuters, June 5, 2025. reuters.com
- Presidential Message on the 81st Anniversary of D-Day, 2025 — The White House, June 6, 2025. whitehouse.gov
