UN General Assembly
1957

113. By proceeding to the settlement of this highly complex problem with the German Government, the French Government’s idea was to wipe out the past. In the two world wars which cost the human race so much in material and moral destruction, the antagonism between France and Germany played a major role. We hope, and we are determined, that this antagonism shall finally disappear. 114. Obviously it was not easy for our peoples to forget so many painful memories. Nevertheless, anyone who visits Europe today will bear witness to the fact that we are not giving ourselves up to fruitless bitterness and that our two peoples want to shape a future of friendship and understanding out of the very sufferings which once divided them. This attitude can only be a source of gratification for the other peoples of the world because harmony between France and Germany and, in a wider sense, among the peoples of a once divided Europe, is one of the soundest and most stable guarantees for peace.