Secretary-General, at Concert Marking Anniversary of End of Second World War, Says Music Honours ‘Human Spirit that Has Endured So Much and Brought Us So Far’
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| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
Secretary-General, at Concert Marking Anniversary of End of Second World War, Says
Music Honours ‘Human Spirit that Has Endured So Much and Brought Us So Far’
Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a concert by the Youth Symphonic Orchestra of the Commonwealth of Independent States on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, in New York, 7 May:
It is a pleasure to greet you in this great hall of the General Assembly.
Our concert tonight marks the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
On the day the war ended… in the final hours of the battle for Berlin… the founders of the United Nations gathered halfway around the world in San Francisco.
There, they began the work of writing our United Nations Charter.
You know its noble purpose as well as I:
“To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Maestro Spivakov,
Your musicians, I know, are too young even to have parents who served in the war.
Yet all of us, tonight, know its terrible cost.
Fifty to seventy million people were killed -- more than half in the Soviet Union.
As Ambassador [Vitaly] Churkin said yesterday, there was scarcely a family that did not lose a loved one.
The physical and human destruction was beyond calculation.
You also know -- I am sure -- that something as momentous as the Second World War does not simply end.
Nothing of such sweeping scope and profound immensity vanishes without a trace.
World War II shaped our modern world.
From the dark days of the cold war, to our more promising present.
Our young friends in this orchestra;
It is fitting that as we gather for the pleasure of listening to your music -- and I hear it is very fine indeed.
World leaders are also gathered, here at the United Nations, to advance the cause of peace through nuclear disarmament.
Tonight, as you play and as we listen, please think about what we are honoring.
This most noble mission of the United Nations …
And the human spirit… that has endured so much… and brought us so far.
Please enjoy the beautiful music this evening.
Thank you.
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For information media • not an official record