The Armistice
A meditation on peace, remembrance, and the moment when silence fell
Today is May 26, 2026
81 years since V-E Day (May 8, 1945)
Voices of Remembrance
Those who witnessed, survived, fought, and wrote.
"We shall never surrender"
— Winston Churchill
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
"In war there is no substitute for victory, but peace is our real victory"
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
"France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war"
— Charles de Gaulle
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil"
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart"
— Anne Frank
"Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it"
— Primo Levi
"For the dead and the living, we must bear witness"
— Elie Wiesel
"The banality of evil"
— Hannah Arendt
"In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer"
— Albert Camus
"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity"
— Simone Weil
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one's attitude"
— Viktor Frankl
Songs of the Era
Music that carried hope through the darkness:
We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn, 1939
The White Cliffs of Dover - Vera Lynn, 1942
Lili Marlene - Marlene Dietrich, 1944
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square - 1940
I'll Be Seeing You - Billie Holiday, 1944
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Andrews Sisters, 1941
Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree - Andrews Sisters, 1942
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland, 1939
In the Mood - Glenn Miller, 1939
Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller, 1939