Representatives of the association of war veterans were given silver commemorative medals by Senate chairman Premysl Sobotka at a popular celebration on Monday, symbolically ending the anniversary of Victory in Prague.

Along with war veterans and politicians, the celebrations in the Senate's Valdstejnska zahrada garden were attended by 1,000 people.

"The figures characterizing World War Two are well-known, but one can never measure and statistically enumerate human suffering, fear and desperation experienced by the people from the occupied countries. Like other European countries, Czechoslovakia was on the verge of its demise," Sobotka said.

The deputy chairman of the Czech Freedom Fighters, Milan Grus, stressed that in these days, it was impossible to only remember the end of war. "For a resistance fighter, the 60th anniversary is not only the end of war, but also the anniversary of the liberation from the Nazi occupation and oppression and the allied victory of Nazism," Grus said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2005)