BERLIN, May 8 -- The German Bundestag and Bundesrat, two chambers of the German parliament, met on Friday for a joint session to commemorate the end of the Second World War 70 years ago.

German President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkeland her cabinet members as well as politicians from across the political spectrum have participated in a remembrance hour held Friday morning in the Bundestag.

"On May 8, 1945, a world war, which was started by a German regime with criminal intent, came to an end," Bundestag President Norbert Lammert told the session of the German legislature, noting that the Nazis' six-year siege of Europe had left more than 50 million people dead.

"May 8 was a day of liberation for the whole continent. We commemorate today the millions of victims of an unprecedented destruction campaign against other nations and peoples," Lammert said.

He also expressed honor and respect to soldiers of both Western Allies as well as the Red Army who fought to ultimately overcome the Nazis.

Lammert's words were followed by a speech by German historian Heinrich August Winkler remembering Germany's approach in dealing with its Nazi-history after the war.

"Germany has not completed dealing with its own past, and (the process) will never be ended," Winkler told the session, noting that "a responsible handling of history aims to make responsible actions possible in the present."

"Having the willingness to know the whole German history is part of our responsibility for our own country. Each generation will find their own approach to understand the past," he further said.

Following the commemoration hour at the Bundestag, President Gauck is scheduled to lay a wreath at a cemetery in Lebus for Soviet soldiers killed fighting Nazis later Friday.

Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces on May 7, 1945, in Franceand signed the paperwork for unconditional capitulation a day later in Berlin, marking the official end of the Second World War.