A decisive turning point in the history of our continent Halward Lange, Norway's Foreign Minister

Norway's Foreign Minister, Halward Lange, who spent two years in Ravensbruck concentration camp, called the entry of Germany into Nato "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent".

Some ministers also paid tribute to Dr Konrad Adenauer, German Chancellor since 1946.

In response, Dr Adenauer said in German: "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the words of welcome you have addressed to the federal government and to the German nation.

"All your words reflected the importance of the hour and the event. You will realise that this moment fills me with deep emotion. The German people have paid harshly for the horrors which were committed in their name by evil leadership and have paid these horrors with unlimited suffering.

"Today, everywhere in Germany, peace and freedom are felt to be the greatest treasures as was true in the best periods of her history."

German flag over Nato HQ

This morning, the red, yellow and black German flag was raised at a military ceremony at Nato headquarters in Rocquencourt, France.

A British band played the German national anthem - better known as "Deutschland ueber Alles". A French band had refused to play the music because of its Nazi connotations.

Professor Hans Speidel, former general of the Third Reich and ex chief-of-staff to Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, witnessed the ceremony alongside United States General Alfred Gruenther and Major General Rene Lehr of France.

Herr Speidel was implicated in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler and spent the end of the war in a German prison.

Formal ceremonies over, the Nato members will now discuss the agenda of a proposed conference with the Soviet Union on the future of Germany and disarmament.

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