End of World War II in Europe
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the German Instrument of Surrender in Karlshorst, Berlin on the 8th of May 1945. This document marked an unconditional surrender to the Allies and ended major fighting across Europe. Soviet troops had captured Berlin two days earlier on the 2nd of May. Some military units continued to fight after this date. The Courland Pocket in western Latvia surrendered on the 10th of May. Fighting also persisted during the Prague offensive in Czechoslovakia until the 11th of May. The Battle of Odžak concluded on the 25th of May with a Yugoslav Partisan victory. Allied forces took large numbers of Axis prisoners throughout April 1945. The total number of prisoners taken on the Western Front reached 1,500,000. Over 800,000 German soldiers surrendered on the Eastern Front in the three months leading up to the end of April. Early April saw the establishment of Rheinwiesenlager camps in western Germany to hold hundreds of thousands of captured personnel. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force reclassified all these prisoners as Disarmed Enemy Forces rather than POWs.
Allied forces began to discover the scale of the Holocaust when they advanced into Germany. Up to 60,000 prisoners were at Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated on the 15th of April 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division. Four days later troops from the American 42nd Infantry Division found Dachau. Allied troops forced remaining SS guards to gather corpses and place them in mass graves. Due to the prisoners' poor physical condition, thousands continued to die after liberation. Captured SS guards were subsequently tried at Allied war crime tribunals where many were sentenced to death. Some Nazi guards and personnel were killed outright upon discovery of their crimes. The Dachau death train consisted of nearly forty railcars containing bodies of between 2,000 and 3,000 prisoners evacuated from Buchenwald on the 7th of April 1945. Confirmation of Pilecki's 1943 Report came through these discoveries. Up to 10,000 Nazi war criminals eventually fled Europe using ratlines.
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker along with Eva Braun on the 30th of April 1945. They had married less than 40 hours earlier as Soviet forces surrounded Berlin. Hitler dismissed Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler after each tried to seize control of the crumbling state. He appointed Großadmiral Karl Dönitz as Reichspräsident and Joseph Goebbels as Reichskanzler. Goebbels died by suicide the next day leaving Dönitz as sole leader. Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans on the 27th of April 1945 while trying to flee toward Switzerland. He was executed in Giulino on the 28th of April alongside other fascists taken to Dongo. Their bodies were hung up on Piazzale Loreto in Milan. Rodolfo Graziani surrendered all Fascist Italian armed forces at Caserta on the 29th of April. The last German troops withdrew from Finnish Lapland on the 25th of April 1945 before moving into occupied Norway.
Karl Dönitz continued acting as head of state but his Flensburg Government remained unrecognized by Allies. An Allied liaison team arrived in Flensburg aboard the passenger ship Patria on the 12th of May. American Major General Rooks summoned Dönitz aboard the Patria on the 23rd of May and communicated that he and all government members were under arrest. The Allied Control Council passed Control Council Law No. 1 on the 20th of September 1945 repealing Nazi legislation. Control Council Law No. 2 followed on the 10th of October 1945 abolishing national-socialist organizations. The Potsdam Agreement signed on the 1st of August 1945 planned a new postwar German government. Leaders of the United States, Britain and Soviet Union mandated expulsion of millions of Germans from annexed territories. France refused to recognize obligations regarding the Potsdam Agreement since it had not been invited to the conference. The Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany was signed by four Allies on the 5th of June establishing supreme authority over the nation.
Operation Keelhaul began forced repatriation of displaced persons including anti-communists White Russians former Soviet POWs foreign slave workers Cossacks and Nazi collaborators to the Soviet Union. Between the 14th of August 1946 and the 9th of May 1947 up to five million people were forcibly handed over to Soviets. Most deportees faced imprisonment or execution upon return. On some occasions NKVD began killing people before Allied troops departed rendezvous points. The Paris Peace Conference ended on the 10th of February 1947 with signing of peace treaties by wartime Allies with European Axis powers Italy Romania Hungary Bulgaria and Finland. Cessation of hostilities between United States and Germany was proclaimed on the 13th of December 1946 by US President Truman. Many Western Allies declared end of state of war with Germany in 1951 including Australia Canada Italy New Zealand Netherlands South Africa United Kingdom and United States. State of war between Germany and Soviet Union ended in early 1955.
The Federal Republic of Germany founded on the 23rd of May 1949 had its first government formed on the 20th of September 1949 while German Democratic Republic formed on the 7th of October. Full authority of sovereign state granted to Federal Republic of Germany on the 5th of May 1955 under Bonn, Paris conventions. Treaty ending military occupation of West German territory allowed three occupying powers to retain special rights regarding West Berlin. The Treaty on Final Settlement with Respect to Germany signed following 1990 German reunification saw Four Powers renounce all rights held in newly single country including Berlin. Treaty came into force on the 15th of March 1991. Occupying troops were withdrawn by deadline of end of 1994 according to articles 4 and 5. Allied Control Council created to effect assumed supreme authority over Germany specifically implementing joint authority. Cessation of formal hostilities and peace treaties marked final steps toward normalization after decades of conflict.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel sign the German Instrument of Surrender?
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the German Instrument of Surrender in Karlshorst, Berlin on the 8th of May 1945. This document marked an unconditional surrender to the Allies and ended major fighting across Europe.
Who committed suicide in his bunker along with Eva Braun on the 30th of April 1945?
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker along with Eva Braun on the 30th of April 1945. They had married less than 40 hours earlier as Soviet forces surrounded Berlin.
What happened to up to five million people during Operation Keelhaul between August 1946 and May 1947?
Operation Keelhaul began forced repatriation of displaced persons including anti-communists White Russians former Soviet POWs foreign slave workers Cossacks and Nazi collaborators to the Soviet Union. Between the 14th of August 1946 and the 9th of May 1947 up to five million people were forcibly handed over to Soviets.
When did the Federal Republic of Germany receive full authority of a sovereign state under Bonn Paris conventions?
Full authority of sovereign state granted to Federal Republic of Germany on the 5th of May 1955 under Bonn, Paris conventions. Treaty ending military occupation of West German territory allowed three occupying powers to retain special rights regarding West Berlin.
Which Allied division liberated Bergen-Belsen containing up to 60,000 prisoners on the 15th of April 1945?
Up to 60,000 prisoners were at Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated on the 15th of April 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division. Four days later troops from the American 42nd Infantry Division found Dachau.