Victory in Europe Day

• 1. Introduction

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  Victory in Europe Day arrived on Tuesday, the 8th of May 1945, and with it came the formal end of six years of war on the European continent. Nazi Germany had surrendered unconditionally, its armed forces standing down across the continent. Millions of people poured into streets from London to New York to Moscow, and yet the date they chose to celebrate depended, in part, on where they happened to be standing on the globe.

  The questions worth sitting with are these: who actually signed Germany's surrender, and why did they sign it twice? Why does Russia mark the victory on a different day than France or Britain? And what happened in London that evening when a future queen slipped unrecognised into a jubilant crowd?

• 2. The Surrender Documents

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  Adolf Hitler had died by suicide on the 30th of April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin. Authority passed to his designated successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, whose short-lived administration became known as the Flensburg Government. It was Dönitz who authorised the surrender that followed.

  The first signing took place at 02:41 on the 7th of May at the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Expeditionary Forces, known as SHAEF, in Reims, France. That document, however, was not considered final. A revised and slightly modified instrument, regarded as the definitive German surrender, was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin, at 22:43 local time on the 8th of May 1945. The text of that document ordered the German High Command to issue cease-fire orders to all military, naval, and air authorities under German control, effective at 23:01 hours Central European time on the 8th of May 1945.

  Because that deadline fell one minute into the 9th of May in Moscow time, the Soviet Union and many states that followed its calendar marked their victory celebration on the 9th of May rather than the 8th.

• 3. London's Jubilant Streets

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  More than one million people celebrated in the streets across the United Kingdom on VE Day. In London, crowds surged through Trafalgar Square and pressed up the Mall to Buckingham Palace. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth appeared on the palace balcony alongside their daughters and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, greeted by waves of cheering.

  Churchill then moved to Whitehall, where he addressed a second crowd. His words were direct: "God bless you all. This is your victory. In our long history, we have never seen a greater day than this. Everyone, man or woman, has done their best." He invited Ernest Bevin to come forward and share the applause. Bevin declined, telling Churchill, "No, Winston, this is your day," and instead led the crowd in singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow".

  The phrase "VE Day" itself had been in use since at least September 1944, coined well before the victory was secured. Among those who joined the anonymous crowds that evening were Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret, who were permitted to wander incognito through the celebrations.

• 4. A Birthday in Washington

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  In the United States, VE Day coincided with President Harry S. Truman's 61st birthday. Truman chose not to celebrate personally. His predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had died of a cerebral hemorrhage on the 12th of April 1945, less than a month before the victory he had worked toward was achieved. Truman dedicated the victory to Roosevelt's memory, and American flags remained at half-staff for the rest of the 30-day mourning period already underway.

  Truman expressed the sentiment plainly: his only wish was "that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day". Later that same day, he acknowledged that the victory had still made it his most enjoyable birthday. Crowds gathered across the country, with particularly large celebrations in New York's Times Square.

  Both Truman and Churchill were careful to temper the mood. In his radio broadcast at 15:00 on the 8th of May, Churchill told the British people they might allow "a brief period of rejoicing" while Japan remained unsubdued. Truman, broadcasting at 09:00, called the situation "a victory only half won".

• 5. How Nations Remember

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  France marks the 8th of May as a national public holiday, known as 8 mai 1945. As of the 3rd of September 2018, at least 523 street names carrying the designation "Rue (du) 8-Mai-1945" had been recorded across the 18 regions and 36,700 French communes. The city of Orléans holds a double commemoration on that date, marking both VE Day and the anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Orléans by forces led by Joan of Arc in 1429.

  Germany's observance takes a different form. Events in Berlin on the 8th of May focus on commemorating those who resisted Nazism from within. East Germany had celebrated the date as Tag der Befreiung, Liberation Day, beginning under Walter Ulbricht's government in 1950; between 1975 and 1990, it was renamed Tag des Sieges, Victory Day.

  The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania officially observe the 8th of May but do not mark the 9th, because for them the 9th of May 1944 represented the beginning of Soviet occupation rather than liberation. Austria holds an annual Festival of Joy on Heldenplatz, organised by the Austrian Mauthausen Committee since 2013. On the eve of the 75th anniversary in 2020, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a live address broadcast on the Austrian channel ORF, at the request of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

  Poland's relationship with the date shifted formally in 2015. From 1945 until 2014, Poland officially recognised the 9th of May, in line with Russia. On the 24th of April 2015, the Sejm adopted the Act on National Victory Day, establishing the 8th of May as Narodowy Dzien Zwyciestwa, National Victory Day, while abolishing the previous the 9th of May observance.

• 6. The Date Divide

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  The split between the 8th and the 9th of May is not a political invention; it flows directly from the time zones in the surrender document itself. The cease-fire became effective at 23:01 Central European time on the 8th of May, which translated to 00:01 on the 9th of May in Moscow time. The Soviet Union celebrated accordingly, and most states that fell within its sphere of influence followed suit.

  In the United Kingdom, VE Day is not an annual public holiday. In 1995 and again in 2020, the early May bank holiday was moved from the preceding Monday to the 8th of May to mark the 50th and 75th anniversaries respectively. In the United States, the day carries no federal holiday status, though on the 5th of May 2025, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation designating the 8th of May as "Victory Day for World War II". The 9th of May, meanwhile, is observed across Europe as Europe Day, marking peace and unity on the continent, on the anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration.