The defeat of the Third Reich frees the continent from tyranny
Signed at Allied headquarters in Reims, France, on 7 May 1945, the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces in the West established the time for the cessation of hostilities as 11.01 p.m. on 8 May. Required by legal niceties to re-sign the capitulation with representatives of all the allied militaries, this time including the Soviet Union, the commander-in-chief of the German forces went to Red Army headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst to sign a surrender document. Differences in time zones meant that when the agreement was signed, the date was 9 May in Moscow. This explains why Russia and the West today celebrate the end of the Second World War on different days.
The DDR marked the “Day of the Liberation of the German People from Hitler-Fascism” every year from 1949, and East Germans sometimes enjoyed a day off from work for the purpose. In contrast, the date received little public attention in the early years of the Federal Republic, and the West German public had to wait for the 25th anniversary of the surrender in 1970 for a government statement on the matter. Even this low key response drew criticism from the opposition, which said that it was wrong to celebrate defeats. Many in West Germany saw Chancellor Willy Brandt’s decision to mark the event as reflective of a wider culture of shame and guilt, which they believed was hampering German national development. It was not until 1985 that West German President Richard von Weizsäcker unambiguously celebrated 8 May as “Liberation Day” during a speech to the Bundestag. This triggered an in-depth discussion of a subject that had developed into a taboo.
About the Deutschlandmuseum
An immersive and innovative experience museum about 2000 years of German history
The whole year at a glance
