<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//Dtd HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><title>Victory in Europe Day</title><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="description" content="Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was May 7 and May 8, 1945, the dates when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich."> <meta name="keywords" content="ve day, ve day em, anh ve day, 1945, may 8, celebration, red army, europe, victory in europe day"> <meta name="robots" content="index,follow"><meta name="revisit-after" content="10 days"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { margin: 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px} p{font-size: 13px; color: #000000; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;} a:link { color: #aa3c28; text-decoration: none} a:visited { color: #aa3c28; text-decoration: none} a:active { color: #dd3c23; text-decoration: underline} a:hover { color: #dd3c23; text-decoration: underline} h1 { color: #aa3c28; font-size: 325%; font-style: italic; text-align:center; } h1 { text-align:center; } --> </style></HEAD> <BODY bgcolor=#ffc891> <TABLE width="780" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <TR><TD colspan=2 bgcolor=#ff8b3b height=70 valign=bottom><h1>VE-Day.info</h2></TD></TR> <TR><TD colspan=2 bgcolor=#ffb27e height=1>&nbsp;</TD></TR> <TR><td height=100% width=150 background="pic/menu.jpg" style="background-repeat: repeat-y" valign=top> <TABLE width="150" height=100% border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><TD bgcolor=#ffc891 width="150" background="pic/menu.jpg" style="background-repeat: repeat-y" valign=top> <br><br><br><div><b><font size=2em> <a href="index.html" title=" History ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;History&nbsp;</a><br><br> <a href="ve_day.html" title=" What was VE Day? ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What was<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;VE Day?&nbsp;</a><br><br> <a href="vj_day.html" title=" What was VJ Day? ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What was<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;VJ Day?&nbsp;</a><br><br> <a href="importance_of_ve_day.html" title=" Why was VE Day important? ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Why was<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;VE Day<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;important?&nbsp;</a><br><br> <a href="allied_victory.html" title=" Allied Victory in Europe ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Allied Victory<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;in Europe&nbsp;</a><br><br> <a href="books.html" title=" The Second World War ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Books&nbsp;</a><br><br> </font></b></div> </TD></tr> <tr><td valign=bottom align=center width=150 background="pic/menu.jpg" style="background-repeat: repeat-y"><br><br>&nbsp;<br><br> </td></tr> </TABLE> </TD> <TD align=center valign=top><br> <h2>Victory in Europe Day</h2> <p><strong>Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day)</strong> was May 7 and May 8, 1945, the dates when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide during the Battle for Berlin, and so the surrender of Germany was authorized by his replacement, President of Germany Karl Dönitz. The administration headed up by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg government. Surrender documents were signed on May 7 in Reims, France, and May 8 in Berlin, Germany.</p> <h2>History. Surrender in Reims</h2> <p>At 02:41 on May 7, 1945, at the SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, signed the German Instrument of Surrender. All active operations were to cease at 23:01 Central European Time on May 8, 1945. However as the British were operating on British Double Summer Time this was 00:01 May 9 in London.</p> <p>Western journalists broke the news of Germany's surrender prematurely, precipitating the earlier celebration. Fighting continued on the Eastern Front until the Germans surrendered specifically to the Soviets at Karlshorst. The Soviet Union kept to the agreed celebration date, and Russia and other countries still commemorate the end of World War II, a significant part of which is known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union, as Victory Day on May 9.</p> <p>By May 8, most of Germany had already been taken by Allied forces. Hence V-E day was not such a drastic change for most German civilians. In the years after, V-E day was predominantly perceived as the day of defeat. But over the decades, this perception changed, culminating in the speech by West German President Richard von Weizsäcker on the 40th anniversary of V-E day in 1985, in which he called May 8 "the day of liberation" from the Nazi government.</p> <h2>History. Surrender in Berlin</h2> <p>Shortly before midnight on May 8, a second unconditional surrender was signed in the outskirts of Berlin, Germany. The signing ceremony took place in a villa in an eastern suburb of Berlin called Karlshorst. Representatives of the USSR, Great Britain, France, and the United States arrived shortly before midnight. After Soviet Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov opened the ceremony, the German command representatives headed by General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel were invited into the room, where they signed the final German Act of Unconditional Surrender entering into force at 23:01 Central European Time.</p> <h2>Celebrations</h2> <p>On that date, massive celebrations took place, notably in London, where more than a million people celebrated in a carnival atmosphere the end of the European war, though rationing of food and clothing was to continue for several years. In London, crowds massed in particular in Trafalgar Square and up The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the Palace to cheering crowds. Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander anonymously among the crowds and take part in the celebrations.</p> <p>In the United States, President Harry Truman, who celebrated his 61st birthday that day, dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, because he had been so committed to ending the war. Roosevelt had died less than a month earlier, on April 12. Flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period, which ended on May 12, to pay tribute to Roosevelt's commitment toward ending the war. Massive celebrations also took place in Chicago, Los Angeles and especially in New York City's Times Square.</p> <h2>Red Army and Eastern Europe</h2> <p>Red Army veterans and all peoples in Russia customarily celebrate V-E Day on May 9 instead of Western European May 8. Several former Soviet-influenced and -occupied countries in Eastern Europe still heed that practice.</p> <div align=right><font size=1>© <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day" target=_blank>wikipedia.org</a></font></div> </TD></TR></TABLE> </BODY></HTML>