Russia german dating
Seventy years ago today, Germany’s surrender to the Allies took effect, marking the formal end of World War II in Europe. Americans, Brits, and the French mark the date of the Allied Victory in Europe (V-E Day) on May 8; Russians celebrate the occasion on May 9.
It’s not just a time-zone difference, but a tale of two cities, two documents, a few missing sentences, and about 75 minutes.
Hitler and his allies later claimed this meant that German forces hadn’t really lost, but had been “stabbed in the back” by their political opponents.
Determined to avoid this outcome after World War II, the Soviets insisted that the head of Germany’s Armed Forces High Command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, surrender personally to Joseph Stalin’s representative in Berlin.
Rumors of a German surrender had begun to circulate in late April 1945, when the Associated Press filed what proved to be an erroneous report announcing that the Germans had capitulated during a peace conference in San Francisco.
But it was clear by then that the German offensive was unravelling.
Central European Time.“There were no dramatics during the surrender,” Kiley reported, noting that Jodl was “erect and expressionless, his uniform neat, his boots highly polished” and his face “impassive” as he signed.But the signature of Jodl, a relatively low-ranking general, was not enough—especially not for the Soviet Union, which had suffered by far the most casualties among the Allies fighting the Germans.