1945: End of the War

On May 8th, 1945, the Second World War ended as the unconditional surrender of the German Reich entered into force. On the night of May 6th to 7th, Colonel General Alfred Jodl signed the applicable documents. In the weeks and months prior, the ground war had extended deep into the innermost areas of the German Reich. On March 29, the Red Army advanced for the first time on Austrian territory at Klostermarienberg and, after heavy fighting, Vienna was liberated on April 13. The Nazi regime called for a “final battle” and deployed the “last contingent”, consisting of the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm (“People’s Storm,” territorial army set up by the Nazi Party at the end of the war). This was an attempt at prolonging a war that had already been lost. At the same time, Nazi officials activated a whirlwind of violence. So-called end phase crimes such as lynchings, death marches or executions by drumhead court martials ensured that more people were killed in Austria in the final days of war than in all of the previous years of war.

The end of the war was ultimately not carried out in one day, but was a process that ended on May 8th, 1945. While people were still being murdered at the Mauthausen concentration camp, on April 27th people in Vienna were already celebrating the declaration of an independent Austria. Following the suicide of Adolf Hitler, the German Reich attempted a strategy of partial surrender to the Western allies. Corresponding treaties came into effect in Italy on May 2nd, in northwestern Europe on May 5th and in southern Germany on May 6th. This attempt was, however, quickly interrupted as Stalin was able to insist on the results of the Yalta Conference, which had decided on Germany’s unconditional total surrender, also to the Soviet Union, as a war objective. Relevant negotiations started on May 6th and quickly came to a conclusion. On May 8th, 1945 at 11:01pm, the Second World War in Europe was over – this is why this day is also called VE-Day (Victory in Europe Day).