GERMANY%20SURRENDERS

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GERMANY SURRENDERS

• The End Of Hitler

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Diary Entries

• Canadian citizen on imminent German surrender

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• summer of 1944 Germany faced certain defeat
• Hitler did not plan on surrendering
• German soldiers continued to defend homeland
• despite rising death toll

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• between 1944 and 1945 Hitler believed the
  invention of a miracle weapon would turn the
  war in his favour
• most German scientists fled to Allied countries
  to escape the Nazis

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Invading Germany

• Feb. 1945 Germany was defenceless. Their enemies
  were in full control
• Hitler still refused to surrender
• The Allied forces had almost total command of the
  air
• Increasing evidence was discovered about Nazi
  Germanys role in the Holocaust

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Berlin Surrounded

• With the Soviet Union approaching from the east
  and the Allies approaching from the west, Berlin
  was surrounded.
• Hitler instructed a counterattack against the
  Russians to keep them from taking over Berlin.
• Attack wasnt carried out because German army was
  depleted and the men fighting were weak/tired.
  Not enough manpower to fight, leaving Germany
  defenseless.
• The end for Germany was undeniable.

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Hitler Commits Suicide

• Hitler was trapped in his bunker under the Reich
  Chancellery building in the center of Berlin
• Mussolini (Italian dictator) was captured,
  tortured and hung upside down in a gas station in
  Milan square, 2 days earlier
• Hitler choose death instead of capture
• On April 30th, 1945 after realizing imminent
  capture, Hitler shot himself.

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Hitler's "Thousand-Year Reich" lasted 12 years
and three months.

• BBC News Player - 1945 Adolf Hitler is dead

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Successors

• In his will, Hitler made Karl Donitz his
  successor as Head of State, President and
  Supreme Commander of the armed forces.
• Also named Propaganda Minister, Joseph
  Goebbelsas, Head of Government with the title of
  Chancellor.

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• May 1st , Goebbelsas committed suicide
• Donitz became soul representative of German
  Reich
• Donitz knew that Germany's position was untenable
• Donitz devoted most of his efforts to attempt to
  ensure German troops would surrender to the
  British or Americans and not the Soviets
• Feared vengeful Soviet reprisals against Nazi
  party members and high-ranking officers.
• Hoped to strike a deal with the western Allies

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Surrender

• After Hitlers suicide, German forces began to
  give in
• On May 7th, 1945 at 241 am in a small school
  house located in Rheims, France the final
  unconditional surrender was signed
• witnessed by Allies ( Britain, France, USA,
  USSR)
• signed by Alfred Jodl on behalf of the German
  High Command.

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Tuesday, May 8th 1945 was 'Victory in Europe'
(VE) Day

• Winston Churchill German surrender announcement
  May 7, 1945 - YouTube

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Diary Entries

• Canadian response to German Surrender
• German Soldier response to German Surrender

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Key Figures

• Hitler German Dictator
• suicide led to German surrender
• Karl Donitz Hitlers successor
• appointed Head of State, President and Supreme
  Commander of the armed forces
• Joseph Goebbelsas Hitlers other successor
• appointed Head of Government, Chancellor of
  Germany (committed suicide the next day)
• Count Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk replaced
  Goebblsas
• Leading Minister (refused title of Chancellor)
• Alfred Jodl
• signed unconditional surrender on behalf of the
  German High Command

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Importance of Event

• marked the formal end of Hitler's war
• 6 years of war in Europe were over
• end of destruction food rationing in Europe
• half a million homes had been destroyed, and many
  millions of lives disrupted
• World War 2 was almost done

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Works Cited

• Adams, Simon, and Simon Adams. Eyewitness World
  War II. London DK Pub., 2007. Print.
• Gilbert, Martin. The Second World War A Complete
  History. New York H. Holt, 1989. Print.
• Grant, R. G. World War II The Events and Their
  Impact on Real People. New York, NY Dk Pub.,
  2008. Print.
• Kershaw, Ian. Hitler. New York W.W. Norton,
  1999. Print.
• Sheffield, Gary. "Victory in Europe Day." BBC
  News. BBC, 2011. Web. Apr. 2012.
  lthttp//www.bbc.co.ukgt.