istoryworld
Events relating to germany
American troops discover the German concentration camp at Buchenwald
The British reach Belsen and reveal appalling Nazi atrocities, worse even than at Buchenwald
American and Soviet troops join up at Torgau, 70 miles south of Berlin
Soviet armies form a complete circle around Berlin to isolate the city
Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun in his bunker, and holds a champagne reception with Goebbels as the principal guest
Hitler chooses Admiral Dönitz as his successor and appoints his cabinet
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun retire to their marital quarters in the Berlin bunker and commit suicide
Soviet troops storm the Reichstag in the centre of Berlin on the day when Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker below them
Anglo-US Fascist William Joyce ('Lord Haw Haw') makes his final English broadcast from Hamburg
In the Berlin bunker, on the day after Hitler's death, Goebbels arranges for his six children to be lethally injected, and himself and his wife to be shot
The German general commanding Berlin, Karl Weidling, surrenders the city to the Allies
The unconditional surrender of all German forces is accepted at Eisenhower's headquarters
Heinrich Himmler, escaping in disguise, takes poison when he is identified
The Sudetenland is restored to Czechoslovakia, seven years after its transfer to Germany under the Munich Agreement
The four Allied powers (USA, UK, France, USSR) provide occupation forces for separate zones of Austria, Germany and Berlin
Truman, Stalin and Churchill meet for a summit conference in Potsdam
Winston Churchill, losing the postwar general election in Britain, has to yield his seat at Potsdam in mid-conference to Clement Attlee
[1939-1945] - in addition to 6 million Jews, the Nazi death camps have killed some 400,000 Gypsies and 100,000 'useless defectives'
Twenty-two German defendants are put on trial in Nuremberg, charged with war crimes
Germany's former foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, is sentenced to death at Nuremberg and is hanged
German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler is acquitted of the charge of collaborating with the Nazis
Twelve of the defendants at Nuremberg are sentenced to death by hanging
Hermann Goering, sentenced to death at Nuremberg, kills himself with a potassium cyanide capsule the night before he is due to be hanged
Bertolt Brecht's play The Life of Galileo has its premiere in Los Angeles with Charles Laughton in the lead
Richard Strauss completes his Four Last Songs in the year before his death
