"Surrender of Germany" and "Capitulation of Germany" redirect here. For the armistice between the Weimar Republic of Germany and the Allied Powers that ended World War I, see Armistice of 11 November 1918.
Instrument of Surrender
The capitulation of the German state to the conditions provided by the Allies
Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signing the unconditional surrender document, 8 May 1945
Type
Capitulation
Signed
8 May 1945; 78 years ago (1945-05-08)
Location
Berlin, Germany
Condition
Signed
Signatories
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg Wilhelm Keitel Hans-Jürgen Stumpff Arthur Tedder Georgy Zhukov Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Carl Spaatz
Parties
Germany
United Kingdom
Soviet Union
France
United States
Ratifiers
German High Command
Soviet Union
United Kingdom
United States
France
Full text
Definitive German Instrument of Surrender (8 May 1945) at Wikisource
Third and last page of the German instrument of unconditional surrender signed in Berlin, Germany on 8 May 1945
The German Instrument of Surrender[a] was a legal document effecting the unconditional surrender of the remaining German armed forces to the Allies, and ended World War II in Europe; the signing took place at 22:43 CET on 8 May 1945[b] and the surrender took effect at 23:01 CET on the same day.
The day before that, Germany had signed another surrender document close to it with the Allies in Reims in France, but it was not recognized by the Soviet Union for enforcement, so another document was needed to sign; and in addition, immediately after signing the German forces were ordered to cease fire in the west and continue fighting in the east. Germany under the Flensburg Government led by the head of state, Grand-Admiral Karl Dönitz, also accepted the Allied suggestion to sign a new document. The document was signed at the seat of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (Karlshorst, Berlin) by representatives from the German "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" (OKW),[c] the Allied Expeditionary Force represented by the British, and the Supreme High Command of the Soviet Red Army, with further French and American representatives signing as the witnesses. This time, Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was the highest representative of Germany at the signing ceremony. This surrender document of Germany also led to the de facto fall of Nazi Germany. As one result of Nazi German downfall, the Allies had de facto occupied Germany since the German defeat—which was later confirmed via the Berlin Declaration by the four countries of Allies as the common representative of new Germany (France, USSR, UK and the US), on 5 June 1945.
There were three language versions of the surrender document—English, Russian, and German—with the English and Russian versions proclaimed in the document itself as the only authoritative ones.
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Global Information
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg
Arthur Tedder
Georgy Zhukov
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Carl Spaatz
Definitive German Instrument of Surrender (8 May 1945) at Wikisource