talesofwar:

Streets of Vienna, 1945.

(via schwarmerei)

The execution of German general Anton Dostler by firing squad, 1945

Robert Ley (15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945) was a Nazi politician and head of the German Labour Front, Deutsche Arbeitsfront - DAF, from 1933 to 1945.

On 25 October 1945, three days after receiving the indictment at Nuremberg Prison, Ley, one of the few prisoners displaying a guilty conscience, strangled himself in his cell using a noose made by tearing a towel into strips, fastened to the toilet pipe in his cell.
Ley left behind a statement condemning anti-Semitism; “The horrors of anti-Semitism. This I have seen in my cell at Nuremberg. We have forsaken God, and therefore we were forsaken by God.”

Ruins of the Propaganda Ministry building, 1945.

British soldiers and locals of Amsterdam at the time of the liberation, 1945.

Amsterdam, Holland, A German poster announcing the execution of several underground members on 12/3/1945 as a retaliation to the murder of a German.

schrumpfgermane:

1945, Berlin, Germany

Tank destroyers in France, 1945.

betterdead:

Reunited after the War.

(via kampfgruppe)

To the German People:

I, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces do hereby announces the following:

I.

The Allied Forces, who are under my command have now set foot on German soil. We come as a victorious army: but not as oppressors. In the German territory that is occupied by forces under my command, we are going to destroy Nazism and German militarism, the rule of the National Socialist German Workers eliminate party, the NSDAP dissolve and the cruel, harsh and unjust legal rules and institutions of the NSDAP have been created cancel. German militarism, which has so often disturbed the peace of the world, we will finally eliminate. Leaders of the Wehrmacht and the Nazi Party, members of the Secret State Police and other persons who are suspected of having committed crimes and atrocities are prosecuted in court and, if found guilty, fed their just punishment.
 
II.

The supreme legislative, judicial and executive power and violence in the occupied area is united in my person, as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces and as Military Governor. The military government is set up to exercise these powers under my command. All persons in the occupied territory immediately and without protest to follow all instructions and publications by the military government. Courts of the military government used to convict offenders. Resistance against the Allied forces mercilessly crushed. Other serious offenses are punished sharply.

III.

All German courts, instructional and educational institutions within the occupied territory are closed until further notice. The People’s Court, the Special Courts, the SS police courts and other courts is removed everywhere except in occupied territory jurisdiction. The resumption of the activities of criminal and civil courts and the reopening of the teaching and educational institutions will be approved as soon as conditions allow it.

IV.
All officials are obliged to remain at their posts until further notice and follow all instructions and orders of the military government or the Allied authorities, which are addressed to the German Government or the German people, and execute. This applies also to perform the officials, workers and employees of all public enterprises and public service, and for other persons, the necessary activities.

Dwigth D. Eisenhower
general
Supreme commander
Allied Armed Forces   

German soldiers near the end.
March, 1945.

Berlin in ruins, May 14, 1945

-Stunning film shot after the fall of Berlin.

opacasilentianoctis:

Victory Fireworks on the roof of Reichstag. Soldiers of the battalion under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Sergei Neustroeva.

1945