The world marks Victory over Fascism Day on Tuesday. On May 9, 1945, with the signing of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, the Second World War in which 61 countries participated, with a total of 2.1 billion inhabitants, or 96 percent of the world’s population, and which claimed more than 50 million lives, officially ended.
The unconditional surrender of the Third Reich was signed in devastated Berlin just minutes after midnight on May 9. The surrender was signed on behalf of the German High Command by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, General Hans Jürgen Stumpf and Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg. On the part of the Allies, the Russian Marshal Georgi Zhukov and the British General Arthur Tedder signed the agreement.