The Daily Telegraph dated Wednesday May 2nd 1945
Adolph Hitler, the Fuehrer or Leader, of Germany from 1933 to 1945, committed suicide by cyanide poisoning and pistol shot on the 30th April 1945 along side his new wife Eva Braun. German radio announced the death on the evening of May 1st and it appeared in the British daily papers on the morning of the 2nd.
Many people in Britain had been waiting for this news for nearly 6 years, but it is now thought by many historians that it happened at the right time. Any earlier and Germany could well have found a new, stronger and possibly saner Leader who could have changed the course of World War II.
I recommend Stephen Fry’s novel ‘Making History’ in which he explores an alternative history in which Hitler was never even born.
The whole issue is taken up with the same news so I post 2 subsequent Daily Telegraph headlines from a few days later
VE Day or Victory in Europe Day was held on Tuesday May 8th 1945. Celebrations, particularly in America were, tempered by the fact that fierce fighting continued in the Far East against the Japanese, and in fact it was another 3 months before VJ Day and the final end of War on August 15th.
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