Today 80 years ago: May 5, 1945 – Holstein and the end of the war in Kiel

The view over the devastated old town of Kiel with St. Nikolaikirche and Altem Markt to the town hall and city theatre. The Second World War, which had been unleashed by Germany in 1939, ended on 8 May 1945 in the total defeat of the German Reich. Kiel, the city of the navy and the shipyards, was particularly severely affected by the war. For the suffering-tested inhabitants of Kiel, the Second World War officially ended three days earlier, on 5…