In the museum building, the signing of the unconditional surrender to all four victorious powers took place on May 8, 1945. (Museum Berlin-Karlshorst; Photo: Iwan Schagin)

In an audio feature of the museum the historical events can be listened to. People who were present at the signing of the surrender have their say.

Audio-Feature

(listen to on spotify)

You can hear verbatim excerpts from the memoirs of:

Marshal Georgi Shukov: Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Belorussian Front, which had taken Berlin (together with the 1st Ukrainian Front). Appointed at short notice as commander-in-chief of the Red Army (in the European theatre of war), he accepted the surrender on behalf of the entire Red Army.

Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder: Deputy to Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Western Allied Forces (Allied Expeditionary Corps).

General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny: Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, sent by his government, the government-in-exile under de Gaulle, who had returned from Britain.

Captain Harry C. Butcher: Actually a radio journalist, but as Eisenhower's aide-de-camp he was one of his closest associates. He travels to Berlin as Eisenhower's confidant.

Major Fritz Oppenheimer: US Army officer and advisor in the legal department on Eisenhower's staff. He had fled to the USA as a Jewish lawyer from Berlin to escape the Holocaust. Because of his knowledge of German, he was used as a permanent escort ("Aufpasser") for the German delegation.

Here you can find background-information. (In German language.)