Editing German Instrument of Surrender (section)

{{Short description|Surrender of Nazi Germany, 8 May 1945}}
{{redirect2|Surrender of Germany|Capitulation of Germany|the armistice between the Weimar Republic of Germany and the Allied Powers that ended World War I|Armistice of 11 November 1918}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox treaty
|name = Instrument of Surrender
|image = Field Marshall Keitel signs German surrender terms in Berlin 8 May 1945 - Restoration.jpg
|caption = Field-Marshal [[Wilhelm Keitel]] signing the [[unconditional surrender]] document, 8 May 1945
|type = [[Capitulation (surrender)|Capitulation]]
|date_signed = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1945|05|08}}
|location_signed = [[Berlin]], Germany
|condition_effective = [[Ratification|Signed]]
|signatories = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Hans-Georg von Friedeburg]]<br />{{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Wilhelm Keitel]]<br />{{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Hans-Jürgen Stumpff]]<hr/ >{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder|Arthur Tedder]]<br />{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Georgy Zhukov]]<br />{{flagicon|Provisional Government of the French Republic}} [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]] (witness)<br />{{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[Carl Spaatz]] (witness)
|parties = {{plainlist|
* {{flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany}}<hr/ >
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}
* {{flag|Provisional Government of the French Republic|name=France}}
* {{flag|United States|1912}}
}}
|long_name = The capitulation of the German state to the conditions provided by the Allies
|ratifiers = {{plainlist|
* [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|German High Command]]
* Soviet Union
* United Kingdom
* United States
* France
}}
|wikisource=Definitive German Instrument of Surrender (8 May 1945)}}
[[File:German Instrument of Surrender (May 8, 1945) - page 3.jpg|right|thumb|Third and last page of the German instrument of [[unconditional surrender]] signed in [[Berlin]], Germany on 8 May 1945]]

The '''German Instrument of Surrender'''{{efn|{{langx|de|Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht|lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "[[Wehrmacht]]"}}; {{langx|ru|Акт о капитуляции Германии|Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii|lit=Act of capitulation of Germany}}; {{langx|fr|Actes de capitulation du Troisième Reich|lit=Acts of capitulation of the Third Reich}}}} was a [[legal document]] effecting the [[unconditional surrender]] of the remaining [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Wehrmacht|armed forces]] to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], [[End of World War II in Europe|ending World War II in Europe]]. It was signed at 22:43 CET on 8 May 1945{{Efn|The surrender document does not specify the exact time of signing. According to the official Soviet statement, the document was signed on May 8 at 22:43 CET (00:43, May 9 Moscow time). However, some sources indicate a later time of signing - around 1:00 a.m. on May 9, CET.<ref>{{Cite journal |author = Алексей Славин |editor=  |format= |url=  |title= Пять легенд о капитуляции |type=  |orig-year= | agency =  |edition= Новое время  |location=  |date=  2010 |publisher=  |at=  |volume=  |number= 15|pages =  |page=  |series=  |isbn =  |issn =  |doi =  |bibcode =  |arxiv =  |pmid =  |language=  |quote=  }}</ref><ref>''Kershaw, Ian''. The End: Germany 1944-45. Penguin, 2012. p. 372.</ref>}} and took effect at 23:01 CET on the same day.

The day before, Germany had signed another surrender document with the Allies in [[Reims]] in France, but it was not recognized by the Soviet Union, which demanded among other things that the act of surrender should take place at the seat of government of Nazi Germany from where German aggression had been initiated. Therefore, another document needed to be signed. In addition, immediately after signing the first document, the German forces were ordered to cease fire in the west and continue fighting in the east. Germany under the [[Flensburg Government]] led by the head of state, [[Grand admiral#Germany|Grand-Admiral]] [[Karl Dönitz]], also accepted the Allied suggestion to sign a new document. The document was signed at the seat of the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany]] ([[Karlshorst]], [[Berlin]]) by representatives from the German ''[[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht]]'' (OKW),{{Efn|High command of the German armed forces.}} the [[Allied Expeditionary Force]] represented by the British, and the [[Stavka of the Supreme High Command|Supreme High Command]] of the Soviet [[Red Army]], with further French and American representatives signing as witnesses. This time, [[Generalfeldmarschall|Field-Marshal]] [[Wilhelm Keitel]] was the highest ranking representative of Germany at the signing ceremony. This surrender document also led to the ''de facto'' fall of Nazi Germany. As one result of the German downfall, the Allies had {{lang|la|de facto}} occupied Germany since the German defeat{{snd}}which was later confirmed via the [[Berlin Declaration (1945)|Berlin Declaration]] by the four countries of Allies as the common representative of new Germany (France, USSR, UK and the US), on 5 June 1945.

There were three versions of the surrender document{{snd}}[[English language|English]], [[Russian language|Russian]], and [[German language|German]]{{snd}}with the English and Russian versions proclaimed in the document itself as the only authoritative ones.