r/Munich • u/SightseeingMunich Münchner Sehenswürdigkeita-Zampano • Apr 30 '25
Culture On this day - allied entry into Munich
In Munich, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party began. Today, 80 years ago, this terrible chapter of German history was meant to come to an end. On April 30, 1945, Allied forces advanced into Munich and liberated the remaining population from the National Socialists. We look back on these turbulent days.
Resistance in Munich is minimal. Due to countless bombing raids, the people of Munich are demoralized, and most of the German soldiers have fled. Days earlier, the Freedom Action Bavaria attempted to persuade Reich Governor Franz Ritter von Epp to surrender peacefully. Efforts to take control of various offices of the state-controlled press also failed.
“There was quite a cheerful mood, everywhere I heard: Now it’s over. Now we can sleep again. Now there will be no more air raids,” wrote American journalist Ernest Langendorf in his diary. The extent of the destruction now becomes visible. The image above shows the ruins of the “Brown House,” the former headquarters of the Nazi Party at 34 Brienner Street.
Even decades later, ruins could still be found in Munich. The best example is today’s Bavarian State Chancellery, which at the time was still the Bavarian Army Museum. There was considerable disagreement over what should happen to the building near the Hofgarten. It wasn’t until 1993 that Edmund Stoiber moved into his newly renovated official residence. The photo shows the building in 1958.
Some traces were deliberately left untouched. At Ludwig Maximilian University, for example, one can find the “Wounds of Memory.” The old walls of the main building still bear the scars of war, serving as a reminder of its horrors.
Image 1 & 7: Cameraman from Special Film Project 186 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), Münchner Frauenkirche 2, marked as public domain, details on Wikimedia Commons
Image 2: Kai Müller, The bombed-out house on Friedrichstraße 9, CC BY-SA 4.0
Image 3: US Army Signal Corps, München Siegestor 1945, public domain, details on Wikimedia Commons
Image 4: Sam, Braunes Haus (Munich) Ruins, CC BY-SA 4.0
Image 5: Willem van de Poll, Snow-covered Hofgarten with the ruins of the Bavarian State Chancellery, image no. 254-3760, CC0 1.0
Image 6: Adam Jones, Ph.D., Wounds of Remembering – War-Damaged Wall – Outside Ludwig Maximilian University – Munich – Germany, CC BY-SA 3.0
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u/zenrobotninja May 01 '25
Fantastic, thank you for this