Bidspirit auction | A rare photograph of the

A rare photograph of the signing of the “Berlin Declaration” - the pivotal moment when Nazi Germany passed into direct control of the Allied Powers. Berlin, June 1945 - A press photograph documenting the signing of the Berlin Declaration - the document in which the four victorious powers assumed supreme authority over Germany following its surrender. Berlin, Soviet headquarters - June 6, 1945. In the photograph are seen Marshal Zhukov (on the right) and General Dwight Eisenhower (on the left) signing the document on behalf of the Soviet Union. The photograph is described on its verso by the INP photo agency: “Radiophoto by INP via the U.S. Army Signal Corps. H-59 - International News Photo. Classification: Allied Control representatives sign – Berlin, Germany... General Dwight D. Eisenhower (left) is seen signing a joint declaration announcing the assumption of supreme authority in the Reich by the four victorious powers. The meeting took place at Russian headquarters in Berlin. On the right, Marshal Zhukov signs the document on behalf of the Soviet Union. Reports from Berlin stated that General Eisenhower left Berlin last night to return to his headquarters in Frankfurt after the signing. June 6, 1945.” After the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945, Germany was left without a functioning government. Hitler had committed suicide, and his successor, Admiral Karl Dönitz, was arrested along with his “Flensburg Government” at the end of May. The Allied powers faced an unprecedented situation: a large country in the heart of Europe without a sovereign authority. At the Soviet headquarters in Berlin, the supreme commanders of the Allied armies convened, representing their countries - Soviet Union: Marshal Georgy Zhukov; United States: General Dwight D. Eisenhower; Britain: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; France: General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The document they signed established, in legal and political terms, several critical principles: the powers declared that they were assuming all authority previously held by the German government, the High Command of the Wehrmacht, and any state or local authority. Despite this absolute control, the powers clarified that the assumption of authority did not constitute annexation of Germany to their territories. Germany was restored to its borders as of December 31, 1937 (prior to Hitler’s campaigns of conquest), and formal approval was given for the division of Germany and Berlin into four separate zones of control. Since no formal peace treaty with Germany had been signed at that time, the Berlin Declaration served as the legal basis for governing the country. This situation continued officially until the reunification of Germany in 1990 (with the signing of the “Two Plus Four Agreement”). The Berlin Declaration was in effect the first time in modern history that a group of states assumed full sovereignty over another state without abolishing its existence as a legal entity. It was the first step toward what would later lead to the division of the country into occupation zones, and ultimately to East and West Germany, and to the reshaping of Cold War Europe. Size: 25x19 cm. Slight crease at the lower right. Good condition.