end of the war in Europe 80 years ago In Focus: 1945

Press Release No. 34/2025
17 April 2025

“The Second World War molded the culture of memory worldwide and left us deeply and consciously committed to ensuring that such a disaster must never happen again. With the Ruperto Carola Lecture Series on the end of the war we want to contribute towards a culture of memory centering on the defense of freedom, peace and democracy – not least in view of the Russian attack on Ukraine,” underlines Prof. Dr Manfred Berg of Heidelberg University’s Department of History, who designed the lecture series “1945: Epochal Threshold and Experiential Space”. It offers two complementary perspectives: a retrospective interpretation, which situates the end of the Second World War in the fractures and continuities of 20th century history, and a reconstruction of direct human experience and suffering. The nine speakers from Germany, Austria and the United States will illustrate the two dimensions with examples from local, national and international contexts.

How did people in Heidelberg experience the end of the Second World War and the immediate aftermath? What needs, memories and expectations, hopes and concerns shaped their daily lives? These questions are the focus of a photo exhibition entitled “1945: Heidelberg – all and everything lost?”, which Heidelberg historian Prof. Dr Frank Engehausen has developed with doctoral candidates of the Department of History for the entrance hall of the New University. Focusing on the period shortly after the war ended, the exhibition offers a sweeping view of the complex, contradictory life in the city which, apart from the Neckar bridges, was spared destruction. Alongside familiar views, the focus is on creating a collage of people and their everyday lives. Accordingly, it has five main themes: the arrival of the Americans and the start of their occupation, denazification and democratic reorganization, the daily life of displaced persons, the food and supply situation in the city, as well as the resumption of public education and cultural life.

A premiere in Germany, the show “1945: Leonard McCombe – Nach dem Krieg / Aftermath of War” coordinated at the HCA by Dr Anja Schüler presents shots the well-known photographer took from 1944 to 1946 in Normandy, in Paris, Berlin and Warsaw. Born and raised on the Isle of Man, Leonard McCombe (1923-2015) became a war correspondent with the British Picture Post as early as at the age of 18; three years later he was reporting on the advance of the Allies in Normandy. The same year, he was elected the youngest member of the Royal Photographic Society. The images of Leonard McCombe, who migrated to the United States in the 1940s, appeared, inter alia, not only in Picture Post but also in the American magazines Collier’s and the legendary LIFE Magazine. They document the end of the war in Europe, the destruction of the cities, the suffering and hopelessness of the survivors and displaced persons. In the show, the photos will be presented alongside quotes from Leonard McCombe’s contemporary photo essays as well as brief audio recordings by the photographer.

To open the Ruperto Carola Lecture Series “1945: Epochal Threshold and Experiential Space”, Prof. Dr Jörn Leonhard from the Department of History of the University of Freiburg on 5 May will speak on the topic “How Wars End: Comparing 1918 and 1945”. Held in the Great Hall of the Old University, Grabengasse 1, the event starts at 6.15pm. The following lectures will take place every week at the same place and time.

The exhibition “1945: Heidelberg – all and everything lost?” will be opened at 11am on 4 May in the entrance hall of the New University, Grabengasse 3-5, where it will be on display from 5 May to 11 July. The show “1945: Leonard McCombe – Nach dem Krieg / Aftermath of War” will be on display from 6 May to 11 July in the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Hauptstraße 120. The two exhibitions will be open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.