Hitler died 73 years ago today — here's how newspapers around the world reacted

April 30, 2018

hitler nazis Bundesarchiv

Adolf Hitler died by suicide on April 30, 1945.
Newspapers around the world reacted to reports of Hitler's death with bold, full-page headlines, and in some cases, cheery delight.
"Germans put out the news everyone hopes is true," one newspaper wrote.

Exactly 73 years ago, on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin, bringing to an end the life of one of history's most notorious figures.

News of Hitler's demise was slow to reach the United States, and the reports that did reach across the Atlantic were initially met with skepticism. Most American newspapers didn't run the news until May 2 — a full two days later — and even then, President Harry Truman was cautious in confirming the reports at a press conference.

Still, Hitler's death signaled the final nail in the coffin for the Axis Powers in World War II. Less than a week after the news broke, German forces unconditionally surrendered in Europe, and by September the war had officially ended.

Newspapers around the world announced Hitler's death with bold, full-page headlines and in some cases, cheery delight. "Germans put out the news everyone hopes is true," the United Kingdom's Daily Express wrote. "Will rant no more," said Boston's Daily Record.

Read on to see how newspapers covered the news in 1945.

Here's what The New York Times looked like on May 2, 1945

New York Times

According to the Times report from the UK's House of Commons, "there was an almost complete lack of excitement here. Those who believed the report seemed to accept it as a matter of course that Hitler would die. There was no official reaction."

The Times also included an interesting note about how the news disseminated in the UK: "London newspapers received the announcement of Hitler's death just as the early editions were going to press but the second editions went 'all-out' on the news, with long obituaries of Hitler and biographical sketches of Doenitz," it wrote.

One of the biggest headlines of all came from Stars and Stripes, a publication of the US military

Wikimedia Commons

"Churchill hints peace is at hand," the military paper said.

The New York Daily News devoted the entire front page to the striking headline 'HITLER DEAD'

New York Daily News

The Daily News wrote years later: "Knowing that the end was near, Hitler moved into his bunker by January of 1945 and decided to kill himself before anyone else could by April."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

DON'T MISS: Here's how newspapers reacted the first time a US president died in office