It was in May 1945 that the Allied demand for an ‘unconditional surrender’ was finally met, and the Third Reich came to an end. With that end came not just military defeat but the loss of any legitimate national authority. In almost all aspects of politics, administration, education, transport, business, and planning there was no longer any functioning German government. These areas were to be taken over by the four Allied powers. Only in matters of faith, where the Allies had promised freedom of worship, were things different. Even in this area of German life there were some discontinuities. Whilst not much might appear to have changed at a local level, centrally things were different. It was announced that authority in the churches was to remain with Germans. That was an easy statement to make but belied a variety of problems. Authority among the main Protestant churches was not clear and was to be contested. Authority in the Catholic Church was also unclear, but for different reasons. The decision as to where it lay would depend on the future nature and extent of Germany. Other religious groups would need to consider what changes would be needed in their administration and oversight following the end of Nazi rule.

So, whilst the concept of one single wiping of the slate clean has a considerable amount to recommend it, there are problems in using it as a simple understanding the nature of German history. By May 1945, some parts of Germany had been under Allied control for six months. Both in the East and the West the front lines had already swept over sections of the Reich. While in the East the defeat was to result in alterations to borders that would define the new Germany, it also meant that much of what was to become the GDR remained a battlefield until the final weeks of the war. The post-1945 administration of the Eastern areas of much of what had been the German Reich before 1939 was to be part of the story of Austria, of Czechoslovakia, and of Poland, and can find only passing references in this work. It did though create one anomaly, which has continued into the twenty-first century. That was the area around the former German city of Königsberg, which since 1945 and the Potsdam Agreement has been under Russian administration and known as Kaliningrad.