Surrender Room (Musée de la Reddition)

The Musée de la Reddition occupies the former war room of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims — a modest red-brick schoolhouse where, in the early hours of 7 May 1945, Germany signed the unconditional surrender that ended World War II in Europe. The room is preserved exactly as it was: maps still pinned to the walls with front-line positions marked, original furniture, and the original table where the document was signed.

It is a surprisingly small and unglamorous space for such a momentous event — which is part of what makes it affecting. The museum provides context through photographs, documents, and personal accounts of those present. Reims was chosen largely because Eisenhower's headquarters happened to be here; the city's role in ending both world wars gives it a double historical weight that visitors rarely expect.

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At 2:41am on 7 May 1945, in this small red-brick schoolhouse on the Rue Franklin Roosevelt, Alfred Jodl signed Germany's unconditional surrender on behalf of the German High Command. Eisenhower refused to be present at the signing itself — he considered the Germans to have forfeited their right to any ceremony — and met Jodl only afterwards to confirm the document. The room has been preserved exactly as it was that night.

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