the map room where the Germans surrendered to end WWII in Europe
The map room where Germany surrendered

Visited December 12, 1999

Salle de Reddition -- German Surrender

Those of us who came of age (assuming we did, in fact, grow up) on large systems projects often speak of war rooms containing walls full of architectural diagrams and project plans. Most of us never bothered to think about where the term war room came from. But on our last morning in Reims, we came across Dwight D. Eisenhower's last war headquarters, now a tiny museum featuring the map room where the German generals surrendered on 7 May 1945.

Photographic memories

Most of the museum contains only pictures of WWII topics of interest to the French including a large room full of memorabilia of the great Resistance figure, Jean Moulin. Besides being a war hero and politician in Chartres before the war, Moulin was a illustrator, cartoonist and writer. Samples of his work were displayed on the walls.

Fortunately, the war room was kept pretty much like it was when Eisenhower used it.

A day in history

If I had taken the picture at the top of this page 55 years earlier from the same angle, I'd be looking over the shoulders of these three German participants. (If you want details, click here). Three German Officers

Also, I'd be less than three months old and probably wouldn't yet have my digital camera. By now you may be thinking that's not such a bad thing

Thanks for accompanying us on our visit.


Where do you want to go today? Here's a few choices:

Return to the index of our Reims trip:

See the other places we've gone by clicking here

Pietrina and Dick's Home Page
Visit our home page
Pietrina and Dick's Paris Index
Send these American Gothic folks some
email us