Last Updated on June 6, 2025 by Matt Staff
The closing days of World War II brought with them a wave of emotion the world had never seen. They brought relief, sorrow, and cautious hope. After six long years of conflict, the war’s end felt both like a finish line and the start of something uncertain. Across continents, people poured into the streets, hugged strangers, and quietly mourned those who never made it home.
Each image shown offers a glimpse into the raw emotion of the time: joy, exhaustion, loss, and renewal. They don’t just mark the end of a war, they show humanity standing at the edge of a new chapter, learning how to move forward in a world that had been forever changed. Here are 15 vintage photos that marked the end of WWII.
1. Celebrating the end of the war, 1945
2. WWII Fighter Pilot looking at his damaged prop, 1945
3. WWII Welder, 1945
4. Sailors exhausted from celebrating the end of WWII, 1945
5. American soldiers aboard the RMS Queen Elisabeth on their way home, 1945
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7. The London Office of War Information staff dancing in the street with American soldiers, marking the end of the war
4. “My grandparents in the late 1940s, post WWII, West Germany”
9. Marines in Iwo Jima when they heard that Japan had surrendered, 1945
10. Talk about a high-stakes speech
11. “My father with his niece when he returned home”
12. WWII Veteran in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, 1945
13. Siblings being reunited at the end of the war, 1945
14. People in the UK celebrate the end of WWII
15. “My Polish grandpa before and after WWII”
Want to see more wartime content?
Check out 25 Vintage Photos From The First World War, or take a look at The Past In Color: 23 Colorized War Photos From Battles Of The Past (1900s-1940s). Finally, if you want to see battle content from the 1940s, take a look at 20 Military Photos From The Forties.