Paweł Łepkowski: "The greatest explosion of joy!"

The Western Allies were represented by: British RAF Marshal Arthur Tedder, American General Carl Spaatz and French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The German government and German armed forces were represented by the following, authorized by President Karl Dönitz: the head of the Wehrmacht Supreme Command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, on behalf of the Kriegsmarine – General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg and on behalf of the Luftwaffe – Colonel General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff. All delegations arrived in Berlin around noon on 8 May on board British aircraft. At Tempelhof Airport, the delegation of the Western Allies was welcomed by three Soviet honorary companies under the command of General Sokolovsky, deputy of Marshal Zhukov.

While the national anthems of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France were being played, the German delegation was led to waiting cars. The Germans were treated coolly but with respect. Keitel, Friedeburb, and Stumpff were taken to a villa in the barracks next to the former officers' casino of the former Karlshorst Pioneer School in the Orsteil district of Berlin. The casino had been built in 1930. Keitel had been here as head of the organizational department of the Reichswehr General Staff, and Stumpff as chief of staff of the Luftwaffe. It was now the headquarters of Marshal Zhukov—the man who had brought Berlin to its knees, had only hours earlier inspected Hitler's bunker, and had stood over the charred corpses of the Goebbels family. The Karlshorst Pioneer School casino was one of the few buildings not destroyed by bombing and artillery fire. The hall designated for the signing of the capitulation was decorated with furniture confiscated from private homes. The access roads were cleared of rubble, and the flags of the victorious powers were hung on the surviving facades. Among those preparing the hall was Erich Honecker, later to succeed Walter Ulbricht as First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of the German Democratic Republic. Just 11 days earlier, he had been liberated by the Red Army from the Nazi prison of Brandenburg-Görden, where he had spent ten years. There, he witnessed terrible crimes, including the murder of mentally ill German children as part of Action T4.

Keitel, Friedeburb and Stumpff were not summoned immediately. The Allies argued for a long time about the details of the ceremony. Only at 11:45 p.m., when he was already in Moscow on May 9, did Marshal Zhukov call the representatives of the Western Allies to his office to discuss the final details. A few minutes later, everyone went to the main hall of the casino, where there was complete silence. No one even whispered, although the hall was filled to the brim with officers, orderlies and more than 100 journalists. Suddenly the side door opened and the Germans entered silently. They were ordered to sit at a side table. Keitel, irritated, made it clear that he was waiting for a document. But only after a while did Zhukov order him to approach the presidential table. Keitel became so nervous at this tone that his monocle fell out of his eye. Red spots appeared on his face. Soviet war correspondent Konstantin Simonov recalled the German delegation's entry into the casino hall as follows: "Keitel was the first to enter – in a long coat, wearing a high general's cap (...). He walked demonstratively, not looking to the sides, with long, sweeping steps." The OKW chief approached the presidential table and saluted with his baton, to which no one from the other side responded. Eisenhower's adjutant Harry C. Butcher considered Keitel "to be behaving arrogantly and defiantly." But Zhukov claimed that "he was no longer the arrogant Keitel who accepted the surrender of defeated France. Now he looked humiliated, although trying to maintain some kind of pose."

The German only threw a hateful glance at the paper and quickly signed the act of capitulation. His comrades followed him. At 0:43 Zhukov ordered the Germans to leave the hall. In the neighboring villa, a dinner was prepared for them, which Keitel called a feast.