The Second World War and its results (II): outcomes
Germany surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945 (in the USSR 9 May is Victory Day); on 6 and 9 August 1945 the USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 8 August the USSR declared war on Japan, and on 2 September Japan signed the instrument of unconditional surrender. About 60 to 80 million people died in the war (estimates differ), most of them civilians. The Nazi regime carried out the Holocaust: about six million Jews in Europe were systematically murdered; Roma, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war and other groups were also among the victims of Nazi persecution and mass killing; Auschwitz was liberated on 27 January 1945. On 24 October 1945 the United Nations was established (51 founding states); the five permanent members of the Security Council were the USA, USSR, Great Britain, France and China. From November 1945 to October 1946 the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg tried Nazi leaders, and in 1946–1948 Japanese leaders were tried in Tokyo; they established the principle of personal responsibility for aggression and crimes against humanity. After the war borders in Europe changed, Germany was divided into occupation zones, the USA and USSR became the two superpowers, and the colonial system weakened.
A minute of remembrance: students keep one minute of silence for the victims of the war; then each says one fact they know about the war from their family (voluntary) or writes one aim of the UN.