The question asks for a year, not one particular day.
All four options are years. To answer correctly, separate the final stage of the war from the establishment of Nazi dictatorship and from later developments in divided Germany. The end of the war belongs to 1945.
Looking more closely reveals different events within that year. The war in Europe ended in May. Japan’s surrender instrument was signed in September. This regional distinction matters but does not change the answer to the question about the year.
The other three answers
The other years belong to different historical developments.
1933
In 1933, Hitler became Chancellor and Nazi dictatorship was established. This is a beginning in the history of Nazi rule, not the end of World War II.
1949
The Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR were founded in 1949. This reorganisation into states came several years after the war ended.
1961
Construction of the Berlin Wall began in 1961. By then, the war had been over for many years.
The end of war and the post-war period are different concepts.
Germany’s military defeat in 1945 did not immediately restore ordinary living conditions. Food supplies, housing and reconstruction remained major tasks. “Ended” here refers to the war, not to the disappearance of all its consequences.
The creation of the two German states in 1949 is not an alternative date for the end of the war. Several turning points in post-war history can be learned without mixing up what they mean.
Timeline of 1945 · German Historical Museum ↗End of war: 1945. New German states: 1949.
The two years are close together but describe different events. For “World War II ended”, choose 1945.
Three words for this question
- zu Ende seinbe over
- To have ended; here referring to the war.
- die Nachkriegszeitpost-war period
- The period after a war has ended.
- der Wiederaufbaureconstruction
- Rebuilding the destroyed foundations of everyday life and work.