The Brown House at Briennerstraße 45 served as the NSDAP’s central party headquarters from 1931. It housed the offices of Hitler and the most senior party functionaries. The building was severely damaged in Allied air raids and largely gutted in the October 1943 bombings. On 29 April 1945, units of the US 7th Army — led by the legendary 42nd Infantry Division (“Rainbow”) and the 45th Infantry Division (“Thunderbird”) — reached Munich’s city center. The former Nazi “Capital of the Movement” was taken with almost no resistance. The image shows the ruin shortly after the arrival of US forces — the symbolic end of Nazi party rule at its birthplace.