Despite the jubilation (mostly) worldwide over the death of Osama bin Laden, the biggest enemy so far this century, it’s easy to forget the historic coincidence of the death of the biggest mass murderer of the previous century.
On May 1, 1945, Germany announced that Adolf Hitler was dead, leading to the end of the allied campaign in Europe during World War II. That same date 66 years later, President Obama announced the death of the al-Qaeda leader and international terrorist.
(More on TIME.com: Hitler’s Last Hours)
At about 10:30 that night a Hamburg Radio announcer broadcast that Hitler had “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany,” according to the BBC’s website. Around 11:30 on May 1, 2011, Obama interrupted nighttime television broadcasts to announce bin Laden had been killed in a military operation.
Hitler and his wife Eva Braun had actually committed suicide the evening before. A bodyguard who had escaped to British-occupied territory confirmed seeing their burned bodies to allies. Germany surrendered on May 7.
(More on TIME.com: See the top 10 defining moments of the post-9/11 era)
