Countries across the world will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender in World War II. But this year’s events may be more bittersweet than in the past.

Europe is marking one of its most joyous days in history. The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on the continent was on Thursday.

At 2:41 a.m. on May 7, 1945, in a small red schoolhouse in Reims, France, the horrific nightmare of the Second World War came to an end on the European continent. Germany made its official surrender to both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, in a makeshift building that had come to serve as Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s headquarters.