WE have looked back at what life in Cumbria was like during the year 1945, and how war affected Cumbrians.

World War II began to near its end in April that year, as the Allies closed in on Berlin.

The Soviet Army reached Berlin in the middle of April after making its way through Eastern Europe, liberating German concentration camps as it progressed towards Germany.

By the end of the month it was clear that Nazi Germany would fall and the Allies would only accept an unconditional surrender.

Hitler and several other high-ranking members of the Nazi leadership committed suicide moments before the Soviet Union reached their bunkers and Germany surrendered in the beginning of May.

Fighting continued in the Pacific and the war with Japan did not end until September, after the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan.

Cumbria, being relatively safe, was used as a haven to help those evacuated during the war, including children and people like Arek Hersh who was liberated from Auschwitz in 1945, and brought to Carlisle.

He is pictured being taught in a new Cumbrian school during the same year.

Britain also witnessed a landslide general election victory for the Labour Party in 1945. Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister after his Conservative Party was defeated by the Labour Party, who had a majority of 146 seats, and Clement Attlee became the new Prime Minister.

However, Churchill remained as leader of the Conservative Party, in opposition.

Other 1945 events include a grammar school at Windermere which reorganised itself to become Britain's first comprehensive school; the British government signed the United Nations Charter; Alexander Fleming and Ernst Boris Chain won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Howard Florey "for the discovery of penicillin; and George Orwell's Animal Farm was released.