War ended in May 1945, and the twelve Nazi years came to an end. The western two thirds of Germany was now divided into military occupation zones. Heidelberg University was a high-profile institution within the US occupation zone. On 2 January 1946 Karl Engisch was dismissed from his university posts on the orders of the US military commander. On 5 December 1946 his professorship was reinstated, however, and on 16 December 1950 he was granted tenure at Heidelberg for life. (In April 1950 he had turned down an invitation to move to Hamburg University.)