The Duchy was abolished at the end of World War I in 1918. Meiningen then became the capital of the successor state "Freistaat Saxony-Meiningen". From 1920, it was a district town in the newly created state of Thuringia. was founded in 1923. In 1927, "", an airfield, was opened. In October 1931, airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin landed there before 100,000 spectators, followed by the airship LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II on 9 July 1939. During World War II, Meiningen was the location of a prisoner of war hospital, and several German military hospitals. The Deutsche Dienststelle was based in the "Drachenbergkaserne" barracks from 1943 to 1945. A heavy air raid on Meiningen on 23 February 1945, by the USAAF caused 208 deaths, destroyed 251 houses and two bridges in total, and damaged 440 buildings. Meiningen was occupied by American armed forces on 5 April 1945.