The indiscriminate use of ‘Nazi’ to describe anything to do with German institutions and policies during Hitler’s dictatorship creates a false historical understanding, says Richard Overy. Few words in regular use in historical writing can have been abused as much as the word ‘Nazi’. At the very least it has proved a persistent grammatical challenge for generations of students who [...]
A World War Two invasion of the US East Coast mounted and coordinated from an Axis base in Nazi-occupied Bermuda sounds like a scenario dreamed up by a science fiction writer — and it was. But when “Life” magazine commissioned novelist Philip Wylie to come up with six variations based on the theme of an imminent German/Italian/Japanese attack on the United [...]
Located near the German border, the city of Metz had a population of about 100,000 in 1944 and was an important transportation, communication and administrative center. Metz had been overwhelmed by the German invasion of France in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was ceded back to the French following World War I and fell again to the Germans during [...]
Fifty alleged former Auschwitz guards may face prison terms in Germany, sixty-eight years after the end of World War II, local media have reported. The former Auschwitz guards, who’ve never faced prosecution for their posts, were tracked down by the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigsburg. The suspects may be charged with accessory to murder. [...]
The incredible bravery of a member of the Norwegian resistance who escaped his German captors by trekking 200 miles across snowy mountains has been revealed. Sven Somme fled to Britain after spending two months evading capture and execution following an epic escape. During his time in the resistance, the spy photographed strategic German military bases in his home country using [...]
Frustrated with the persistent refusal of Germany to settle the decades long pending WWII German reparation obligations, ordinary Greek citizens have organized a petition and are collecting signatures to demand the long delayed settlement. The ongoing petition at www.greece.org/blogs/wwii/ is receiving support and solidarity from people around the world (over 188,000 signatures by now), which proves the clamor for justice [...]
A detail from La Tentation de Saint Antoine, which France will return to its rightful owner. The painting, by Sebastien Ricci, had been on display at the Louvre museum in Paris. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP France is to return seven paintings stolen, or appropriated under pressure by the Nazis, from their Jewish owners in the 1930s to their families on [...]
Schoolchildren in Prague have helped gather 170,000 signatures to help Sir Nicholas Winton win the Nobel Peace Prize. Their efforts – and the 103-year-old’s story – are extraordinary.Miroslava Nemcova, speaker of the lower house of parliament in the Czech republic, recently announced to reporters that she was formally submitting a nomination for Sir Nicholas Winton to be awarded the 2013 [...]
The celebrated “red coat girl” from Schindler’s List, Polish actor Oliwia Dabrowska, has revealed she was left traumatised after breaking a promise to director Steven Spielberg not to watch the film until she was 18. Dabrowska, aged three when she filmed a key role in Spielberg’s landmark 1993 Holocaust drama, adapted from Thomas Keneally’s novel, said she was “horrified” when [...]
THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe. What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust. The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos [...]
Russia, the West and World War IIMay 18, 2013
Stalin’s Ethnic Deportations—and the Gerrymandered Ethnic MapMay 18, 2013
Daring ‘dambuster’ WWII mission remembered with vintage flightMay 18, 2013
‘Lore’ movie review: German period drama offers unique perspective on WWIIMay 18, 2013
The Simms War CarMay 18, 2013
Chicago gun laws bar museum from displaying German weapon seized by WWII heroMay 18, 2013
Secret WWII code revealed in POW letters (Video)May 17, 2013
Abandonned WIG vehicle, Beriev VVA-14M1P ekranoplan, Air Force Museum, Monino, Moscow, RussiaMay 17, 2013
The scale model targets in Watford which made the Dambusters raid a realityMay 17, 2013
New Documents Reveal How a 1980s Nuclear War Scare Became a Full-Blown CrisisMay 17, 2013
‘Night Flying Programme. 16.5.43′: How RAF crew room listed names of 133 airmen… unaware their ‘training run’ assignment was really the Dambusters raidMay 17, 2013
Glorious return: Back where it all began, a lone Lancaster marks 70 years since the audacious Dambusters raidMay 17, 2013
REVIEW: THE FIRST BLITZ The German Air Campaign Against Britain 1917-1918 by Mark BarnesMay 17, 2013
A yacht of history: WWII flagship to be sold as private vessel for £50mMay 17, 2013
Replicas of John ‘Jack’ Baskeyfield’s Victoria Cross rehomed after closure of Staffordshire Regimental Association branchMay 17, 2013
WW2 Chinese workers ask Mitsubishi $60 mil. compensationMay 17, 2013
Ken Jenner DFC – Bomber Pilot – Telegraph ObituaryMay 17, 2013
Japanese mayor’s sex slaves comments condemned by USMay 17, 2013
World War I: UK announces search for families of 74,000 Indian soldiers who died fightingMay 17, 2013
A Black Nurse, a German Soldier and an Unlikely WWII RomanceMay 17, 2013
