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Few books of the 20th century had as large an impact as "The Diary of Anne Frank." The bestselling autobiography is a true-life chronicle of the two years Anne and her family spent hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Yet the diary has seen its share of controversies over the years, from copyright … Read more

When people picture soldiers fighting in World War II, they often imagine men carrying machine guns. Yet one of the war's most remarkable stories belongs to women flying bombers in the night sky over the Soviet Union. The roots of that story reach back to the sweeping industrialization of the Soviet Union in the 1920s … Read more

On the Eastern Front, quiet could be deceiving. A faint buzz would rise out of the vast darkness, growing louder until it seemed to sit directly overhead. The source stayed hidden until explosions and gunfire broke the night, the ground shook, buildings collapsed, and men screamed. Then two aircraft would appear for a split second … Read more

In the 1930s, with the clouds of war gathering over Europe once more, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin pushed to demonstrate its technical prowess to the rest of the world. This was especially true in the air, where the Soviets established a number of endurance records for aircraft. To show how far the Soviet … Read more

For more than 75 years, the diary of Anne Frank has remained one of the most widely read books in the world. Its account of a Jewish teenager's life in hiding gave a voice and a face to millions of victims of the Nazi genocide. Yet one question has gone stubbornly unanswered: who alerted the … Read more

Margot Betti Frank was born on February 16, 1926, in Frankfurt, Germany, to Otto and Edith Frank. She had a younger sister, Anne, who was three years her junior. The sisters enjoyed a happy childhood, playing almost every day in the garden with neighborhood children. The Franks were liberal Jews living in an assimilated community … Read more

On May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands during World War II. The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, used paratroopers to capture tactical points and to assist the advance of ground troops across the country. The invasion was accompanied by heavy aerial bombardment of Rotterdam. It culminated on May 14 with the destruction of … Read more

Edith Frank, the mother of Anne Frank, was born on January 16, 1900, in Aachen, then part of the German Empire. Her parents, Abraham and Rosa Hollander, were wealthy Jews who traded in industrial equipment. Edith was the youngest of four children and was 14 when her sister Betina died. She also had two brothers, … Read more

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor burned. A young Army Air Corps corporal named Jacob DeShazer heard the news while peeling potatoes. He threw a potato across the room and declared that Japan would pay. Four months later, DeShazer got his chance. He volunteered for a secret mission to bomb Tokyo. The mission succeeded, but … Read more

When Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, a 23-year-old fighter pilot handed himself over to American forces. He was the most successful fighter ace in history, with 352 confirmed aerial victories — more than any pilot from any nation in any war. His name was Erich Hartmann. The Americans processed him and then handed him … Read more