N1104 On April 8, 1945, prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp about five miles northwest of the city of Weimar used a secret shortwave transmitter and a small generator to send an SOS in Morse code to the Allies, specifically to the army of General Patton. The message asked for help and warned that the SS … Read more
Mia madre aveva appena riattaccato il telefono, e la sua ultima frase riecheggiava ancora nella mia testa quando sentii un rumore sordo provenire dalla camera da letto. Mi precipitai su per le scale e spalancai la porta della stanza che dividevo con Owen, mio fratello minore. Lui era accovacciato nell’angolo, la testa tra le mani, … Read more
On October 14, 1944, two generals arrived at a quiet villa near Ulm with an ultimatum from Hitler. By the end of the afternoon, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was dead. His wife Lucie and his 15-year-old son Manfred were inside the house when it happened. Within hours, the regime announced that Rommel had died of … Read more
Le vent avait cessé de souffler dans le maïs quand mon père a prononcé la phrase qui a tout fait basculer. J’étais debout au milieu de la cour de la ferme familiale, la poussière collée à mes bottes, et il a annoncé la nouvelle comme s’il lisait un bulletin météo. « On a vendu la … Read more
In December 1943, a German fighter pilot spared a crippled American bomber over Germany. Ten men survived because of that decision. Then both pilots went home and never spoke of it again. For 43 years, Charlie Brown carried a single question. Who was he? The German pilot who looked into his eyes and chose mercy … Read more
Quella sera, alle undici, il silenzio del mio appartamento di Bergamo era quasi solido. Ogni conto, ogni carta legata al mio nome e riconducibile alla mia famiglia era stato chiuso. Il mio lavoro mi ha insegnato a riconoscere quando i numeri smettono di raccontare la storia che dovrebbero raccontare. E per anni, i numeri della … Read more
On September 1, 1939, at dawn, German armed columns crossed the Polish border, entering the country from the north, west, and south at once. In London and Paris, the governments that had guaranteed Polish sovereignty prepared warnings that would become declarations of war within two days. In Warsaw, streets filled with civilians staring at the … Read more
Angela Marie "Geli" Raubal was born in Linz, in what was then Austria-Hungary, on June 4, 1908. She was one of three children born to Leo Raubal Sr. and his wife Angela, and she grew up alongside her siblings Leo Jr. and Friedl. Leo Sr. died in 1910, when Geli was just two years old. … Read more
On July 10, 1940, the skies over southern England rumbled with war. The German Luftwaffe unleashed wave after wave of bombers and fighters in what became the Battle of Britain. Airfields burned, ports were shattered, and cities like London, Birmingham, and Coventry braced under relentless attacks. Operation Sea Lion, Nazi Germany's code name for the … Read more
During World War II, both Britain and the United States had their own notorious traitors. These were non-conformists who, for various reasons, chose to work for the enemy. One of the most common forms of treason was broadcasting propaganda by radio. Britain had the infamous Lord Haw-Haw, whose real name was William Joyce. He was … Read more