N1104

On October 1, 1946, judges from the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France delivered their verdicts at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, against the most prominent figures of Nazi Germany. Most of the accused were present in the courtroom, but one seat remained empty. The man who should have been there … Read more

Henriette von Schirach was born Henriette Hoffmann on February 2, 1913, in Munich, then part of the German Empire. Her father, Heinrich Hoffmann, was a photographer, and her mother, Therese Baumann, was a former singer and actress who died suddenly in 1928, when Henriette was only 15. In 1919, Henriette's father met Adolf Hitler, and … Read more

Heinrich Hoffmann built a career as Adolf Hitler's personal photographer and used that privileged access to amass a fortune, partly through art looted from Jewish owners and occupied territories. He later portrayed himself as a naive companion of Hitler rather than an active profiteer of Nazi policies. Hoffmann was born on September 12, 1885, in … Read more

In March 1944, the tide of the Second World War had turned decisively against Nazi Germany. Hungary's regent, Miklós Horthy, faced growing pressure both at home and from Berlin to decide where his country truly stood. Behind the scenes, Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay had become convinced that Germany's defeat was inevitable. He discreetly reached … Read more

On April 9, 1940, the morning in Norway was sharp and brittle as warships pushed up the fjord and engines echoed across the air. Sirens rose and fell. People looked up at the low sky and heard aircraft crossing the city. Rumors spread quickly. Germany had attacked, and the capital was about to fall. For … Read more

The silence along Europe's eastern border was broken before dawn on June 22, 1941, when thousands of guns opened fire at once. German tanks pushed forward through the mist as aircraft swarmed overhead, marking the start of the largest invasion in history. Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's war against the Soviet Union, was underway. More than three … Read more

In September 1938, Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, threatened to unleash a European war unless the Sudetenland — a border region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by an ethnic German population — was ceded to Germany. Leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany met in Munich between September 29 and 30, 1938, and agreed to … Read more

On October 1, 1946, in Nuremberg, Germany, after more than ten months of proceedings, 21 defendants described as among the most significant political, military, and economic leaders of Nazi Germany heard their verdicts. These high-ranking figures of the criminal Nazi regime finally had to take responsibility for their crimes before an international military tribunal. It … Read more