N1104

On December 22, 1947, in Krakow, Poland, the former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camp heard their sentences read aloud. After a month of gruesome testimonies, 23 of the 41 defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. Among them was Hans Aumeier, the former deputy commandant of Auschwitz, the deadliest German Nazi concentration camp. Hans … Read more

For nearly eight decades, one question has haunted historians, survivors, and ordinary readers alike: who told the Nazis where Anne Frank was hiding? After more than 75 years of speculation, dead ends, and carefully kept secrets, a team of cold case investigators believes it finally has an answer. Anne Frank was 15 years old when … Read more

Karl Hermann Frank was one of the most powerful Nazi officials in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a man whose name became synonymous with terror, mass executions, and the destruction of Czech villages. He was born on January 24, 1898, in Karlovy Vary, then part of Austria-Hungary. His father Heinrich was an elementary school … Read more

Theodor Gilbert Morell was born on July 22, 1886, in the Tru district of Münzenberg, then part of the German Empire. He was the second son of an elementary school teacher. Morell studied medicine in Grenoble and Paris before completing an internship in obstetrics and gynecology in Munich in 1910. After finishing his doctoral studies … Read more

When Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, the most successful fighter pilot in history gave himself up in Czechoslovakia. Erich Hartmann had shot down 352 enemy aircraft, more than any pilot before or since. Within days, he vanished into Soviet captivity, and he would not see home again for a decade. Hartmann had tried to … Read more

Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, is remembered today as one of the most notorious war criminals of the Second World War. He openly admitted his role in the massacre of millions during the Nuremberg trials. He also appeared proud of his actions in building the deadliest concentration camp of the war. Höss tried to … Read more

On October 1, 1946, in Nuremberg, Germany, the sentences were read out for 21 defendants who had been among the most important political, military, and economic leaders of Nazi Germany. After more than ten months of trial, these high-ranking representatives of the criminal Nazi regime were made to answer before an International Military Tribunal for … Read more

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi Party aimed to lead the so-called German master race to victory in a racial struggle against those it deemed inferior, especially Jews. The regime quickly restricted the civil and human rights of Jewish people, gradually excluding them from professions, businesses, and public … Read more