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On March 15, 1939, German troops marched into Prague. Crowds stood in stunned silence as armored vehicles rolled across the cobblestones and soldiers took positions at bridges, ministries, and railway stations. By afternoon, the swastika flew above the city. The capital of Czechoslovakia had fallen without a single battle, and fear settled over the city … Read more

In early 1941, the Netherlands had been under Nazi occupation since May of the previous year. While many Dutch citizens tried simply to survive, others chose to resist. Some, motivated by ideology, fear, or opportunity, chose to collaborate. On February 11, 1941, Amsterdam's streets were controlled by force and intimidation. Anti-Jewish measures were enforced with … Read more

On March 15, 1939, German troops marched into Prague. Crowds stood in stunned silence as armored vehicles rolled across the cobblestones and soldiers took positions at bridges, ministries, and railway stations. By afternoon, the swastika flew above the city. The capital of Czechoslovakia had fallen without a single battle. Fear settled over the city as … Read more

In November 1945, the world gathered in Nuremberg, Germany, for the first time in history to put war criminals on trial. Inside a courtroom guarded by soldiers and watched by lawyers and journalists, judges from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France took their seats. Together they formed the International Military … Read more

On February 3, 1947, in Hamburg, Germany, the former staff of Ravensbrück, the largest concentration camp for women in Nazi Germany, heard their sentences read. After nearly two months of gruesome testimonies, the world finally learned the truth about the inhumane mistreatment and torture conducted by the camp's male and female personnel during its six-year … Read more

In photographs of Germany's senior military commanders during World War II, one object appears again and again in their hands. It is not a pistol or a map case, but a short, heavily ornamented baton gleaming with gold and silver fittings. It was not a weapon and had no practical combat use whatsoever. This was … Read more

On September 12, 1942, in the South Atlantic about 600 miles off the coast of West Africa, the German submarine U-156 torpedoed a British troop ship. As the vessel sank, Commander Werner Hartenstein surfaced to capture officers for interrogation. Then he heard voices — hundreds of them — and realized what he had done. The … Read more

Adolf Hitler walked out of Landsberg prison in December 1924 and returned to Munich to find his Nazi Party in chaos. The Bavarian government had banned him from public speaking, the tool he had used most effectively as an orator and demagogue. For a man who built his appeal on his voice, the restriction was … Read more

Eva Braun first met Adolf Hitler in 1929, when she was 17 years old and working for a Nazi party photographer. She was 23 years younger than him. Braun had been Hitler's mistress for 14 years, but the relationship was kept hidden from the German people. Hitler wanted to remain attractive to his female admirers, … Read more

On April 28, 1945, Berlin was a bombed-out, burning ruin. The Red Army had reached the city's eastern suburbs on Hitler's last birthday, April 20, and had spent the past eight days steadily surrounding Berlin and fighting toward its center. The government quarter was still heavily defended. Some 5,000 SS troops held the massive official … Read more