N1104 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
Avevo sentito il nome di mio padre urlato tante volte nella mia vita, ma mai la parola “vattene”. Quella sera, nel corridoio di casa, la sentii con una chiarezza che mi gelò il sangue. Non mi fecero nemmeno sedere. Non mi chiesero nulla. Mio padre indicò la porta e basta. Mia madre, invece, non disse … Read more
Adolf Hitler never trusted or liked most of his generals and field marshals. The reasons ranged from class envy to a deep disdain for the traditional German general staff system. Many of Germany's senior officers came from aristocratic families, a fact reflected in the noble "von" that preceded so many surnames. Hitler, by contrast, had … Read more
La prima telefonata arrivò di mattina presto, ma non fui io a rispondere. Fu il display del telefono a illuminarsi con il nome di mia madre, e io la lasciai squillare mentre finivo il caffè. Poi arrivò il messaggio di mio fratello minore, Codi, e le sue parole mi colpirono come uno schiaffo: “Grazie per … Read more
For the ordinary soldier in World War II, the paycheck was rarely the point. Armies provided food and shelter for obvious reasons, so a private's real wage was whatever he could send home or spend on cigarettes, entertainment, personal items, and civilian clothes. This look at five Allied and participating nations ranks the base pay … Read more