PN1501

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, marking the beginning of the Second World War. After defeating the Polish Army, the Germans ruthlessly suppressed the Poles, whom they considered racially inferior. In the weeks following the attack, German SS, police, and militia units shot thousands of Polish civilians, including many members of the nobility, … Read more

Few German generals impressed Hitler and the Nazi leadership in the final months of World War II as much as Ferdinand Schörner. His reputation rested less on tactical brilliance than on brutality. Schörner stood apart from nearly all of Hitler's senior army commanders because of his humble origins. Born in Munich in 1892 to a … Read more

In May 1945, outside Frankfurt, an American soldier at a checkpoint noticed a girl approaching. She looked about 15 years old, thin and exhausted, her dirty clothes hanging loose on her frame. She was carrying a baby. The soldier raised his hand. Stop. The checkpoint was closed to civilians. But the girl kept walking, slowly, … Read more

In April 1945, as General George S. Patton's column moved through a small German town, a woman appeared at a checkpoint on the main road. She was not a refugee and she was not asking for passage. She had walked from a building three streets away, an orphanage that had stood on the same site … Read more