PN1501

Erwin Rommel remains one of the most recognizable commanders of World War II. He is still famously known as the Desert Fox for his daring initiative on the battlefields of North Africa. Rommel's legacy and ultimate destiny lay in his willingness to do something very few other generals would even consider. He spoke the brutal … Read more

Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor known as the "Angel of Death," spent years living in relative comfort in South America while being hunted by Nazi hunters. His crimes at Auschwitz-Birkenau, his escape from justice, and the long effort to track him down form one of the most enduring manhunts of the twentieth century. Mengele was … Read more

Alois Brunner was one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals never brought to justice. As a close deputy to Adolf Eichmann, he helped implement the Holocaust across Europe and personally oversaw the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews to their deaths. His cruelty was evident early. On the night of February 7, 1942, … Read more

Wilhelm Canaris is not a name that carries the same infamy as Himmler, Göring, or Goebbels. Yet he served as Hitler's chief spy, and his story is one of the most contradictory of the Nazi era. Canaris was a spy who worked in the shadows, and both his career and his ideology remain murky. Historians … Read more

Albert Speer built the image of an invincible Führer, sacrificed thousands to arm his war machine, and then, when it all ended, swore an oath to God and engineered one of the greatest cover-ups in history. For decades, much of the world was not only prepared to believe him, it was eager to. Most people … Read more

When World War II ended in 1945, the machinery of the Third Reich collapsed with Germany's surrender. Members of the SS, one of the most feared organizations of the Nazi regime, faced very different fates. Some were captured and tried, others managed to disappear for decades, and a small group reintegrated into society under false … Read more

On March 23, 1944, 16 members of the Italian Resistance concealed themselves along the Via Rasella in Rome. They were well armed with machine pistols and revolvers hidden under their clothing as they mingled with the Roman crowds. One of them, disguised as a street cleaner, pushed a rubbish cart along the road. The trap … Read more

Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief known as the Butcher of Lyon, returned to France on February 5, 1983, nearly four decades after he fled the city in 1944. His arrival ended one of the longest manhunts in modern European history and opened the first French trial for crimes against humanity. The operation that brought him … Read more

Eva Anna Paula Braun was born on February 6, 1912, in Munich, Germany. Her mother, Franziska "Fanny," had worked as a seamstress before becoming a housewife. Her father, Friedrich "Fritz," left to fight in World War I when Eva was two years old and returned afterward to work as a schoolteacher. Eva was the middle … Read more