PN1501 Josef Kramer was born on November 10, 1906, in Munich, then part of the German Empire. He joined the Nazi Party in December 1931 and the SS in 1932. From 1934 until the end of the war, he worked in various concentration camps, including Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Mauthausen. When the Nazis established Auschwitz in 1940, … Read more
Gerhard Palitzsch was born on June 17, 1913, in the village of Grossopitz near Dresden, then part of the German Empire. A farmer by profession, he joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1933. His career in the concentration camp system began the same year, when he became a guard at the Oranienburg and … Read more
Först tänkte jag att det var vad som helst utom det där. Att en enda söndagseftermiddag kunde riva upp allt jag trodde att jag visste om mitt liv, det hade jag aldensin kunnat föreställa mig. Jag har alltid varit den som ser det bästa i människor, som ger nåd innan den ens är bett om, … Read more
Yakov Dzhugashvili was born on March 31, 1907, in Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the son of Ekaterina "Kato" Svanidze, a young Georgian woman, and Joseph Dzhugashvili, a revolutionary activist who would later become Joseph Stalin. At the time of Yakov's birth, Stalin was still a rising Bolshevik involved in underground … Read more
At dawn on the third day at the Hot Gates, a Spartan soldier combs his hair. He could be thirty or fifty; from a distance, it is impossible to tell. His bronze helmet rests in the dust beside him, and his hands move slowly through his long black hair, oiled and braided, as though he … Read more
On the afternoon of December 19, 1944, at 21st Army Group headquarters in Zonhoven, Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge was three days old. German panzers had punched through American lines in the Ardennes with a force and speed that surprised everyone, including the Germans who planned it. American divisions had been overrun. Commanders had … Read more
In May 1913, Adolf Hitler was a 24-year-old failed artist living in Vienna. He had inherited the last of his father's estate, money earned during Alois Hitler's 30 years in the Austrian customs service. Hitler used that small sum to move from Vienna to Munich, in Bavaria. In Vienna he had lived in men's shelters … Read more
Kancelaria pachniała starym papierem i pastą do mebli, tak samo jak trzydzieści lat temu. Siedziałam naprzeciwko Hensleya ze złożonymi dłońmi na kolanach i wciąż zapiętym płaszczem, mimo że kaloryfery pracowały na pełną moc. Powiedziałam mu wszystko. Nie cicho, nie mimochodem, tylko tak, jak trzeba to zrobić, kiedy w końcu decydujesz się nazwać rzeczy po imieniu. … Read more
The history books say the Battle of Stalingrad ended on the morning of February 2, 1943, with the surrender of the last pocket of German troops in the northern part of the city. That account, however, leaves out a remarkable and largely ignored chapter of the battle. Considerable numbers of German troops did not lay … Read more
Ho passato tutta la vita credendo che il sangue fosse il legame più forte che una famiglia potesse avere. Poi mia moglie ha distrutto quella certezza con sette parole. Avevo appena depositato sei milioni di dollari in un trust per i miei tre figli. Quote uguali, nessuna condizione, nessun favoritismo. Volevo che fossero protetti a … Read more