q1903 In September 1943, Italian soldiers who had surrendered their weapons suddenly found German rifles pointed at them. Allies became captives in an instant. Cold air, silence, confusion, and orders barked in a language that had once meant friend filled the moment. These 600,000 men did not yet know why they were being arrested, but they … Read more
Het eerste wat ze teruggaven was geen geld. Het was lucht. In maart stond ik buiten een loods in Red Hollow en keek toe hoe vrachtwagens van de county dezelfde luchtreinigers afvoerden waarvoor mijn zus ooit voor de camera’s had geposeerd, bewerend dat ze die aan gezinnen bezorgde die stikten in de rook van natuurbranden. … Read more
Berlin was burning on April 30, 1945. The Red Army was advancing street by street toward the heart of the city, crushing whatever resistance remained. Soviet forces were less than 500 meters from the bunker where Adolf Hitler was spending his final hours. Inside, six meters below ground, the air was suffocating. The dictator who … Read more
On de eenendertigste mei kregen we eindelijk het telefoongesprek waar we maanden op hadden gewacht. Mijn schoonvader belde om te zeggen dat de verkoop van het appartement waar wij woonden, eindelijk rond was. Het appartement was van hem, en de opbrengst zou ons helpen om van de hypotheek af te komen die als een schaduw … Read more
In May 1945, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany died in seconds by biting a hidden capsule inside his own mouth. Two days later, four British doctors gathered in a simple house in Germany to do something very specific: prove, down to the cleft in his chin and the measurements of his … Read more
Erano circa le otto di sera quando mi fermai davanti alla casa di mio figlio a St. Albert. Nove ore di autostrada mi si erano depositate nella parte bassa della schiena, in quel modo sordo che ti entra nelle ossa e non se ne va più. Non avevo ancora bussato quando la voce di mia … Read more
When the guns finally fell silent in Berlin in May 1945, the fighting was over but the suffering was not. What followed the Battle of Berlin is a story that rarely makes it into history books, yet it explains the true cost of the war better than any battle map ever could. The siege of … Read more
Joseph Goebbels never stood before the judges at Nuremberg. When Nazi Germany collapsed in the spring of 1945, he remained in Berlin and died on May 1, just one day after the death of Adolf Hitler. That meant the Allies never had the chance to try one of the most important figures in Nazi Germany. … Read more
Je n’aurais jamais imaginé que mes quatre enfants, ceux que j’avais élevés à la force du poignet, me laisseraient quinze jours seule dans une chambre d’hôpital. Quinze jours sans un regard, sans une visite, sans même une main posée sur la mienne. Ce n’est qu’au moment de ma sortie, lorsque j’ai dû appeler un Uber … Read more
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian Nazi leader and a high-ranking SS officer born on October 1, 1903, in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. He came from a nationalist family, and his father was a lawyer. He was educated at the Royal Gymnasium, the most advanced secondary school system in Germany at the time. During his school … Read more