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History / World History

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Becoming Anne Frank

Why did we turn an isolated teenage girl into the world’s most famous Holocaust victim?

A recently installed gravestone is engraved in Hebrew and Lithuanian with the names of the Olkin and Jaffe family members.

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

The Words of a Young Jewish Poet Provoke Soul-Searching in Lithuania

The recovery of a diary written by a brilliant woman named Matilda Olkin raises trenchant questions about wartime collaboration

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Two newly translated diaries by young women murdered in the Holocaust cry out to us about the evils of the past and the dangers of the present

A traditional Polish vest that once belonged to Renia Spiegel

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Hear, O Israel, Save Us

An 18-year-old girl, terrorized by the Nazis, kept a secret journal. Read exclusive sections from it here, presented in English for the first time

In 1944, an anonymous boy detailed the last days of the Lodz Ghetto, writing in Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew and English in the margins and endpapers of a French novel.

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

The Searing, Continued Relevance of Diaries From a Genocide

Young people caught in the crossfire of history provide fearless accounts of the horrors of war—and shatter our complacency in real time

When Churchill Dissed America

Our exclusive first look at the diaries of King George VI reveals the Prime Minister’s secret hostility to the United States

One skull found showed evidence of a gruesome, violent death

The Dead Beneath London’s Streets

Human remains dating back to the Roman Empire populate the grounds below the surface, representing a burden for developers but a boon for archaeologists

Mildred Gillars, a.k.a. Axis Sally, in custody at U.S. Counter Intelligence HQ, Berlin, 1946.

‘Axis Sally’ Brought Hot Jazz to the Nazi Propaganda Machine

The voice of Nazi Germany’s U.S. radio disinformation campaigns would have had great success in the media landscape of today

Is All Still Quiet on the Western Front?

A hundred years after the “war to end all wars” ended, a journey to the front lines of World War I reveals the poignant battles and their tragic legacies

Massive, Awe-Inspiring Sculptures Dot the Former Yugoslavian Countryside

In his new book, photographer Jonathan “Jonk” Jimenez seeks out unique monuments commemorating Yugoslav’s National Liberation Struggle

A cross marks the death of the 340 murdered villagers of Lidice.

The Lost Children of the Lidice Massacre

The Nazis arbitrarily slaughtered the Czech villagers, angering the world, even as Europe’s Jews faced similar fates in concentration camps

Soldiers supporting the coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet take cover as bombs are dropped on the Presidential Palace of La Moneda in Sept. 11, 1973.

An Eyewitness Account of Pinochet’s Coup 45 Years Ago

Smithsonian ethnomusicologist Dan Sheehy poignantly recalls the brutal outcome of a nation divided

An artistic rendering of Edward Jenner vaccinating eight-year-old James Phipps in 1796.

The Mysterious Origins of the Smallpox Vaccine

Though the disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the era of smallpox is far from over

Ben Kingsley stars as Adolf Eichmann in Operation Finale

Based on a True Story

The True Story of “Operation Finale”

Director Chris Weitz explores the 1960 hunt for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the new feature film

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