USSR | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/ussr/RSS feed for USSRenWed, 27 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000Soviet Cosmonauts Trained at Star City as They Raced to Beat America to the Moon. Now, a New TV Series Imagines What Happened Behind the Base's Wallshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/soviet-cosmonauts-trained-at-star-city-as-they-raced-to-beat-america-to-the-moon-now-a-new-tv-series-imagines-what-happened-behind-the-bases-walls-180988823/Apple TV's "Star City" takes place in a world where the space race never came to an end. A spinoff of "For All Mankind," the show is told from the Soviet perspectiveWed, 27 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/soviet-cosmonauts-trained-at-star-city-as-they-raced-to-beat-america-to-the-moon-now-a-new-tv-series-imagines-what-happened-behind-the-bases-walls-180988823/This Heroic Japanese Diplomat Defied His Government to Save Thousands of Jewish Refugees From the Holocausthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-heroic-japanese-diplomat-defied-his-government-to-save-thousands-of-jewish-refugees-from-the-holocaust-180987067/Stationed in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara granted transit visas that allowed holders to escape Europe and travel through Japan as they sought safety abroadThu, 31 Jul 2025 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-heroic-japanese-diplomat-defied-his-government-to-save-thousands-of-jewish-refugees-from-the-holocaust-180987067/A Century Ago, a Mob Brutally Attacked an American Diplomat in Persia. His Death Shaped U.S.-Iran Relations for Decadeshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-century-ago-a-mob-brutally-attacked-an-american-diplomat-in-persia-his-death-shaped-us-iran-relations-for-decades-180985016/The July 1924 killing of Robert Imbrie fueled the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and set the stage for both a CIA-backed 1953 coup and the 1979 Iran hostage crisisThu, 05 Sep 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-century-ago-a-mob-brutally-attacked-an-american-diplomat-in-persia-his-death-shaped-us-iran-relations-for-decades-180985016/The Daring Polish Resistance Fighter Who Volunteered to Be Sent to Auschwitz So He Could Sabotage the Nazi Death Camp From the Insidehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-daring-polish-resistance-fighter-who-volunteered-to-be-sent-to-auschwitz-so-he-could-sabotage-the-nazi-death-camp-from-the-inside-180986559/Witold Pilecki smuggled reports about Germany's war crimes to the Allies, urging them to stop the atrocities at Auschwitz by bombing the camp. But his warnings went unheededThu, 08 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-daring-polish-resistance-fighter-who-volunteered-to-be-sent-to-auschwitz-so-he-could-sabotage-the-nazi-death-camp-from-the-inside-180986559/Discover the Story Behind a Legendary Exposé of the Brutality of the Soviet Unionhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/discover-the-story-behind-a-legendary-expose-of-the-brutality-of-the-soviet-union-180985658/Published on this day in 1973, "The Gulag Archipelago" drew on Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's experiences as a political dissident in a prison camp, but it left him deported and stateless for the next two decadesSat, 28 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/discover-the-story-behind-a-legendary-expose-of-the-brutality-of-the-soviet-union-180985658/At the 1960 Olympics, American Athletes Recruited by the CIA Tried to Convince Their Soviet Peers to Defecthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/at-the-1960-olympics-american-athletes-recruited-by-the-cia-tried-to-convince-their-soviet-peers-to-defect-180984794/Al Cantello, a star of the U.S. track and field team, arranged a covert meeting between a government agent and a Ukrainian long jumperThu, 01 Aug 2024 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/at-the-1960-olympics-american-athletes-recruited-by-the-cia-tried-to-convince-their-soviet-peers-to-defect-180984794/The Man Who Pierced the Iron Curtain in a Flying Go-Kart—and Left Civilization Foreverhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-pierced-the-iron-curtain-in-a-flying-go-kartand-left-civilization-forever-180982739/Escaping communism in a DIY aircraft wasn’t enough for Ivo Zdarsky. So he invented his own way of life in a Utah desert ghost townThu, 17 Aug 2023 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-pierced-the-iron-curtain-in-a-flying-go-kartand-left-civilization-forever-180982739/Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunkerhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-jfks-secret-doomsday-bunker-180981574/The president's Nantucket nuclear fallout shelter could become a National Historic Landmark—but efforts to preserve its history have stalledMon, 06 Feb 2023 14:32:28 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-jfks-secret-doomsday-bunker-180981574/When the Muppets Moved to Moscowhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-the-muppets-moved-to-moscow-180980927/A new book details the tangled tale of "Ulitsa Sezam," a "Sesame Street" spinoff that aired until visions of Russia's democratic future falteredFri, 14 Oct 2022 15:25:49 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-the-muppets-moved-to-moscow-180980927/The Contradictory Legacy of Mikhail Gorbachevhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-contradictory-legacy-of-mikhail-gorbachev-180980679/The Soviet leader, who died on August 30 at age 91, attempted to enact "revolution from above"Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:26:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-contradictory-legacy-of-mikhail-gorbachev-180980679/