Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Germany

Furano, Japan

12 Mesmerizing Places to Watch Flowers Bloom

Because there’s no better way exalt the end of winter than with millions of tulips, poppies and roses

Dachau's gate had a chilling message for its inmates.

Trending Today

Stolen ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ Gate Returns to Dachau

The identity of the thieves remains a mystery

Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst (pictured, left to right, in 1942) resisted the Nazis as members of the White Rose, a secret student group.

Trending Today

The Secret Student Group That Stood Up to the Nazis

The White Rose was short-lived, but its words were hard to ignore

The Institute for Contemporary History's reissued version of Mein Kampf is an anonymous-looking doorstop packed with footnotes and historical context.

Germany’s Controversial New Version of ‘Mein Kampf’ Is Now a Bestseller

Once kept under lock and key, the book is now available in a critical edition

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler

History of Now

How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler

Reports on the rise of fascism in Europe were not the American media’s finest hour

Rudolf Hess and Adolf Hitler during the Reichstag session at which Hitler gave his last warning to the British Empire.

History of Now

The First Moments of Hitler’s Final Solution

When Hitler solidified his plan to exterminate Jews – and why it matters 75 years later

Archival image of one of the U-Bahn's "Dora" trains in service.

Cool Finds

See the Cold War-Era Trains Berlin Is Bringing Back Into Service

The “Dora” is returning to the tracks of the U-Bahn

Argentinians look on as Marta Minují's 1983 Parthenon of books is removed with a crane. The artist will recreate her installation on a grander scale in Germany next year.

Cool Finds

An Artist Is Building a Parthenon of Banned Books

More than 100,000 books will become a monument to intellectual freedom in Germany next year

The German town of Oppenheim is honeycombed with underground tunnels and cellars.

Beneath This Medieval German Town Lie Over 25 Miles of Forgotten Tunnels

Go beneath the surface of Oppenheim

Berlin's Reichstag

Trending Today

Germany Is Reworking the Commission That Handles Restitution for Nazi-Looted Art

A lackluster track record and controversial comments led to a shift

One of the board games in the collections of the Museum of World War II

How the Nazis “Normalized” Anti-Semitism by Appealing to Children

A new museum and exhibit explore the depths of the hatred toward Europe’s Jews

Photo taken at Auschwitz in 2013.

Trending Today

Former SS Guard Convicted on 170,000 Counts of Accessory to Murder

Reinhold Hanning a 94-year-old retired dairy farmer served as a guard at Auschwitz during World War II

Eltz Castle

Visit Seven Storybook Castles in Germany

These magnificent structures are straight out of a fairy tale

Trending Today

Auschwitz Museum Finds Victim’s Jewelry in False-Bottomed Mug

A women’s ring made of gold and a necklace was carefully wrapped in a piece of canvas

None

Cool Finds

Oldest Message in a Bottle Ever Found

The 108-year-old message in a bottle from a British marine researcher washed up on a German beach

German beers have been under strict rules for 500 years.

Celebrating 500 Years of German’s Beer Purity Law

Germany’s treasured—and controversial—rule has a fascinating past and an uncertain future

Trending Today

German Brewery Pulls Beer Accused of Having Nazi and Anti-Immigrant Sentiments

“Grenzzaun halbe” referenced the country’s debate on whether or not to seal its borders

Tom Randle plays Macheath, or “Mack the Knife,” in a production of Benjamin Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera.

Cool Finds

The Strange Career of “Mack the Knife”

As old Macheath is inducted into the National Recording Registry, here’s a look back at his long musical life

A huge pile of used disposable Nestle Nespresso coffee capsules in various colors on a garbage heap in Switzerland. The popular capsules are collected after use in order to recycle the aluminum parts.

Trending Today

Hamburg Is the First City to Ban Single-Use Coffee Pods

You won’t find coffee pods in its government buildings

Page 18 of 21