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Germany

Fish swim around the Antilla shipwreck.

The ‘Antilla’ Shipwreck Tells the Story of When World War II Came to Aruba

Tourists can learn about this history by snorkeling over the wreck of the German ship in shallow waters just off the island’s coast

Easter bunny treats from the Chocolate House, Co Co. Sala and Pastries by Randolph photographed in Washington, D.C.

How the Chocolate Bunny Became the Mouthwatering Mascot of Easter Sweets

In the 19th century, chocolatiers crafted these tasty treats with “complexity and artistry,” says a food curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Demolition expert Thomas Zowalla after defusing the World War II-era bomb in Dresden

Specialists Carefully Defuse a 550-Pound Bomb in Dresden—Eight Decades After It Fell During World War II

After the ordnance was discovered, 18,000 people were evacuated from the city. Experts worked for several hours to safely dispose of the device

A set of children’s building blocks (Anker-Steinbaukasten) that belonged to Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein Played With These Building Blocks as a Child. Here’s How They Helped Shape His Magnificent Mind

The 19th-century German toy pieces, made with quartz sand, chalk and linseed oil, allowed kids to create realistic structures

The Asama Maru, a Japanese ship that transported Allied civilians to the east coast of Africa, where they were traded for Japanese civilians from North and South America during World War II

After Pearl Harbor, Americans Living in Japan Endured Imprisonment, Torture and a Lengthy Battle to Return Home

A new book chronicles the tense negotiations that secured the return of nearly 3,000 Allied civilians held by the Japanese during World War II

The coffin of Margrave Philipp Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Schwedt (middle)

The Berlin Cathedral Is Reopening Its Massive Crypt—Home to the Bones of One of Europe’s Most Powerful Dynasties

The crypt, which has been closed for renovations for the past six years, houses coffins containing members of the House of Hohenzollern

The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor was created in 1415 by a medieval scribe who identified himself as Moses, son of Menachem.

The Nazis Stole This Rare Jewish Prayer Book Decorated With Dragons, Unicorns and Intricate Floral Patterns. It Just Sold for $6.4 Million at Auction

A scribe created the volume, now known as the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor, in Vienna 600 years ago. It was recently returned to the heirs of its 20th-century owners, who decided to sell the text at a Sotheby’s sale

A photo of the Prochnik family on Easter Sunday in 1925. Gretchen Prochnik is standing second from left.

Untold Stories of American History

This Austrian Diplomat Resigned When the Nazis Annexed His Country. To Make Ends Meet, His Wife Turned to Dressmaking—and Captivated the American Public

Gretchen Prochnik was known around Washington, D.C. for her stylish looks. She capitalized on this interest to launch a successful business after Austria “ceased to exist” in 1938

She was known as Vicky With Three Kisses— a German radio star whose singing and sweet talk comforted weary Nazi soldiers. She was actually a secret weapon in a little-known Allied propaganda effort.

One of the Allies’ Secret Weapons Against the Nazis Was a 21-Year-Old Woman Armed With a Microphone and a Script of Lies

As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

The Painter’s Father is in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Is This Copy of a Long-Lost Northern Renaissance Portrait Actually an Original Albrecht Dürer?

Experts have long assumed that a painting at London’s National Gallery is one of many replicas of an original Dürer portrait. Now, a new book claims that this cracked copy is the real deal

A juvenile harbor seal lies on a beach in the Netherlands.

Seals Are Seemingly Vanishing Off the Dutch Coast. These Scientists Are Trying to Get to the Bottom of the Mysterious Disappearances

Recent counts of the Wadden Sea’s adult harbor seal population have revealed a surprising trend of decline, prompting a consortium of researchers to investigate whether the animals are dying off, relocating or experiencing something else altogether

The title page of the collection of Bartholomäus Vogtherr's medical recipes (left) and a page from another medical text called the Kreuterbu[o]ch (right)

New Research

Renaissance Readers Left Chemical Clues Inside These Medical Manuals. Were They Using Human Feces and Tortoise Shells to Treat Illnesses?

Researchers analyzed proteins extracted from “How to Cure and Expel All Afflictions and Illnesses of the Human Body” and “A Useful and Essential Little Book of Medicine for the Common Man,” both written by a 16th-century German eye doctor

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These Five Photos of Germany’s Natural Wonders Will Inspire Your Wanderlust

From protected biospheres and shimmering lakes to towering peaks and tranquil shores, adventure awaits for those who seek it in Germany

Wolfram Weimer, the German culture minister; Peter Wollny, director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig; and Burkhard Jung, Leipzig's mayor pictured with the two compositions

Cool Finds

These Bach Compositions Were Lost to History. They Were Just Performed for the First Time in 300 Years—and You Can Listen to Them

After discovering the two pieces in the 1990s, researchers have finally concluded that they were created by the famous German composer. An organist performed them for audiences on November 17

“The Scharf Collection: Goya—Monet—Cézanne—Bonnard—Grosse” is on view at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

See Masterpieces by Monet, Matisse, Degas and Picasso in the First-Ever Exhibition of This German Family’s Private Art Collection

The Scharf Collection features French artworks from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as contemporary pieces from around the world

Photographs of an elderly Holocaust survivor from an album documenting the Jewish Relief Unit's activities in Germany after World War II

Elderly Jews Were Among the Most Likely to Die in the Holocaust. Why Has History Forgotten About the Genocide’s Oldest Victims?

A new exhibition at London’s Wiener Holocaust Library spotlights the unique challenges faced by European Jews who were over the age of 55 during World War II

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, a new film written and directed by James Vanderbilt

Based on a True Story

The True Story Behind ‘Nuremberg,’ a WWII Drama About Hermann Göring’s Cat-and-Mouse Game With an American Psychiatrist

Starring Russell Crowe as the high-ranking Nazi and Rami Malek as Army officer Douglas M. Kelley, the film dramatizes the intense dynamic between its central characters during the Nuremberg trials

Bat? Meet rat. Scientists recorded brown rats snatching bats from the air and eating them.

Rats Are Snatching Bats Out of the Air and Eating Them—and Researchers Got It on Video

Rodents in northern Germany were spotted using two different hunting strategies at major urban bat hibernation sites

Friedrich Heyser's oil-on-canvas painting depicts a scene from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Why Hundreds of Taylor Swift Fans Are Flocking to See This 100-Year-Old Painting at a Museum in Germany

Painted around 1900, Friedrich Heyser’s “Ophelia” may have been an inspiration for a popular song on the singer’s latest album

Three of the counterfeit paintings confiscated by Bavarian authorities

This Forgery Ring Tried to Sell a Fake Rembrandt for $150 Million. The Real Painting Is Hanging in an Amsterdam Museum

The conspirators claimed that their canvas was the original, while the Rijksmuseum’s was an inferior copy. They also marketed forgeries of works by Picasso, Frida Kahlo and more

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