Holocaust

World leaders gathered in Oswiecim, Poland, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Survivors and World Leaders Gather to Commemorate 80th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation

The Nazis murdered an estimated 1.1 million people at the death camp in southern Poland before its liberation on January 27, 1945

Soviet soldiers lead liberated prisoners out of Auschwitz in the winter of 1945.

The Liberation of Auschwitz—Where More Than One Million Jews Were Killed—Took Place on This Day in 1945

The Nazi concentration and extermination camp was the site of the largest mass murder in human history

A 1937 photograph of Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary in American history

How the Nation's First 'Madam Secretary' Fought to Save Jewish Refugees Fleeing From Nazi Germany

A new book spotlights Frances Perkins' efforts to challenge the United States' restrictive immigration policies as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of labor

People suspected of collaborating with the Nazis were rounded up after American troops liberated the Dutch town of Nijmegen at the end of World War II.

The Netherlands Has Published a List of 425,000 Suspected Nazi Collaborators

In the past, the names could only be viewed in person. But due to expiring access restrictions, they're now available to anyone with an internet connection

Pages from the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski

The Discovery of a Jewish Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Reveals How Songs, Jokes and Stories Served as Cultural Resistance

Yitskhok Rudashevski documented his life while hiding from Nazis, as well as folklore told in his community that “must be collected and preserved as a treasure for the future”

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2024 include The Barn, Eden Undone and The Wide Wide Sea.

The Ten Best History Books of 2024

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today

A woman enters the secret annex at the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam. The new exhibition in New York will be the first full-scale replica.

Walk Through a Full-Scale Replica of the Secret Annex Where Anne Frank's Family Took Shelter During the Holocaust

Featuring more than 100 original artifacts, a new immersive exhibition in New York City will explore the young Jewish diarist's life and legacy

Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony (circa 1534) is attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop.

Museum Settles With Heirs of Jewish Couple Who Sold a 16th-Century Painting as They Fled the Nazis

A Pennsylvania museum will auction the portrait—and split the proceeds with the descendants of Henry and Hertha Bromberg

Self portrait, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, 1917

A New Exhibition in Amsterdam Explores the Holocaust Through Looted Objects

"Looted" examines how the Nazis systematically plundered Jewish cultural items during World War II

Baskind was buried under a Star of David with full military honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in France this week.

A Jewish Soldier Found in a German Mass Grave Has Been Reburied in an American Cemetery

Nathan Baskind received a Jewish burial exactly 80 years after his death in World War II

War correspondent Martha Gellhorn (left) and her first husband, Ernest Hemingway, in 1940

Martha Gellhorn Was The Only Woman to Report on the D-Day Landings From the Ground

In June 1944, the veteran journalist hid on a hospital ship so she could report firsthand as Allied soldiers fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy

Lali (played by Jonah Hauer-King) and Gita (Anna Próchniak) in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz," a new mini-series based on Heather Morris' 2018 novel of the same name

'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' Demonstrates the Limits of Holocaust Fiction

A new mini-series dramatizes the best-selling 2018 novel that sparked debate over the line between history and memory

The museum is located inside a former teacher's college that played a vital role in the Dutch resistance.

With New Holocaust Museum, the Netherlands Reckons With Its Past

The venue, which opens this week, memorializes the Dutch Jews who suffered at the hands of the Nazis

Mohammed (seated at left) with Franklin D. Roosevelt (center) and Winston Churchill (right) at a 1943 war conference near Casablanca

The Moroccan Sultan Who Protected His Country's Jews During World War II

Mohammed V defied the collaborationist Vichy regime, saving Morocco's 250,000 Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps

Orly Weintraub Gilad has her grandfather's Auschwitz number, A-12599, tattooed on her arm.

Why Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Are Replicating Auschwitz Tattoos

Those who choose to put the numbers on their bodies hope the act will spark conversation about the Holocaust and pay tribute to loved ones who survived

David Wisnia in his U.S. Army uniform after being “adopted” by troops of the 101st Airborne Division in 1945

The Couple Who Fell in Love in a Nazi Death Camp

A new book chronicles the unlikely connection between Helen Spitzer and David Wisnia, both of whom survived Auschwitz

Camille Pissarro's Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain (1897) hangs at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

Court Rules Against Returning Nazi-Looted Pissarro Painting to Jewish Family

Sold in exchange for exit visas in 1939, the estimated $30 million masterpiece will stay at a Spanish museum

Issues from Curt Bloch's Het Onderwater Cabaret will be shown at the Jewish Museum Berlin beginning in February.

While Hiding From the Nazis in an Attic, a Jewish Man Created 95 Issues of a Satirical Magazine

An exhibition of Curt Bloch's little-known wartime publications is going on display in Berlin

The Zone of Interest envisions the everyday lives of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, rarely venturing beyond their villa’s borders to acknowledge the atrocities unfolding outside their door.

The Real History Behind 'The Zone of Interest' and Rudolf Höss

Jonathan Glazer's new film uses the Auschwitz commandant and his family as a vehicle for examining humans' capacity for evil

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The Books We Loved

Smithsonian editors choose their favorite (mostly) nonfiction of (mostly) 2023

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