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Nazis

Hitler and his half-niece Geli Raubald photographed in 1930

Hitler Had an Intense, Mysterious Relationship With His Half-Niece. New Research Suggests His Alibi for Her Murder Might Not Hold Up

Recently uncovered documents about the timing of Geli Raubal’s death cast new doubt on the Nazi leader’s alibi, which had been considered reasonably sound for nearly a century

Jean Metzinger’s Woman With a Fan (1913) was gifted to the Art Insitute of Chicago by Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Kunstadter.

This Cubist Painting With a Mysterious Provenance Hung in the Art Institute of Chicago for Decades. Now, the Museum Will Return It to Its Rightful Jewish Heirs

Infrared imaging links the 20th-century Jean Metzinger work to a collector whose pieces were forcibly auctioned under Nazi orders during World War II

Art expert Ariel Bassano speaks at last year’s press conference in front of Portrait of a Lady, the 18th-century painting stolen by Nazis in 1945 and rediscovered in Argentina. A judge ruled this month that the artwork must be returned to its rightful heirs.

A Rare Nazi-Looted Painting, Lost for Some 80 Years, Turned Up in a Real Estate Listing. Now, a Judge Has Ordered It Returned to Its Rightful Heirs

Missing since it was stolen in Amsterdam in 1945, Giacomo Ceruti’s ‘Portrait of a Lady’ will be restored to its true owners, a court in Argentina has ruled in a landmark decision

A 1945 photo of Francis Lowell Coolidge (third from left) in the Pacific theater of World War II

Untold Stories of American History

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

A direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, Francis Lowell Coolidge was an agent with the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA. Read his goodbye letter to his wife, published here for the first time

A 2014 photo of Teruo Murakami, the last survivor of the Cowra breakout. He died in 2023 at 103.

Why Has History Forgotten World War II’s Largest Prison Break, Which Claimed the Lives of More Than 200 Japanese POWs?

During the 1944 Cowra breakout, over 900 prisoners attempted to escape from an Allied camp in Australia. The uprising resulted in the deaths of 234 Japanese men and 5 Australians

German warships dating to World War II are visible again in the Danube River, as they were in 2024 as pictured here.   

The Danube River Has Fallen to Record-Low Water Levels, Revealing Nazi Warships, Bombs and Woolly Mammoth Bones In Its Channel

Residents and researchers are finding historic and prehistoric relics as Europe’s second-longest river dries

Three researchers from Santa Clara University hope their new A.I. chatbot makes it easier to research the provenance of art possibly looted by the Nazis, such as this painting at the Musée d’Orsay. 

To Recover Artworks Looted by the Nazis, Researchers Are Getting Creative, With New Strategies Including an A.I. Chatbot and a Campaign of ‘Wanted’ Posters

University researchers hope their new artificial intelligence chatbot makes provenance research easier and more accessible

A man discovered the wreckage while picking berries.

Cool Finds

A Man Picking Berries in the Forest in Poland Might Have Stumbled Upon the Wreckage of an Allied Airplane From World War II

Experts are still investigating but note that an earlier discovery nearby identified part of the wing of a British Lancaster bomber

The secret listeners recorded conversations onto acetate discs.

British Intelligence Turned This Mansion Into a Bugged Spy Trap for Nazi Prisoners of War During World War II

Visitors can now tour the house, where German generals relaxed and gabbed upstairs while Jewish refugees working as spies and translators for the British government listened in from the basement

Brendan Fraser (left) as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Andrew Scott (right) as James Stagg in Pressure, a new WWII drama about the weather forecast for D-Day

Based on a True Story

One Weather Forecast Changed the Course of WWII. Here’s the Real Story Behind ‘Pressure,’ a Drama About the Meteorologist Who Convinced the Allies to Delay D-Day

A new movie starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser dramatizes the tense 72 hours before the Allied invasion of Normandy, revealing how meteorology helped determine Operation Overlord’s success

Museumgoers can read the labels on the backs of the paintings, which may provide clues about each work's provenance.

Who Are the Owners of These Nazi-Looted Masterpieces—and Could Displaying Them at One of France’s Most Popular Museums Help Track Them Down?

A new permanent display at the Musée d’Orsay showcases artworks that may have been stolen or sold under suspicious circumstances during World War II. Officials are still hoping to find the families of their rightful owners

More than 5,000 photographs, including these polaroids, from the archives of Mel Brooks will be donated to the National Comedy Center.

No Joke, Ahead of His 100th Birthday, Mel Brooks Donates His Hilarious Archive to the National Comedy Center

Thousands of notes, storyboards, early scripts and photographs belonging to the “2,000-year-old man” and EGOT winner will join material from Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers and George Carlin

Cupid Complaining to Venus, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526-1527

This Renaissance Painting Took a Winding Path From Hitler’s Munich Apartment to an American Journalist’s Home to the National Gallery in London

An art historian recently spotted the 16th-century artwork in a rare photograph of Hitler’s old apartment that was printed in a 1978 furniture catalog

A mural depicting Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica in the namesake Basque village, where a bombing raid occurred in 1937 

Where Does This Anti-War Masterpiece Belong? In Spain, a Request to Borrow Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ Sparks a Bitter Debate

The artwork depicts the bombing of a Basque village in 1937. Now, the relocation debate is raising questions about how to balance the painting’s cultural significance with conservation needs

This photo from the early 1900s depicts a man carrying a giant head in a wheelbarrow.

We’ve Been Manipulating Images Since the Invention of Photography—Long Before Photoshop or Artificial Intelligence

Dating to between 1860 and 1940, more than 50 photographs depicting the impossible are on view in a new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum

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 photograph is known as The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.

A Historian Has Finally Uncovered the Identity of the Nazi Gunman in a Haunting Holocaust Photograph

The 1941 image shows a Nazi soldier pointing a gun at the head of a man kneeling at the edge of a pit filled with bodies. With help from A.I., the gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Jakobus Onnen

An art handler stands in front of Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt during a press preview at Sotheby's on November 7.

Watch the Record-Breaking Auction of This Gustav Klimt Portrait, Which Just Became the Second Most Expensive Painting Ever Sold

“Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” which played a role in protecting the life of its Jewish subject during the Holocaust, sold at Sotheby’s for a historic $236.4 million. It’s also the most expensive modern artwork ever auctioned

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