Soviet History
China's Last Emperor Brought This Wristwatch With Him to Prison
He gave the timepiece, which just sold for $6.2 million, to his Russian translator at a Soviet detention camp
Untold Stories of American History
The African Diplomats Who Protested Segregation in the U.S.
Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy publicly apologized after restaurants refused to serve Black representatives of newly independent nations
Untold Stories of American History
Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunker
The president's Nantucket nuclear fallout shelter could become a National Historic Landmark—but efforts to preserve its history have stalled
Our Top Ten Stories of 2022
From a teen inventor to invasive fish to lost cities of the Amazon, these were our most-read articles of the year
A Brief History of Silent Protests
Activists in China are using blank sheets of paper to speak out against the country's draconian zero-Covid policies
When the Muppets Moved to Moscow
A new book details the tangled tale of "Ulitsa Sezam," a "Sesame Street" spinoff that aired until visions of Russia's democratic future faltered
The Contradictory Legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev
The Soviet leader, who died on August 30 at age 91, attempted to enact "revolution from above"
Why Hitler and Stalin Hated Esperanto, the 135-Year-Old Language of Peace
Jewish doctor L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto as a way for diverse groups to easily communicate
Footage Shows How Daily Life Didn't Change After Chernobyl—and the Cover-Up's Toxic Aftermath
A new documentary shows how the disaster transformed—and endangered—those who lived near the nuclear plant
At a Former Concentration Camp, Holocaust Survivors Draw Parallels Between Nazi and Russian Rhetoric
Speakers at a ceremony marking the liberation of Flossenbürg condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims of demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine
The 1983 Military Drill That Nearly Sparked Nuclear War With the Soviets
Fearful that the Able Archer 83 exercise was a cover for a NATO nuclear strike, the U.S.S.R. readied its own weapons for launch
Digging Up the History of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter
For 75 years, images of bunker life have reflected the shifting optimism, anxieties and cynicism of the Atomic Age
Inside the Efforts to Preserve Ukraine's Cultural Heritage
Here's how experts and civilians alike are working to protect the country's art, artifacts and scientific specimens
The Music and Freedom We Experienced on the Streets of Kyiv
The story of a joint Smithsonian-Soviet-Ukrainian program in 1990 lends poignant resonance to Russia’s brutal invasion today
Vladimir Putin's Rewriting of History Draws on a Long Tradition of Soviet Myth-Making
Much like Joseph Stalin, the Russian president has used propaganda, the media and government-sanctioned books to present an ahistorical narrative
These Ukrainian Artists Are Making Traps for Russian Tanks
Berlin-based artists Volo Bevza and Victoria Pidust have joined with defense groups in Lviv to help fight back against Russian forces
A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe
A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism
What Happened at Babi Yar, the Ukrainian Holocaust Site Reportedly Struck by a Russian Missile?
During WWII, the Nazis murdered 33,000 Jews at the ravine over just two days. Last week, a strike near the massacre site drew widespread condemnation
The 20th-Century History Behind Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
During WWII, Ukrainian nationalists saw the Nazis as liberators from Soviet oppression. Now, Russia is using that chapter to paint Ukraine as a Nazi nation
Mass Graves in Ukraine Hold Thousands of Victims of Stalin's Great Purge
In the late 1930s, the Soviet secret police buried some 5,000 to 8,000 people at a newly excavated site in Odessa
