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World War II

Hiroshima the day after the nuclear bomb was dropped.

Researchers Identify How Much Radiation Hiroshima Victims Were Exposed to

The scientists say their research is the first to use a human bone to precisely measure the radiation absorbed by an atomic bombing victim

The Day the World Changed premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last week.

Future of Art

This Virtual Reality Experience Drops You In Hiroshima Right After It’s Been Bombed

When creators tread the line between empathy and trauma carefully, immersive technology can be a powerful tool for educating the public about history

Undated photo of a Jewish store in Vienna with anti-Semitic slogans daubed on walls and store windows. Austrian authorities took more than 40 years to launch serious efforts at returning Jewish property plundered by the Nazis.

A 1938 Nazi Law Forced Jews to Register Their Wealth—Making It Easier to Steal

Eighty years ago, the edict marked a turning point in the Nazi party’s efforts to push Jews out of the German economy

Cool Finds

Wreck of Nazi Germany’s Most Advanced U-Boat Discovered

Sunk in 1945, U-3523, a Type XXI sub, may have been attempting to smuggle high-ranking Nazis to Argentina

Picture from Hans Asperger's personnel file, circa 1940.

Hans Asperger ‘Actively Assisted’ Nazi Eugenics Policies, Study Claims

Historian Herwig Czech has uncovered evidence revealing that the renowned doctor sent children to a notorious ‘euthanasia’ clinic

These charms are among the 20 found on a bracelet donated by Holocaust survivor Greta Perlman

This Remarkable Charm Bracelet Chronicles a Life Inside a Concentration Camp

Greta Perlman survived the Holocaust. The mementos she saved offer clues about how Jews endured the indignities and horrors of the Nazis

A man uses a mobile phone to photograph flowers placed on the names of concentration camps during the annual ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Thursday, April 12, 2018.

Americans Believe Holocaust Education Is Important, But Survey Finds Gaps in Their Knowledge

The poll found that a substantial number of Americans were unaware of basic facts about the Holocaust

The Nazis regularly used chemical fog to hide its Tirpitz battleship in the Norwegian fjords during World War II.

Norwegian Trees Still Bear Evidence of a World War II German Battleship

A chemical fog used to camouflage the ship impacted the trees, limiting ring development

Virginia Irwin, in St. Louis in 1939. The Post-Dispatch on the desk next to her typewriter is the edition of Oct. 17, 1939, reporting the German sinking of the British Battleship Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

Women Who Shaped History

Journalist Virginia Irwin Broke Barriers When She Reported From Berlin at the End of WWII

Her exclusive dispatches from the last days of Nazi Germany appeared in newspapers around the country, briefly making her a national celebrity

Cool Finds

Wreck of U.S.S. Juneau Discovered in the Solomon Islands

The ship was known as the grave of the five Sullivan Brothers who died aboard it during the Battle of Guadalcanal

These Minesweeping Boats Paved the Way for D-Day

Harbor Defense Motor Launches, or HDMLs, were tiny wooden boats built to protect British ports against German submarines

Ask Smithsonian

Why Don’t We See Fireflies in the Western U.S.?

You asked, we answered

This Inventor Made the Famed D-Day Swimming Tanks

Without Nicholas Straussler, D-Day wouldn’t have been possible. He came up with the design for the Duplex Drives tanks - a key part of the initial invasion

Holocaust survivor and artist Kalman Aron, third from left, stands as he is recognized with fellow survivors, as community leaders attend the opening of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMH) at the Pan Pacific Park on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, in Los Angeles

Kalman Aron Used His Art to Survive the Holocaust

The artist and survivor sketched portraits of Nazi officers in exchange for extra food and blankets. His death at 93 was confirmed by his son, David Aron

March 1943: A line at a rationing board in New Orleans, Louisiana

These Photos Captured What Happened When the United States Started to Ration Shoes During WWII

Seventy-five years ago, the Office for Price Administration wanted to limit the use of leather on the homefront

Cool Finds

Wreck of Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Lexington Found 76 Years After It Was Scuttled in Battle

The ship was sunk by an American destroyer so it couldn’t be captured in the Battle of Coral Sea, considered to be the first carrier battle in history

"Reflections of the Weeping Willow on the Water-Lily Pond" Claude Monet

Long-Lost Monet, Sent Away for Safekeeping Before WWII, Found in Louvre Storage

The painting was acquired by Japanese art collector Kōjirō​ ​Matsukata in the 1920s. It will go on view at the National Museum of Western Art in 2019

The Nazi atomic effort relied on work done in this remote lab.

How a Sneak Attack By Norway’s Skiing Soldiers Deprived the Nazis of the Atomic Bomb

Seventy-five years ago, in Operation Gunnerside, a stealthy group of commandos took out a crucial Nazi chemical plant

Norman Rockwell (above in a 1968 photograph by Garry Camp Burdick), who created more than 300 original covers for the Saturday Evening Post over the course of his long career, was already widely known for his rich visualizations of the American dream when he set about the challenging task of animating FDR's Four Freedoms.

Norman Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ Brought the Ideals of America to Life

This wartime painting series reminded Americans what they were fighting for

The Louvre museum has opened two showrooms with 31 paintings on display which can be claimed by their legitimate owners.

The Louvre Puts Nazi-Looted Art in Public Eye in Effort to Find Rightful Heirs

The museum hopes the initiative will help connect the works to their legitimate owners. But critics say the move is too little, too late

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