World War II

Today, America's founding documents reside in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives.

What Happened to America’s Most Precious Documents After Pearl Harbor?

Librarians and archivists made sure the nation’s records didn’t become casualties of World War II

The gate stolen from Dachau concentration camp

Gate Stolen From Dachau Concentration Camp Recovered in Norway

The metal gate bearing the slogan <i>Arbeit Macht Frei</i>was recently found outside the city of Bergen

Noble is interviewed by students participating in StoryQuest, an oral history project based at the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experence at Washington College.

A New Oral History Project Seeks the Stories of World War II Before It’s Too Late

Every member of the greatest generation has a tale to tell, no matter what they did during the war

The mansion at Bletchley Park.

Alan Turing’s World War II Headquarters Will Once Again House Codebreakers

Bletchley Park is being revived as a cybersecurity training center

A small boat rescues a seaman from the 31,800 ton USS West Virginia burning in the foreground. Smoke rolling out amidships shows where the most extensive damage occurred.

The Children of Pearl Harbor

Military personnel weren't the only people attacked on December 7, 1941

Still from Allied

How Accurate Is the Movie “Allied”?

The best spies won’t leave behind an evidence trail, but then how will audiences know what’s true and what’s fiction?

How (Almost) Everyone Failed to Prepare for Pearl Harbor

The high-stakes gamble and false assumptions that detonated Pearl Harbor 80 years ago

Wernher von Braun, one of the architects of the Apollo program, was a Nazi scientist brought to the U.S. in secret in 1945.

Why the U.S. Government Brought Nazi Scientists to America After World War II

As the war came to a close, the U.S. government was itching to get ahold of the German wartime technology

Mustard gas from wars past is decaying in the world's oceans—but scientists don't yet know how dangerous it could be. Here, U.S. Navy ship prepare for scheduled deployment in the Pacific Ocean in 2014.

Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean After World War II Could Threaten Waters Worldwide

How worried should we be? Chemists are racing the clock to find out

A Heroic Mission to Disarm Nazi Snipers Goes Very Wrong

Two British commandos impulsively storm a Nazi-occupied warehouse on the Norwegian island of Vaagso

Argentinians look on as Marta Minují's 1983 Parthenon of books is removed with a crane. The artist will recreate her installation on a grander scale in Germany next year.

An Artist Is Building a Parthenon of Banned Books

More than 100,000 books will become a monument to intellectual freedom in Germany next year

Why We Call the Axis Powers the Axis Powers

On this day in 1936, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared an axis between Berlin and Rome, coining a term that would be used by both sides in WWII

Why Churchill Approved a Risky Mission on a Nazi Stronghold

Churchill knew he needed a very public military success to boost morale back home

When Was the First Map Produced and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

The Curious George series has sold 10,000 times the initial print run.

When Curious George Made a Daring Escape From the Nazis

The authors of the children's book series fled wartime France with the manuscript tied to their bikes

Cornelia Fort was one of 1,074 women to fly for the Army Air Forces in the war.

A Pearl Harbor Disappearance May Finally Have Been Solved

Flight instructor Cornelia Fort faced a close call on that infamous day, but her plane was thought to have been lost to history

Capsules Reveal Once Highly Classified Pieces of WWII Air Campaign

Two shipping barrels opened by the Commemorative Air Force contain one of the more intriguing technologies of the second world war

How Virtual Reality Is Helping Prosecute Nazi War Criminals

A new, detailed 3D simulation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp is helping prosecutors build stronger cases against these still-living Nazis

The Daring Plan to Steal Nazi Radar Technology

A British parachute regiment set off toward Bruneval on the northern coast of occupied France. Their mission: to steal German radar secrets

Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic "V-J Day in Times Square" photo.

The Woman in the Iconic V-J Day Kiss Photo Died at 92, Here's Her Story

There’s more to the image than meets the eye

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