World War II

President Joe Biden speaks at a ceremony to create a 53,804-acre national monument in the mountains of Colorado.

Biden Declares His First National Monument at Colorado's Camp Hale

Once home to the Ute Tribes, the site later became a military training base for the skiing soldiers who fought in World War II

Paula, Sam and Sol Messinger aboard the M.S. St. Louis in May 1939. The U.S. denied the ship entry, forcing its 937 passengers to return to Europe. More than a quarter of these refugees were later killed in the Holocaust.

Why Was America So Reluctant to Take Action on the Holocaust?

A new Ken Burns documentary examines the U.S.' complex, often shameful response to the rise of Nazism and the plight of Jewish refugees

Elizabeth remained staunchly tight-lipped, rarely commenting publicly on current events.

Elizabeth II Was an Enduring Emblem of the Waning British Empire

The British queen died on Thursday at age 96

Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest, where Swastika Mountain is located

Oregon's Swastika Mountain Gets a New Name

The mountain was originally named before the swastika became a symbol of hate

An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region of California on October 9, 2017.

The History of California's Inmate Firefighter Program

The initiative, which finds prisoners working as first responders and rescuers, dates back to the 1940s

Mikhail Gorbachev died on August 30, 2022, at age 91.

The Contradictory Legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev

The Soviet leader, who died on August 30 at age 91, attempted to enact "revolution from above"

The Dolmen of Guadalperal, nicknamed the “Spanish Stonehenge,” is now visible because of Europe’s ongoing drought.

Europe's Drought Is Revealing Historic Artifacts

World War II-era warships, the 'Spanish Stonehenge' and other remnants of the past are emerging from the continent's waterways

None

A Deadly World War II Explosion Sparked Black Soldiers to Fight for Equal Treatment

After the deadliest home-front disaster of the war, African Americans throughout the military took action to transform the nation's armed forces

The so-called frogmen swam into enemy beaches unarmed, wearing only swim trunks, dive masks and fins.

The Stealth Swimmers Whose WWII Scouting Laid the Groundwork for the Navy SEALs

The Underwater Demolition Teams cleared coastal defenses and surveyed enemy beaches ahead of Allied landings

In the aftermath of the disaster and for decades to follow, numerous theories emerged. The men had been captured by the Japanese. They had been murdered by a stowaway. They had killed each other in a fight over a woman. They had simply fallen out of the blimp.

The 80-Year Mystery of the U.S. Navy's 'Ghost Blimp'

The L-8 returned from patrolling the California coast for Japanese subs in August 1942, but its two-man crew was nowhere to be found

Alan Turing’s class photo at King’s College, Cambridge in 1931

King's College, Cambridge Will Install Abstract Memorial to Alan Turing

Despite pushback, plans for a sculpture honoring the visionary mathematician have been approved

Ornithologist Edmund Selous made empathy for birds respectable and, in doing so, changed the world. Bird-watching became a popular pastime, eventually making birding scientific and playing a pivotal role in the animals’ conservation.

How Bird Collecting Evolved Into Bird-Watching

In the early 1900s, newfound empathy for avian creatures helped wildlife observation displace dispassionate killing

The watch that likely belonged to Adolf Hitler

Hitler’s Watch Sells for $1.1 Million at Controversial Auction

Jewish leaders opposed the sale, calling it “an abhorrence” in an open letter

After the first group of students arrived at Bunce Court came hundreds more, traumatized by the ever-escalating catastrophe in Europe.

The Schoolteacher Who Saved Her Students From the Nazis

A new book explores the life of Anna Essinger, who led an entire school's daring escape from Germany in 1933

Donald Duck title card art, circa 1942

How Disney Propaganda Shaped Life on the Home Front During WWII

A traveling exhibition traces how the animation studio mobilized to support the Allied war effort

None

Mary Sears' Pioneering Ocean Research Saved Countless Lives in WWII

Allied victory in the Pacific depended on strategy, bravery and military might. It also depended on a brilliant marine scientist from Massachusetts

Bradford Freeman died on Sunday, July 3, at age 97.

Bradford Freeman, Last Surviving Member of WWII 'Band of Brothers,' Dies at 97

The Easy Company veteran parachuted into France on D-Day and fought in major European campaigns during the last year of the war

The men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops created elaborate illusions featuring inflatable tanks, jeeps and artillery.

How the Ghost Army of WWII Used Art to Deceive the Nazis

Unsung for decades, the U.S. Army's 23rd Headquarters Special Troops drew on visual, sonic and radio deception to misdirect the Germans

Communist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg speaking at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907

The 20th-Century History of Anti-Semitic Attacks on Jewish Politicians

Russian rhetoric against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoes the language directed toward Jewish leaders in post-WWI Europe

Sammy B torpedo tubes

World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

The U.S. destroyer was sunk during World War II

Page 7 of 40