Holocaust

Sophie Scholl (center) bids farewell to her brother Hans (left) and friend Christoph Probst (right) before their departure for the Eastern Front in July 1942.

Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders. Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?

Archival evidence offers clues on the radicalization of the German siblings, who led a resistance movement known as the White Rose

Murnau mit Kirche II (1910), a roughly 38- by 42-inch painting by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky Painting Returned to Heirs of Jewish Collectors Could Sell for $45 Million

The masterpiece once belonged to Johanna Margarete Stern, who died at Auschwitz in 1944

Muriel Gardiner in 1934, the year she began her career in the Austrian Resistance.

The American Heiress Who Risked Everything to Resist the Nazis

When the fascists took power in Austria, Muriel Gardiner helped refugees and others in need, and never stopped

Hikers set off on the annual Alpine Peace Crossing. The Austrian side of the trail is rocky and exposed; in 1947, Jewish refugees had to make the journey in the dark.

You Can Retrace the Footsteps Jewish Refugees Took on a Hike Through the Alps

After World War II, Holocaust survivors fled Europe’s lingering anti-Semitism on a series of clandestine missions

Twenty-eight stumbling stones in Salzburg, Austria, commemorate victims of the Nazis.

Spain's Oft-Forgotten Nazi Ties

A new law recognizes the thousands of Spaniards killed by the Germans during World War II

Beethoven’s handwritten manuscript for the fourth movement of his String Quartet in B-flat Major

Nazi-Looted Beethoven Manuscript Returned to Original Owners

The Czech Republic's Moravian Museum gave the document to the heirs of the Petschek family

This year's picks include Half American, Saving Yellowstone and River of the Gods.

The Best Books of 2022

The Ten Best History Books of 2022

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the nation ended up where it is today

A young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord) in The Fabelmans 

Based on a True Story

The Making of Steven Spielberg

"The Fabelmans" is a lightly fictionalized dramatization of the famous director's childhood

Nazis set an estimated 1,400 synagogues on fire during Kristallnacht.

These 84-Year-Old Nazi Photos Paint a Harrowing Picture of Kristallnacht

The images show mobs ransacking Jewish-owned homes, businesses and synagogues in 1938

Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) by Egon Schiele

Nazis Stole Two Paintings From a Jewish Cabaret Star. Now, His Heirs Are Selling Them

Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting underrepresented artists

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.

Untold Stories of American History

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

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

The mural in its new location inside the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington, Vermont

Why Was a Synagogue Mural Hidden Behind a Wall in a Vermont Apartment?

The restoration of the stunning 112-year-old artwork is now complete

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City

Was That Painting Stolen by Nazis? New York Museums Are Now Required to Tell You

A new law directs museums to "prominently place a placard" acknowledging Nazi-looted art

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

A meeting of the Soviet Republics’ Esperanto Union, held in Moscow in 1931

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

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

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

History of Now

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

The first two panels of "Nazi Death Parade," a six-panel comic depicting the mass murder of Jews at a Nazi concentration camp

Untold Stories of American History

The Holocaust-Era Comic That Brought Americans Into the Nazi Gas Chambers

In early 1945, a six-panel comic in a U.S. pamphlet offered a visceral depiction of the Third Reich's killing machine

Visitors lay wreaths at the “Square of Nations,” a memorial site at the former Flossenbürg concentration camp’s crematorium, on April 24, 2022.

History of Now

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

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