World War II

Crossroads General Store​, circa 1938

Explore Dorothea Lange's Iconic Photos With These Online Exhibitions

Digital hubs from the Oakland Museum of California and the Museum of Modern Art showcase the American photographer's oeuvre

A bottle of whiskey, a diving helmet and bricks recovered from the wreck of the SS Politician, which sank off the coast of Scotland in 1941.

Whiskey Salvaged From 79-Year-Old Scottish Shipwreck Is Up for Sale

A commercial diver recovered the intact bottle of spirits—which is no longer safe for consumption—in 1987

Group of Jewish partisan fighters in Soviet territories

The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust

A new exhibition at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London showcases accounts of resiliency and defiance

A man wheels his bicycle through Hiroshima days after an atomic bomb leveled the city.

Nine Harrowing Eyewitness Accounts of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

More than seventy-five years ago, the atomic blasts killed an estimated 200,000 people

The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay was one of a few dozen World War II-era aircraft specially modified for the express purpose of delivering atomic weapons.

Why the Enola Gay, the Plane That Dropped the First Atomic Bomb, Will Always Inspire Debate

The Enola Gay, fully restored and on view at the Smithsonian, left an indelible mark

A fire at Nantes Cathedral destroyed stained-glass windows and a 17th-century organ.

Arsonist Confesses to Starting Nantes Cathedral Fire

The July 18 blaze, which inflicted less damage than the devastating April 2019 inferno at Notre-Dame, destroyed the French church's organ, stained glass

Jewish doctors give medical examinations in the Warsaw Ghetto

How a Public Health Campaign in the Warsaw Ghetto Stemmed the Spread of Typhus

A new study shows how life-saving efforts by Jewish doctors helped curb an epidemic during World War II

Bruno Dey, a former SS watchman at the Stutthof concentration camp, hides his face behind a folder as he arrives for a hearing in his trial on July 23.

Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Convicted as Accessory in 5,230 Murders

Defendant Bruce Dey, now 93, oversaw prisoners at Stutthof in Poland from August 1944 to April 1945

One of the Last Living Manhattan Project Scientists Looks Back at the Atomic Bomb Tests

Peter Lax was just a teenager when he went to Los Alamos to join the team that developed the deadly weapon

A US flag flies over the captured U-858 as it receives a K-ship escort to Lewes, Delaware.

How Navy Blimps Beat Back German U-Boats During the Battle of the Atlantic

The destruction to convoys caused by marauding U-boats diminished dramatically once K-ships started keeping a constant vigil

Before Senator Joe McCarthy became infamous for his grandstanding against alleged Communists, he came to the defense of former German soldiers convicted during the Malmedy war crimes trial.

When Senator Joe McCarthy Defended Nazis

In a nearly forgotten episode, the Wisconsin firebrand sided with the Germany military in a war crimes trial, raising questions about his anti-Semitism

Demonstration on May Day with antifascist banners, on May 1, 1929 in New York.

A Brief History of Anti-Fascism

As long as the ideology has threatened marginalized communities, groups on the left have pushed back with force

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The Bloody Hell of Okinawa

More than seventy-five years ago, the final great battle of WWII convinced Allied leaders to drop the atomic bomb on Japan

View of the PT-59 boat in the Solomon Islands during World War II.

Wreck of John F. Kennedy's World War II Patrol Boat Recovered

The future president took over command of PT-59 after his first ship, PT-109, sank in 1943

Tom Hanks portrays fictional Navy commander Ernest Krause.

The True Story Behind the 'Greyhound' Movie

Tom Hanks' new World War II film offers a dramatized account of the Battle of the Atlantic

Works by German artist Paul Klee are projected on June 3, 2020, at the Bassins de Lumières digital art center in Bordeaux.

Former Nazi Submarine Base Transformed Into Digital Art Gallery

The concrete bunker once housed Axis U-boats. Now, it features floor-to-ceiling projections of works by Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee

A Mosquito from the RAF’s 105 Squadron, used on several low-altitude daylight bombing operations during 1943.

When the RAF Buzzed Over Germany to Drown Out Nazi Broadcasts

The thundering mission that stifled the Germans during World War II

Paul Rivet addresses a congress of the French Socialist Party on July 2, 1948.

The Museum Director Who Defied the Nazis

For years, Paul Rivet opposed the ideology fueling Hitler's rise. Then he helped French fighters take the battle underground

Found in Block 17, the cache includes scissors, shoemaker's tools and utensils.

Auschwitz Renovations Unearth Prisoners' Hidden Trove of Tools

Inmates stowed the items—including forks, knives and fragments of shoes—in a chimney flue

During atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll, military equipment was placed onboard the USS Nevada to help assess the damage doled out by the nuclear blasts. This is one of four tanks that survived a 23-kiloton surface blast and a 20-kiloton underwater blast.

Researchers Locate Wreck of Battleship That Survived Pearl Harbor and Nuclear Bomb Tests

The USS Nevada was scuttled in 1948 after decades of service

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