The Holocaust was the systematic, state‑sponsored genocide of 6 million European Jews

Holocaust History

Born in Berlin in 1924, to a Catholic father and Jewish mother, Wolfgang Haney survived the Holocaust, though many in his family did not. He spent a large part of his life collecting more than 15,000 objects related to the history of anti-Semitism, before dying in 2017. Recently, the German Historical Museum acquired his collection, as detailed in this article

Exploring Kristallnacht

Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, saw Nazi members break into Jewish stores and homes across Germany in retaliation for the assassination of a German diplomat by a Polish Jew. The event—called "Kristallnacht," meaning "night of the broken glass"—was tacitly condoned by the German authorities at the time. This richly produced interactive explores the events of Kristallnacht guided by one of its survivors, Charlotte Knobloch.

Listen to firsthand accounts by Holocaust survivors

Hear the tragic history of the Holocaust through the words of those who were there. Multiple survivors are interviewed about their experiences. Organized by topic and birthplace, this collection of videos puts the width and breadth of the Holocaust into better perspective, and with a more personal touch as well.

In 13 years, Hitler transformed a fringe sect into Germany’s dominant political force

The BBC Radio 4 podcast Nazis: The Road to Power chronicles Hitler’s meteoric rise—from fewer than 100 followers in 1910s Bavaria to absolute control by 1933—highlighting key conspiracies, political deals, brutal street violence, and forgotten figures that paved the way for Nazi tyranny.

The story of Anne Frank

Anne Frank, the Holocaust victim whose world-famous diary provided valuable insights into life during Nazi occupation, is one of history’s most compelling subjects. This interactive resource from the Anne Frank House walks you through her biography and provides greater context about Europe during World War II. Watch the video and scroll through the provided timeline for further understanding of the young girl’s tragic experience caused by war and hatred.

The WWII passport forgers who saved thousands of Jewish lives

Amid the chaos of Hitler's authoritarian Europe in World War II, Polish diplomats based in Switzerland used the classic toolkit of thieves to help free thousands of Jews: they perfected the art of forgery, faking passports secretly donated by sympathetic Latin American countries. Read the incredible tale of heroism here.

European leaders pursued appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s

In the 1930s, Britain sought to maintain peace by ceding territory to Nazi Germany, most notably via the 1938 Munich Agreement allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland. These concessions, seen as pragmatic amid anti‑war sentiment, ultimately failed to curb Hitler’s aggression and directly contributed to the outbreak of World War II.

One US psychiatrist at Nuremberg viewed top Nazis like Göring as normal

The surviving leaders of the Nazi movement had overseen a catastrophic war and the cruel extermination of millions. US psychiatrist Douglas Kelley evaluated the 22 men ahead of their infamous trials, viewing them as intelligent, cultured men without a moral compass. Kelley would later die by suicide.

The Bauhaus artists who became Nazi collaborators

The Nazis deplored the Bauhaus style, until they found a way to use it for themselves. This deep dive explores the connection between the Nazis and three Bauhaus-affiliated designers—Franz Ehrlich, who was sent to Buchenwald and forced to design the camp's gates (seen below), Fritz Ertl, who designed the shower rooms at Auschwitz, and Herbert Bayer, who helped design Third Reich propaganda.

Japan committed mass war crimes during its invasion of China

During the 1937 invasion, Japanese forces carried out systematic atrocities—including mass executions, rape, torture, forced labor, and chemical warfare. The Nanjing Massacre alone killed tens of thousands over a span of six weeks, with some estimates claiming 300,000.

Hitler died by suicide on April 30, 1945

Adolf Hitler, facing imminent defeat as Soviet troops closed in on Berlin, killed himself in a final act of cowardice—by gunshot and cyanide—alongside his wife Eva Braun in his Führerbunker on April 30, 1945. Their bodies were doused in petrol and burned in the Chancellery garden.

Deadliest maritime disaster

In the final months of World War II, 75 years ago, German citizens and soldiers fleeing the Soviet army died when the “Wilhelm Gustloff” sank

Stalingrad was the turning point of WWII in Eastern Europe

The six-month siege (July 1942–February 1943) ended when the Soviet Union’s counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, encircled and destroyed Germany’s 6th Army. This decisive victory shifted momentum permanently to the Soviets on the Eastern Front, marking a major strategic reversal in Europe and undermining Nazi Germany’s war capacity.

Stalin's policies intentionally caused a devastating famine in Ukraine

The Holodomor of 1932-33 was a human-made famine resulting from Stalin's grain requisition policies, killing an estimated 3 million to 4 million Ukrainians—considered by many to be an act of genocide.

‘Shoah’ director criticized ‘Schindler’s List’ for its portrayal of the Holocaust

“I was watching the Spielberg film, and I thought he’ll never go so far,” Claude Lanzmann said. “And he did. But he even created suspense … And these people, all of them are actors. All of them. They’re actors. They do not look like people who have had these experiences. It is an adventure film.”

Olympic track runner Jesse Owens recounts his win in Hitler's Germany in 1936

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at these Games, but nearly failed to qualify for the long jump event. Despite the polarizing political climate, German athlete Luz Long offered advice and encouragement to Owens—his direct competitor—resulting in a lasting friendship Owens later called his "greatest Olympic prize."

Manhattan Project explained

Driven by fears of a Nazi nuclear bomb, the Manhattan Project united leading scientists to build the first atomic weapons. Its success ended World War II, caused catastrophic human loss, and launched the nuclear age that reshaped global politics and science.

The story of the 1945 Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Amid the severe conditions of World War II, researchers were eager to learn the effects of starvation in a controlled study. This podcast dives into a yearlong study of 36 men at a Minneapolis college who endured a six-month period of semi-starvation, where their caloric intake was halved. Results from the experiment became a landmark study in human starvation.

The bubonic plague spread in three waves over 600 years

The Black Death refers to the first wave of the plague, which swept through Europe in the 14th century and killed 25 to 50 million people. Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis carried by fleas (often on rats), the human toll was roughly one-third of Europe's population at the time.

How World War II affects your wallet today

The world's deadliest conflict also impacted social programs extensively, including ways that still affect your money today. World War II is responsible for the practice of employers withholding tax payments and sponsoring health insurance, as well as the norm of providing school lunches for the nation's schoolchildren. Watch this brief video to learn more.

The UN’s 1990s peacekeeping mission in Rwanda failed to prevent a genocide

During a 100-day period in 1994, nearly 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians were murdered, a tragedy that exemplified the limitations of the UN’s ability to protect populations from mass killing.

Why did the Ottoman Empire violently target Armenians during WWI?

In anticipation of threatened Allied landings at the strategically important Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman authorities arrested 240 Armenian leaders in Constantinople on April 24, 1915, and deported them east. This roundup is commemorated today by Armenians as the beginning of the genocide, according to this article.

Humor during Mussolini’s fascist regime

Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy strictly censored humor, closing down popular satirical publications and even punishing certain jokes with prison sentences. However, humor was also used by the regime as a tool for propaganda and social control. Learn about the jokes Mussolini did permit, which typically came from regime-approved comedians and apolitical sources.

Many iconic Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers

Jewish songwriters shaped the sound of Christmas, composing hits like “Let it Snow” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, wrote “White Christmas, which remains the bestselling single in music history.

The history and operation of SIGABA, the US counterpart of the Nazi Enigma machine

Developed by the US Army and US Navy, over 10,000 of these machines were deployed by the end of World War II to encrypt messages for the armed forces using three series of rotors. The device would continue to be used until the 1950s, while personal computers were shown to possess enough computing power to crack it by 2021.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.