The WWII passport forgers who saved thousands of Jewish lives

A database of people who saved Jewish lives during the Nazi regime

Searchable by name and location, this database includes articles and photographs of people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. In 1963, Yad Vashem launched a worldwide project to pay tribute to these "Righteous Among the Nations." According to this database, more than 16,000 people, ranging in profession from farmers to governesses, worked to preserve the lives of Jews in Nazi-occupied areas.

A map of WWII refugees and their stories

Trace the paths of different people and families on this interactive map as they made their escape from the Nazi regime. Primary and secondary sources like letters, documents, memoirs and diaries, photos, interviews, and news clippings showed how many found a path to freedom, from the Kindertransport to individual stories.

Some senior Nazis fled to South America and lived for decades

Using so-called "ratlines" through Spain, Italy, and into South American countries like Argentina, many of Adolf Hitler's closest associates evaded capture after the fall of Berlin in 1945. This video details the fate of eight, including infamous doctor Josef Mengele and logistics expert Adolf Eichmann.

Portugese diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during WWII

As the German army marched across France, Aristides de Sousa Mendes faced a choice: obey his government or follow his conscience—and risk everything

In the 1980s, excerpts from fake diaries of Adolf Hitler were published in a prominent German magazine

Excerpts from the diaries were published in other publications around the world, like The Sunday Times, despite uncertainty about their authenticity. After forensic analysis, the diaries were proven to be fake. The diaries were produced by Konrad Kujau, a petty criminal who frequently produced counterfeits.

Champagne played a role in resisting the Nazis

When France surrendered to the Nazis in 1940, the invaders occupied the north. This was home to wine regions like Champagne and Bordeaux, which the Nazis were eager to loot. Winemakers took a stand by sheltering dissidents in their cellars, passing intelligence across borders, and even giving their lives to the cause.

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

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators implemented the “Final Solution”: a state-engineered campaign of antisemitic persecution and mass murder. By the end, two-thirds of Europe’s Jews—approximately 6 million individuals—had been exterminated through ghettos, mass shootings, and extermination camps.

Looting art is often a byproduct of war

During WWII, Hitler orchestrated the theft of many masterpieces to eventually create his own museum. While many of these were recovered, iconic works such as Raphael's "[Portrait of a Young Man](https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/the-story-of-the-lost-raphaels-portrait-of-a-young-man/)" and Vincent van Gogh's "Painter on His Way to Work" remain missing or were destroyed by the Nazis.

Women in WWII used tattoos to avoid capture

During World War II, Japanese soldiers kidnapped women from Southeast Asian countries and forced them into sexual slavery. But they hesitated to capture married women, a fact that women from the island of Timor exploited, painstakingly poking tattoos onto their bodies that marked them as married women.

Early 20th-century ID cards protected trans people in Germany using hormone therapy

A small number of passes were granted by the German police—with clinician support—between 1909 and 1933 that nominally allowed them to dress in ways that matched their gender identity, use experimental hormone therapies, and even receive early sex reassignment surgeries. At the time, individuals could be charged with "public nuisance" without the pass.

Governments have historically used counterfeiting for economic warfare

Inserting fake currency into an economy can help destabilize it. During the American Revolution, for instance, the British distributed counterfeit “Continental Dollars” in an effort to devalue the currency being used in the US at the time with the goal of undermining America’s growing financial credibility. The Nazis also ran an extensive counterfeiting scheme during WWII.

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."

Ancient Romans were registered in lists of citizens to confirm their identity

Falsely claiming to be a Roman citizen was a capital offense, but taking up another identity was one way people could change their lot. Several accounts report how escaped enslaved people sought freedom by pretending to be citizens, and multiple "Neros" appeared after the real emperor died in 68 CE.

Wojtek the bear fought for Poland in World War II

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who eventually became a mascot, symbol, and eventually a soldier attached to the Polish II Corps during World War II. Learn about the amazing Wojtek, the Polish II Corps, and the incredible history of the Polish soldiers, many of whom had been imprisoned by the Germans or Soviets, who served during World War II.

Digital passports allow identity verification to be digitized

By scanning the security chip on the back of passports and capturing images or video of a person, apps like Google Wallet and Apple Wallet create a digital version of the document. Some states have also developed their own apps for digital driver's licenses.

The strange, unsolved story of Filippo Bernardini and the stolen book manuscripts

Over the last five years, a mysterious figure has been stealing manuscripts, often unpublished, from individuals and organizations in the publishing industry across three continents. The scammer, later identified as Filippo Bernardini, was an...

In 1914, the Financial Times asked readers to redraw Europe for cash prizes

Two months in World War I, the newspaper invited readers to sketch postwar borders and submit peace terms for cash prizes. The contest captured public attempts to predict a new world order and foreshadowed modern crowdsourced forecasting. It's a wild look at how uncertain Europe's future was at the time.

A book series aimed at World War II soldiers helped popularize works like 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Of Mice and Men.'

Who were the Cambridge Five

Recruited in the 1930s, the Cambridge Five infiltrated British intelligence and leaked secrets to the Soviets for decades, shaping WWII and the Cold War.

How famous writers chose their pen names

From Joseph Conrad to JK Rowling, writers employ pseudonyms for all kinds of reasons. How they find those pseudonyms, however, depends on the individual.

The World Cup trophy was stolen in 1966—and eventually found by a dog

While on display at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, England, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen while a church service was being held in another room. It was eventually sniffed out a week later by Pickles, a black-and-white collie.

How the Grimm Brothers saved the fairy tale

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are responsible for putting the oral stories of the German people into print through the 1800s. Though not intended for children (and often quite violent), these folk tales would become the basis for the modern fairy tale. This article from the world's foremost Grimm specialist, Jack Zipes, uncovers the history of the Brothers Grimm and details how the stories intended to codify German values would eventually spread across the globe.

The Agent podcast reveals the true story of a long-term KGB agent in America

Narrated through firsthand interviews, The Agent tells how Jack Barsky (born Albrecht Dittrich) spent a decade undercover as a Soviet KGB “illegal” in the US, balancing dual identities in Queens—from insurance programmer to deep-cover spy—until a crisis forced him to choose between loyalty and family.

Oxford scientists turned Fleming’s mold discovery into medicine

In 1939, a team at Oxford—including Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley—revived Fleming’s forgotten discovery. Using makeshift equipment like bedpans and milk churns, they purified enough penicillin to prove it could treat deadly infections.

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

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

A Chinese-Mexican alliance marked one of history's largest nonviolent money laundering schemes

In 2019, Chinese-American gangster Xizhi Li was arrested for an expansive money laundering scheme spanning four continents. Li reportedly laundered hundreds of millions of dollars for cartel members, wealthy Chinese Americans, and other foreign countries.

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.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

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.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

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.

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.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

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.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

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

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

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.