Historian Ian Buruma chronicles the lives of ordinary Berliners — including his own father — during World War II. Stay Alive is about the past, but has powerful lessons for the present.
World War II
Posted inNPR
Former Japanese PM Murayama, known for apology over wartime aggression, dies at 101
Tomiichi Murayama, Japan’s prime minister from 1994, was best known for the “Murayama Statement,” an apology delivered on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender.
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George E. Hardy, Tuskegee Airman, dies at 100
George E. Hardy was the youngest Red Tail fighter pilot at 19 years old and completed 21 missions across Europe during World War II.
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A filmmaker in Nazi Germany strikes a deal with the devil in ‘The Director’
When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? Daniel Kehlmann’s new novel draws on the true story of German film director G.W. Pabst.
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Discovering a mom we never knew, in letters she saved from WWII soldiers
My sister and I recently unearthed a forgotten box of correspondence our mom received from servicemen she’d met at Red Cross dances in Rome near the end of the war. She would have been 100 this year.
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Dachau’s memorial marks 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp
The Dachau memorial is hosting commemorative events and dedicating a plaque in honor of the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division that first encountered prisoners alive at the camp 80 years ago.
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A Dutch project publicizes the names of half a million suspected Nazi collaborators
The names of some 425,000 suspected Dutch collaborators went online 80 years after the Holocaust ended, making them accessible to historians and descendants as the country grapples with its past.
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Pearl Harbor survivor dies at 100
Bob Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor on board the USS Curtiss during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II.
Posted inPolitics, Stories
The dramatic story of Pointe du Hoc, the backdrop to Biden’s D-Day anniversary speech
Over 200 U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day to destroy German long-range guns stationed at the top. Less than half remained standing after two days of fighting.
Posted inStories
Reflections on war past and present permeate D-Day’s 80th anniversary
Reenactors and world leaders converge this week for World War II commemorations in Normandy, where Ukraine looms large.
