German Shipwreck said to contain Peter The Great’s Amber Room Reveals New Treasures

German shipwreck the Karlsruhe is finally being explored at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. But does it hold the remains of the legendary Amber Room, not to mention other precious items raided by Hitler’s men? Divers are certainly banking on it, though this painstaking journey is far from complete.

On Monday Baltictech detected objects on their sonar. Most intriguingly there are 10 chests – these had been shaken loose from the 196 ft steamship and …

Source: German Shipwreck said to contain Peter The Great’s Amber Room Reveals New Treasures

Hitler in Vienna: homeless, hungry, hateful – History Wench

Homeless people in Vienna, 1908.

The story of Hitler in Vienna starts in 1907. Aged just 18 at the time, Hitler moved to the capital city to pursue a career as an artist and live a bohemian lifestyle.He would remain in the city until May 1913, when he went to Munich after avoiding conscription to the Austria-Hungary army. He would return again in 1938, triumphant after the Anschluss – the annexation …

Source: Hitler in Vienna: homeless, hungry, hateful – History Wench

The Hidden History of Shanghai’s Jewish Quarter – Atlas Obscura

The Fiedler family poses in front of their home on Tongshan Road. UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, COURTESY OF ERIC GOLDSTAUB

It’s common knowledge that as Hitler’s bid to rid the world of Jews escalated, so did the world’s refusal to let them in. What’s not well known is that when those borders, ports, doors, windows, and boundaries began shutting Jews out, in part by refusing to issue them visas, Shanghai, though already swollen with people and poverty, was the only place on Earth willing to accept them with or without…

via The Hidden History of Shanghai’s Jewish Quarter – Atlas Obscura

She survived Hitler and wants to warn America – On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars

I prepared this re-blog in August last year and then completely forgot about it. Since then, of course, Donald Trump has become the President.

Austrian kids loyal to Hitler

Kitty Werthmann survived Hitler. “What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books,” she likes to tell audiences. “I am a witness to history.  “I cannot tell you that Hitler took […]

Source: She survived Hitler and wants to warn America – On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars

The Battle of Crete Was The Reason Hitler Abandoned Parachute Assaults For Good

The Battle of Crete changed the way that Hitler thought about paratroopers forever, and gave the Germans a vital base in the Mediterranean.

Source: The Battle of Crete Was The Reason Hitler Abandoned Parachute Assaults For Good

‘Lives Unworthy of Life’: Bishop von Galen and the Nazi persecution of the disabled — Stephen Unwin

The persecution, sterilisation and murder of hundreds of thousands of disabled people is one of the most overlooked chapters in the whole ghastly history of Nazi Germany.Between 1939 and 1941 as many as 100,000 people with a wide range of disabilities were dismissed as lebensunwertes Leben…

Source: ‘Lives Unworthy of Life’: Bishop von Galen and the Nazi persecution of the disabled — Stephen Unwin

Greece, The Unsung Hero Of WWII

The argument here is that the role of the Greeks in WW2 is being unjustly overlooked and forgotten about. The Greek mainland was occupied by the axis armies on April 30th 1941 after the “Battle of …

Source: Greece, The Unsung Hero Of WWII

How a dozen silk stockings helped bring down Adolf Hitler | The Independent

‘Mrs Garbo’, Araceli Gonzalez de Pujol, complained of ‘too much macaroni, too many potatoes [and] not enough fish’. The National Archives

Possibly the greatest double cross operation in British espionage history was nearly ruined by a Spanish double agent’s homesick wife and her horror at wartime British food, newly declassified documents have revealed.

Source: How a dozen silk stockings helped bring down Adolf Hitler | The Independent

How WWII is Taught Across Europe (and Japan).

A thread has recently blown up on Reddit which asked the question: Germans, Japanese, and Italians of Reddit, What did you learn about WW2 in School? The questioner was specific to the axis countri…

Source: How WWII is Taught Across Europe (and Japan).

Gandhi Writes Letters to Hitler: “We Have Found in Non-Violence a Force Which Can Match the Most Violent Forces in the World” (1939/40) | Open Culture

It must come up in every single argument, from sophisticated to sophomoric, about the practicability of non-violent pacifism. “Look what Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were able to achieve!” “Yes, but what about Hitler? What do you do about the Nazis?” The rebuttal implies future Nazi-like entities looming on the horizon, and though this reductio ad Hitlerum generally has the effect of nullifying any continued rational discussion, it’s difficult to imagine a satisfying pacifist answer to the problem of naked, implacable hatred and …

Source: Gandhi Writes Letters to Hitler: “We Have Found in Non-Violence a Force Which Can Match the Most Violent Forces in the World” (1939/40) | Open Culture

10 Anti-Nazi David Lowe Cartoons | Made From History

Hitler Burning the League of Nations

Originally from New Zealand, David Low (1891-1963) was a political cartoonist who worked for many years in the United Kingdom. He is known for his satirical work in the Evening Standard, especially his depictions of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin, but also for his criticism of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of Appeasement toward Hitler.

Low’s work for the Standard during the 1930s and 40s caught the ire of the Nazis, resulting in his name being placed in the infamous…

Source: 10 Anti-Nazi David Lowe Cartoons | Made From History

Photos from the Nazi Archives | The Unwritten Record

Please Note:  This post contains images of sensitive content

The National Archives has a large collection of seized foreign records. Within the Still Photos Branch, the vast majority of these records pertain to Nazi Germany. Notable series include photographs taken by Heinrich Hoffman, Hitler’s official photographer, and a number of albums from Eva Braun, Hitler’s long-time girlfriend.   In recent months, the Still Photos Branch added another small, yet important, series of seized foreign records: Photographs Obtained from the National Socialist German Workers’ Party Archives.

In 1934, the Nazionalsozialtische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, better known as the Nazi Party, established a central records center. Called the NSDAP Hauptarchiv, the archives collected records created by Nazi officials, as well as Nazi organizations such as the SS and Hitler Youth.   Under direct orders from Rudolf Hess, the Hauptarchiv also collected documents from other…

Source: Photos from the Nazi Archives | The Unwritten Record

The Fall of Berlin, 1945

Devastation in Berlin Soviet troops at the Brandenburg Gate

The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler’s Third Reich began on April 16, 1945 when Stalin unleashed the brutal power of 20 armies, 6,300 tanks and 8,500 aircraft with the objective of crushing German resistance and capturing Berlin. By prior agreement, the Allied armies (positioned approximately 60 miles to the west) halted their advance on the city in order to give the Soviets a free hand. The depleted German forces put up a stiff defense, initially repelling the attacking Russians, but ultimately succumbing to overwhelming force. By April 24 the Soviet army…

Source: The Fall of Berlin, 1945

Hitler and Marigolds by Julie Summers

There is nothing more delicious than discovering a private diary, written moons ago, that was never intended for publication. It has been my great good fortune to find several in the course of my work on the Second World War but the jewel in the crown for me were the diaries of Edith Jones, which form the golden thread through my book about the Women’s Institute, Jambusters. When I tell people I have worked on the WI for over six years I get mixed reactions. Some pity, some incredulity that a women’s organisation with a reputation for jam and Jerusalem would be of any interest to an author and sometimes, just sometimes, a nod of acknowledgement that this is a great topic. Well, let me reassure you that those in the third category are right.

As this is my first blog for the History Girls I thought I would kick off with the WI. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Institute of England and Wales. Scotland has its own Scottish Rural WI. Born in Llanfairpwll on Anglesey in 1915, it was founded in part to help with food production during the First World War. However, its main aim was, and remains, to educate…

Source: Hitler and Marigolds by Julie Summers

WWII Pope’s ‘secret scheme to assassinate Hitler’

According to historian Mark Riebling, Pope Pius XII carefully cultivated a spy ring designed to build bridges between the German Resistances and Allied powers – with Hitler’s death as their aim…

Source: WWII Pope’s ‘secret scheme to assassinate Hitler’