Germany
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If you did not know the man in the photograph, you would think he was a loving family man, doting on his daughter. However, since we know the man is Joseph Goebbels, the dynamic of this photo changes. Goebbels did portray himself as a good family man and a loving father. Clearly, he had no…
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Luise Löwenfels (was a German nun of Jewish descent who is remembered for her courage and faith during the Nazi era. Her story is one of personal sacrifice, spiritual conviction, and tragic martyrdom. She was born on July 5, 1915, in Eschweiler, Germany, into a Jewish family. Her parents, both of Jewish heritage, raised her…
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From the 1920s onwards, the Nazi Party targeted German youth as a special audience for its propaganda messages. These messages emphasized that the Party was a movement of youth: dynamic, resilient, forward-looking, and hopeful. Millions of German young people were won over to Nazism in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. In January 1933, the…
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You don’t have to be a history buff to know that 1 September 1939 was the date when the Germans invaded their neighbour, Poland. What often is forgotten is that it wasn’t only the Germans who invaded Poland on that day. The Germans got a helping hand from the newly formed Republic of Slovakia. And…
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The story of Leni Riefenstahl has always intrigued me. Although she was a willing and pivotal tool in the Nazi propaganda machine. She did witness crimes and evil but was yet somehow able to distance herself from it. Leni Riefenstahl (Helene Riefenstahl) was a German dancer, actress, and film director best known for her imposing propaganda films…
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Jehovah’s Witnesses, known in early 20th-century Germany as the Bibelforscher (“Bible Students”), held convictions—refusing military service, political involvement, and allegiance to secular powers—that directly conflicted with the Nazi totalitarian state. Their religious neutrality and international ties led to widespread persecution from 1933 to 1945, making them one of the most persistently targeted religious groups under…
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Aside from their murderous practices, the SS also had several businesses. On January 23, 1939 Oswald Pohl .the head of “SS Main Economic and Administrative Office” founded the “German Research Institute for Nutrition and Food Provision Ltd.” The shareholders were the SS concern “German Earth and Stone Works Ltd.” and a member of the SS…
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No matter how you twist or turn it, when you are complicit to a crime, you are just as guilty as the perpetrator, and perhaps even more guilty because you were an enabler of that crime. Hermann Stieve was Director of the Berlin Institute of Anatomy from 1935 to 1952, which was from the early…
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It should come as little surprise that away from the carnage of the Western Front, soldiers sought solace in whatever pleasures they could find. Amid the chaos of the First World War, the harsh realities of trench warfare often fueled desires as primal as the will to survive. During the bloodiest phases of the war,…
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Victor L. Wegard was a war crimes investigator on the personal staff of Gen. George S. Patton, in North Africa and Sicily. He participated in the liberation of the Flossenberg concentration camp, collected evidence against suspected war criminals and worked on a team assigned to defend alleged war criminals during the Dachau war crimes trials…
History of Sorts 
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