Munich

  • This is the remarkable story of Edith Hahn Beer (Vienna, January 24, 1914 – London, March 17, 2009), an Austrian Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by adopting a false identity and marrying a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Her incredible tale of survival serves as a testament to human resilience and the complexity

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  • On November 8, 1939, Adolf Hitler narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Munich. The attempt took place in the Bürgerbräukeller, a popular beer hall where he annually commemorated the anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, an early failed coup that Hitler had led in an attempt to seize power in Germany. The bomb was

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  • Hofbräuhaus am Platzl

    On February 24, 1920, the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is where Adolf Hitler made a speech founding the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or the Nazi party. It is a beer hall in the centre of Munich. I visited the place last June. To my surprise there was nothing in the hall indicating the event that

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  • Today marks the 117th birthday of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. He was born on 2 August 1905 in Munich and came into contact with art and music at an early stage. He studied trombone and composition at the Staatliche Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich from 1924 to 1929. He hated Nazism and Hitler and anything that

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  • Not every German supported the Nazis or signed up to their ideology. There were quite a few who were appalled by what their nation had become under the leadership of Hitler and his regime. However there were only a handful of people who had the courage to stand up against the Nazis, at risk of

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  • One of the most iconic pictures of women during WWII is the picture of Lee Miller sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub, in his Munich apartment in 1945. “I was living in Hitler’s private apartment in Munich when his death was announced.” she said afterwards. Lee Miller however wasn’t just a lady in a bathtub. Elizabeth

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  • This is a deviation from my usual heavier historic history blogs. Just a bit of lightheartedness at the start of a hopefully better 2021. This is the story behind ” Crazy little thing called love” Although ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ is a simple song it does actually demonstrate how genius Freddie Mercury was. He

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  • Munich 1972

    In the early morning hours of September 5 1972, six members of the Arab terrorist group known as Black September dressed in the Olympic sweat suits of Arab nations and jumped the fence surrounding the Olympic village in Munich, Germany, carrying bags filled with guns. Although guards spotted them, they paid little attention because athletes

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