Ireland’s Debt to Its World War II Soldiers

During World War II, thousands of Irish soldiers joined the British army to fight the war, but when they came home to Ireland, they were treated as deserters and put on a blacklist. Now, there is growing pressure on the Irish government to pardon those men.

Belgian Nurse Honored For WWII Bravery

Augusta Chiwy, a 90-year-old Belgian Congolese nurse who saved hundreds of wounded American soldiers during WWII received an award for valor from the US Army earlier this week.

New Play Dramatizes Eichmann Capture

Fifty years ago, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death in an Israeli courtroom.

Nazi Board Game ‘Out With The Jews!’

In the 1930s in Germany, anti-semitism was all-pervasive, and part of that can be attributed to pop culture. A commercially successful board game for example called “Juden Raus” (Jews Out) became a pasttime of German families.

Polish Art Looted By Nazis Returns Home

Two oil paintings that disappeared in 1944 are now being returned to Poland’s National Museum.

Bavaria to Evict American Cold War Era Cultural House

The Amerika Häuser were places for Germans to learn more about America.

Essays Found After Decades Reveal Jewish Life During Nazi Rise

They are part of a 1930s Harvard contest that called for entries from Jews living in Germany.

Eastern Europe’s ‘Bloodlands’

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The opening of Soviet and East European archives has provided historians a tidal wave of new information about the crimes of Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Brigid McCarthy reports on one historian’s work. Download MP3
Excerpt of Timothy Snyder’s ‘Bloodlands’

Destroyed by the Blitz

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

70 years ago, the German Blitz got under way. Hitler’s air assault killed more than 40,000 civilians in Britain. We’re looking for a city in the West Midlands of England that was almost entirely destroyed by the German bombings. Download MP3

• The Blitz in pictures

How Germans remember the past

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On a day when we’re remembering soldiers and wars, it’s also useful to think about how we remember. In Germany, memory of the past is often painful: two world wars, the Holocaust, the Berlin Wall. Now, Germans are again thinking about how they remember these events. Writer Alissa Quart visited a couple of museums in Berlin. Download MP3(Photo: Gerry Hadden)

• Neues Museum
• Berlin-based Yiddishkeit band ‘Jewdyssee’
• Berlin Wall graffiti

World War II anniversary

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended ceremonies in Poland today marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II and rejected claims that Russia had a role in sparking the conflict. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Svetlana Savranskaya director of Russian programs at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. >>>BBC coverage