Adolf Hitler

The Zone of Interest envisions the everyday lives of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, rarely venturing beyond their villa’s borders to acknowledge the atrocities unfolding outside their door.

The Real History Behind 'The Zone of Interest' and Rudolf Höss

Jonathan Glazer's new film uses the Auschwitz commandant and his family as a vehicle for examining humans' capacity for evil

Child refugees from Germany and Austria at the Amsterdam Burgerweeshuis orphanage. Truus Wijsmuller stands at far left, looking at the children she helped save.

The Unsung Hero Who Saved Thousands of Children During the Holocaust

Truus Wijsmuller spirited Jewish refugees to safety and stood up to the architect of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution"

Hitler stands with co-conspirators Alfred Rosenberg and Friedrich Weber during the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923.

Before He Rose to Power, Adolf Hitler Staged a Coup and Went to Prison

The Beer Hall Putsch was a spectacular failure. It also set the stage for Nazi Germany

Patrons at the Eldorado, a popular LGBTQ cabaret in Berlin during the Weimar years

New Research Reveals How the Nazis Targeted Transgender People

Last year, a German court acknowledged the possibility that trans people were persecuted by the Nazis

Arthur Brand poses with The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1884.

Stolen van Gogh Painting Worth Millions Returned in an Ikea Bag

Arthur Brand, the "Indiana Jones of the art world," negotiated the recovery of an 1884 canvas taken from a Dutch museum in March 2020

A German general ordered his troops to “destroy Viannos and promptly execute all males beyond the age of 16, as well as everyone who was arrested in the countryside, irrespective of age or gender.”

When the Nazis Massacred Greek Civilians to Send a Warning to Those Who Resisted

Eighty years ago, German soldiers killed an estimated 500 Cretans in Viannos and Ierapetra in retaliation for an attack by local partisans

In 1946, the British garrison welcomed the returning residents of Alderney, who had evacuated prior to the Nazi occupation in 1940. 

How Many Died in Nazi Concentration Camps on British Soil?

The U.K. is investigating the death toll on the island of Alderney, which German soldiers occupied in 1940

In January 1923, a dollar cost 17,000 marks. In December, the exchange rate topped out at 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar.

How Hyperinflation Heralded the Fall of German Democracy

In 1923, the collapse of the Weimar Republic's economy impoverished millions and gave Adolf Hitler his first chance at seizing power

Julius and Leni Löwin, a Jewish couple who met in Oberstdorf, with World War I hero Ernst Jünger

How the Nazi Regime Upended the Lives of These Bavarian Villagers

A new book draws on long-overlooked sources to chronicle how Oberstdorf's residents navigated the rise—and dictatorship—of Adolf Hitler

Traute Lafrenz in 2019

Traute Lafrenz, Last Surviving Member of Anti-Nazi Resistance Group the White Rose, Dies at 103

During World War II, the rest of the movement's core members were executed for distributing leaflets critical of the Nazi regime

Sophie Scholl (center) bids farewell to her brother Hans (left) and friend Christoph Probst (right) before their departure for the Eastern Front in July 1942.

Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders. Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?

Archival evidence offers clues on the radicalization of the German siblings, who led a resistance movement known as the White Rose

Paula, Sam and Sol Messinger aboard the M.S. St. Louis in May 1939. The U.S. denied the ship entry, forcing its 937 passengers to return to Europe. More than a quarter of these refugees were later killed in the Holocaust.

Why Was America So Reluctant to Take Action on the Holocaust?

A new Ken Burns documentary examines the U.S.' complex, often shameful response to the rise of Nazism and the plight of Jewish refugees

The watch that likely belonged to Adolf Hitler

Hitler’s Watch Sells for $1.1 Million at Controversial Auction

Jewish leaders opposed the sale, calling it “an abhorrence” in an open letter

A meeting of the Soviet Republics’ Esperanto Union, held in Moscow in 1931

Why Hitler and Stalin Hated Esperanto, the 135-Year-Old Language of Peace

Jewish doctor L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto as a way for diverse groups to easily communicate

After the first group of students arrived at Bunce Court came hundreds more, traumatized by the ever-escalating catastrophe in Europe.

The Schoolteacher Who Saved Her Students From the Nazis

A new book explores the life of Anna Essinger, who led an entire school's daring escape from Germany in 1933

Communist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg speaking at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907

The 20th-Century History of Anti-Semitic Attacks on Jewish Politicians

Russian rhetoric against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoes the language directed toward Jewish leaders in post-WWI Europe

Last Call at the Hotel Imperial centers on journalists Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker and Jimmy Vincent Sheean.

A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe

A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism

With the world on the brink of destruction, three of the earliest comic book superheroes (above: an array of 1940s covers from the Smithsonian collections) joined in the war effort, hawking bonds, boosting morale and entertaining troops.

Before the Riddler, Batman's Archenemy Was Hitler

A Smithsonian collection of vintage Golden Age comic books tells a story of WWII propaganda, patriotism and support of the war effort

One of 664 uranium cubes used in a nuclear reactor during World War II. Researchers are trying to confirm whether a similar cube housed in the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's collections was also part of the Nazis' failed nuclear program.

Did the Nazis Use This Uranium Cube in Their Failed Nuclear Program?

New research may help the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory confirm the identity of a mysterious object in its collections

An aerial view of Poland's "Death Valley," where the Nazis carried out mass executions during World War II

Remains of Nazi Massacre Victims Discovered in Poland's 'Death Valley'

In January 1945, German forces murdered around 500 Polish resistance fighters in a forest near the village of Chojnice

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