World War II

Stories 361 - 380 | << Prev   Next >>

Oregon Man, 90, Recounts His WWII Tale of Survival

He was sole survivor when Jewish refugee ship carrying 786 was torpedoed

(Newser) - Oregon's David Stoliar rarely talks about his ordeal in World War II, and the 90-year-old native of Romania says his recent interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel is the last time he will discuss it, period. It's tough to blame him. Stoliar was the lone survivor when...

How the Elite 'Ghost Army' Duped Hitler

PBS airing documentary on secretive US unit of artists

(Newser) - They were officially known as the Army's 23rd Headquarters Special Troops during World War II, but the unit's nickname suits it better: the Ghost Army. Made up of 1,100 soldiers who were artists, illustrators, sound technicians, etc., the Ghost Army had one mission: trick Hitler and enemy...

Japanese Politician: WWII Sex Slaves Were 'Necessary'

Says soldiers needed them to rest

(Newser) - Controversial Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has defended Japan's World War II policy of forcing women to have sex with troops as a necessity of war, the BBC reports. "In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk...

Mathematician Finally Cracks POW's Coded Letters

Hidden messages inside letters sent during WWII

(Newser) - British soldier John Pryor sent letters home to his family from a Nazi POW camp for five years during World War II. Seventy years later, they finally know what he actually wrote. A mathematician at Plymouth University has deciphered the coded messages hidden inside the innocuous-looking letters for the first...

Japan, Russia Move to ... End WWII

Putin, Abe say it's time to finally settle Kuril Islands dispute

(Newser) - Japan and Russia have decided to have another stab at forging a peace treaty that will bring World War II to an official end. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at the Kremlin yesterday, and the first top-level summit between the countries in about a decade...

Deep in a Cave, an Amazing Tale of Holocaust Survival
Deep in a Cave, an Amazing Tale of Holocaust Survival
in case you missed it
Apr 13, 2013 9:33 AM CDT

Deep in a Cave, an Amazing Tale of Holocaust Survival

New film shares story of 38 Jews who lived in Ukrainian caves for 511 days

(Newser) - It's hard not to describe any tale of Holocaust survival as amazing, but this one is particularly remarkable: A new film that opened last week in New York recounts the story of two Jewish families that fled to a Ukrainian cave in 1942. As No Place on Earth recounts,...

Greek Report: Germany Owes Us Billions for World War II

Cash could be enough to end debt crisis

(Newser) - Greece may have a novel way of solving its debt problems: Get Germany to pay billions in decades-old war reparations. The Greek finance ministry commissioned a secret report that says Germany owes the country big time over World War II. Though the Greek newspaper, To Vima, that printed the report...

Hitler&#39;s Food Taster Tells Her Story

 Hitler's Food Taster 
 Tells Her Story 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 7, 2013 7:35 AM CDT

Hitler's Food Taster Tells Her Story

Margot Wölk lived in fear she'd be poisoned

(Newser) - Margot Wölk spent two and a half years tasting Adolf Hitler's food, living in fear that one of the delicious dishes might be poisoned. Now 95, Wölk—who, with time, learned to take pleasure in eating again—just started talking about her experiences. "There was never...

Mussolini&#39;s &#39;Most Secret&#39; Bunker Revealed


 Mussolini's 
 'Most Secret' 
 Bunker 
 Revealed 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 31, 2013 7:40 AM CDT

Mussolini's 'Most Secret' Bunker Revealed

It was found in 2011, and will open to public this summer

(Newser) - You'll soon be able to visit a manifestation of Benito Mussolini's paranoia: his "most secret" bunker, unearthed beneath his Rome headquarters in 2011 and just revealed. During the restoration of the 15th-century Palazzo Venezia, architect Carlo Serafini came upon a trap door, reports La Stampa by way...

US Is Still Paying for Civil War
 US Is Still Paying for Civil War 
analysis
Mar 19, 2013 10:29 AM CDT

US Is Still Paying for Civil War

Other wars cost $40B a year in compensation: report

(Newser) - It's been 148 years, and the US is still paying relatives of Civil War veterans every month. Two surviving children of veterans receive $876 annually, and while that may amount to a paltry sum, the AP's analysis of the continuing costs of US wars turns up much heftier...

Final Survivor of Plot to Kill Hitler Dead at 90

Von Kleist was part of plan brought to big screen in 'Valkyrie'

(Newser) - A former German army lieutenant has died 69 years after he volunteered to wear a suicide vest to kill Adolf Hitler. The first plot involving Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist failed to come to pass but months later he played a key role in a plot to kill Hitler and was the...

How Gals Helped Nuke Japan Without Knowing It

Young women played a big role at WWII atomic plant

(Newser) - Many young women helped build the A-bomb at a secret atomic research facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.—but didn't know what they were making, the Daily Beast reports. Denise Kiernan's new book, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World ...

'Hitler's Pope' Secretly Aided the Jews: New Book

Pope Pius XII 'oversaw a clandestine operation'

(Newser) - A new book is aiming to give "Hitler's Pope" a better place in history, the Guardian reports. Due out next month, The Pope's Jews paints Pius XII as a man who quietly aided Jews during World War II with safe houses and fake documents. According to the...

For Sale: Original Iwo Jima Monument

Felix de Weldon made smaller statue before 32-foot Arlington version

(Newser) - A long-forgotten piece of America's military history is going up for sale. The original smaller statue of the iconic raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction dedicated to World...

Russian City Changes Name —6 Days a Year

Volgograd will be known as Stalingrad again ... sometimes

(Newser) - Tomorrow, the Russian city of Volgograd will be Stalingrad once again—temporarily. That's because the city's government unanimously voted to change the city's name six days a year to mark milestones in the country's victory in World War II. Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the...

Pics Show POWs Performing in Nazi Camp

Germany used Oflag VII-A to dupe the Red Cross

(Newser) - Photos have emerged from a Nazi POW camp that show officers performing theater and playing music—signs that Germany used the camp to help conceal the Holocaust, Der Spiegel reports. Reports of Polish officers enjoying some cultural life at Oflag VII-A, in Murnau, Germany, have circulated for years, but were...

Boy, 8, Helps End Man&#39;s 60-Year Search for Sister
Boy, 8, Helps End Man's
60-Year Search for Sister
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 13, 2013 10:39 AM CST

Boy, 8, Helps End Man's 60-Year Search for Sister

And in Bosnia, Facebook helps sisters after 72 years

(Newser) - Should you need proof that little kids are way more tech-savvy than you: An 8-year-old Iowa boy has helped reunite two siblings, with a little assist from Facebook. Betty and Clifford Boyson were separated 65 years ago when they were placed with different foster families in Chicago. Clifford embarked on...

Brits Planned Ships Made of Ice During WWII

And New Zealand tested underwater 'Tsunami Bombs'

(Newser) - Winston Churchill was so afraid of Nazi submarines targeting supply ships during WWII that he flirted with building aircraft carriers out of sheer ice, New Scientist reports. Knowing Britain could starve without US supplies, he approved a test project aimed at delivering 2,000-foot-long ice ships with 40-foot hulls that...

Character Actor Charles Durning Dead at 89

He also survived D-Day invasion, Battle of the Bulge

(Newser) - Charles Durning grew up in poverty, lost five of his nine siblings to disease, barely lived through D-Day, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge. His hard life and wartime trauma provided the basis for a prolific 50-year career as a consummate character actor, playing everyone from...

Has &#39;Unbreakable&#39; WWII Message Been Cracked?

 Has 'Unbreakable' 
 WWII Message 
 Been Cracked? 
in case you missed it
Dec 22, 2012 12:30 PM CST

Has 'Unbreakable' WWII Message Been Cracked?

Canadian man says WWI codebook was the key

(Newser) - A recently discovered coded message from World War II may have been cracked. A British intelligence agency took the 27 blocks of text, found attached to the remains of a pigeon discovered in a UK chimney, to the public last month after its codebreakers had no luck. Now, a Canadian...

Stories 361 - 380 | << Prev   Next >>