Istvan Reiner    stares straight into the camera with his big, dark eyes- he looks happy, playing with card and a hole-punch. Not long after the photo was taken, he was deported to Auschwitz, and sent with his grandmother into the gas chambers and murdered. I wonder what kind of a child he was; shy and… Read more »

Einsatzgruppen, “task forces” “deployment groups”; singular Einsatzgruppe; official full name Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD) were Schutzstaffel SS  paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings, primarily by shooting, during World War II .   The Einsatzgruppen were involved in the murder of much of the intelligentsia and cultural elite of Poland, and had an integral role in the… Read more »

DUBOIS, Werner Karl born 26-02-1913 in Wuppertal, brought up by his grandmother. Eight years elementary school. Worked as joiner, brushmaker, printer and on a farm. Member  of SA since July 1933, NSDAP  and SS since January 1937 (SS-Totenkopfverband Brandenburg).  Driver at SS-Gruppenkommando Oranienburg. Driver and guard at the concentration camp Sachsenhausen. In August 1939 to Aktion T4, was a… Read more »

Engelbert Dollfuss born 04-10-1892 was an Austrian Christian Social and Patriotic Front statesman. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government. In early 1933, he shut down parliament, banned the Austrian Nazi party  and assumed dictatorial powers. Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934, he cemented the… Read more »

One day after France signed the armistice  in Compiégne with Germany in June 1940, Adolf Hitler celebrated the German victory over France with a triumphant tour of Paris. Hitler surveying his conquest with his various companions and became one of the most iconic photos of the 1940s and World War 2. This was the first and the… Read more »

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on 18 April 1942, was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu island during World War II, the first air raid to strike the Japanese Home Islands.  It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on… Read more »

On September 11th, the noble Oberstleutnant Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte     was sent on a mission that required him to use an aircraft. The aircraft  of von der Heydte crashed on the island of Elba and Von der Heydte suffered some severe injuries. After his recovery, Von der Heydte was given command of the newly… Read more »

The Wound Badge /Verwundetenabzeichen, was a military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II  German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was awarded to wounded or frostbitten soldiers of the Imperial German Army, during  World War I . Between the world wars, it was awarded to members of the German armed forces who fought on the Nationalist side of the… Read more »

William Patrick “Willy” Stuart-Houston born Hitler on 12 March 1911 was the nephew of Adolf Hitler. Born to Adolf’s half-brother, Alois Hitler, J., and his first wife, Bridget Dowling in Liverpool, Lancashire, They met in Dublin when Alois was living there in 1909; they married in Marlebone in London and moved back north to Liverpool, where William was born in 1911. In 1914, Alois left Bridget… Read more »

The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937   The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).   80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn’t survive World War 2   The highest ranking American killed was Lieutenant General Lesley McNair, killed by the… Read more »