Learn about WWII History

Explore the critical events related to the war and the personal stories of those who lived through that challenging time.

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Betty Webb
Betty Webb

Betty Webb was a Bletchley Park codebreaking operative during WWII, later recognised for her work deciphering Axis commu...

#Biography

Germaine Kanova
Germaine Kanova

​​Germaine Kanova was a war photographer and portraitist who documented the Liberation of France and the aftermath of th...

#Biography

​​Odile de Vasselot​
​​Odile de Vasselot​

​​Odile de Vasselot was a liaison agent in the French Resistance during World War II, known for helping Allied airmen es...

#Biography

Nuto Revelli
Nuto Revelli

Nuto Revelli (1919-2004) has written books on the Second World War, the Resistance, and rural life. His home is now the ...

#Biography

​​Hector Santa Anna​
​​Hector Santa Anna​

​​Hector Santa Anna was a decorated WWII bomber pilot and one of the few Latino officers in the US Air Forces, later hon...

#Biography

Simone Veil
Simone Veil

Simone Veil was a Holocaust survivor and influential French figure whose experiences during World War II shaped her life...

#Biography

​​Léonard Gille
​​Léonard Gille

​​Léonard Gille was a lawyer, politician and member of the Resistance in Calvados. His name is associated with the first...

#Biography

​​Raymond Triboulet
​​Raymond Triboulet

​​Raymond Triboulet was a politician and a Gaullist Resistance fighter from Calvados. Raymond Triboulet was the first su...

#Biography

Violette Szabo
Violette Szabo

​​Violette Szabo was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during World War II who undertook daring mission...

#Biography

Thomas Buergenthal
Thomas Buergenthal

Prof. Thomas Buergenthal was one of the most prominent lawyers specializing in human rights and international law. He ta...

#Biography

Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow

“Good night and good luck” was one of the most popular phrases uttered by E. Murrow from his days as a war correspondent...

#Biography

Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch

The Witch of Buchenwald – that’s what the prisoners called Ilse Koch. She dressed in a provocative manner to taunt the m...

#Biography

Alice Herz-Sommer
Alice Herz-Sommer

Those who knew Alice Herz-Sommer often recalled her love for music and her incorrigible optimism. Years later, describin...

#Biography

Victor Ullmann
Victor Ullmann

Viktor Ullmann came from an assimilated Jewish family that converted to Catholicism. He came from Cieszyn in Silesia. He...

#Biography

Štěpán Trochta
Štěpán Trochta

Štěpán Trochta was a Salesian who believed that great emphasis should be placed on working with youth and caring for the...

#Biography

Władysław Ostrowski
Władysław Ostrowski

When war broke out, Ostrowski fought in the ranks of the Polish Army. On September 18, 1939, he was wounded during a cla...

#Biography

Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby

Richard Dimbleby was one of the most famous British reporters and radio journalists of the 20th century and the BBC’s fi...

#Biography

Anne Frank
Anne Frank

It seems that thanks to the diary she wrote, the whole world knows the story of Anne Frank. It is one of the most recogn...

#Biography

Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer

Josef Kramer joined the NSDAP at age 25, and a year later he was a member of the SS. He grew up in Munich, in a Catholic...

#Biography

Stefan Krukowski
Stefan Krukowski

Stefan Krukowski was a Pole who was caught in a roundup on a Warsaw street. He was sent to a harsh prison, where he was ...

#Biography

Albert J. Kosiek
Albert J. Kosiek

Albert Kosiek was born into a Polish immigrant family in Chicago, United States. In November 1942, he joined the 11th Ar...

#Biography

Stanisław Grzesiuk
Stanisław Grzesiuk

Stanisław Grzesiuk is known in Poland as an author and singer, popularizing folklore and Warsaw dialect. He came from a ...

#Biography

Franz Ziereis
Franz Ziereis

Franz Ziereis was a war criminal, he had been a member of the SS since 1936. He joined the SS-Totenkopfverbände, the cor...

#Biography

Hermine Brausteiner
Hermine Brausteiner

Hermine Brausteiner or “Mare” from Majdanek, as concentration camp inmates called her, testified that she snatched child...

#Biography