Nazis
Why one of Renoir’s most celebrated paintings languished unloved
Relegated to a servants’ hall soon after it was finished, the double portrait ‘Pink and Blue’ may have been caught up in a swirl of rumours about its subjects’ mother
Derided as ‘feminists’: the unsung witnesses of the Nuremberg trials
Of particular note was the lawyer Harriet Zetterberg, who compiled the case against Hans Frank, and Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, the first concentration camp survivor to testify
Why Hitler’s suave architect escaped the noose at Nuremberg
Albert Speer was treated leniently because he was softly-spoken, well-dressed and ‘much the most appealing’ of all the defendants, according to Telford Taylor, one of the prosecutors
Caught between Hitler and Bomber Command – the Berliners’ cruel predicament
Ordinary citizens faced two enemies in the war, and it as hard to know who was more dangerous – the Allies or their own deranged leaders
Gripping: Amazon Prime’s The Tank reviewed
I don’t know how it got past the increasingly powerful ‘All Germans were evil Nazis’ censors but Amazon has released…
Sabotage in occupied France: The Shock of the Light, by Lori Inglis Hill, reviewed
Having joined SOE at the outbreak of war, young Tessa faces immense dangers, not all of which she can overcome
From riches to rags: The Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, reviewed
Beginning in 1878, this family saga charts the success of two Jewish brothers in Berlin before the coming of the Nazis threatens not only their livelihoods but their lives
The surreal drama of Helsinki’s history
Henrik Meinander tells the story of a city ravaged by plague, fire, war and occupation being constantly rebuilt and resettled over five centuries
The extraordinary courage of Germany’s wartime ‘traitors’
With Nazi informers everywhere, any dissident risked betrayal – and the prospect of being hanged ‘like slaughtered cattle’ for ‘defeatism’
Alice in Nightmareland: The Matchbox Girl, by Alice Jolly, reviewed
A mute 12-year-old girl is invited to Dr Asperger’s clinic in 1930s Vienna – but how will ‘idiot’ children fare once the Nazis come to power?
What drove the German housewife to vote for Hitler?
Focusing on the top echelons of Weimar politics, Volker Ullrich barely considers what options ordinary people had, crushed by hyperinflation in the 1920s Republic
Hiding from the Nazis in wartime Italy
Malcolm Gaskill vividly recreates his uncle’s experience as an escaped PoW, and the courage of the peasant families who risked their lives to shelter him
There was no escaping the Nazis – even in sleep
Soon after Hitler came to power, a Jewish journalist, deprived of regular employment, began secretly recording her nightmares – and, as the terror increased, those of her fellow citizens
None of Mitfords sound posh enough: Outrageous reviewed
There aren’t many dramas featuring the rise of the Nazis that could be described as jaunty, but Outrageous is one.…
The mystifying cult status of Gertrude Stein
The American author (of mostly unreadable books) was revered in 1920s Paris and became an international celebrity – though no one was quite sure why
When ordinary men did extraordinary things – D-Day revisited
The transporting of 150,000 troops across the Channel in total secrecy and the feats they did that day is a story we never tire of – and Max Hastings tells it exceedingly well
Vindictive to the last: a Nazi atrocity in Tuscany
Even in retreat in August 1944, a German posse carried out a particularly brutal triple murder at a hillside farm outside Florence in a vendetta against the Einstein family
Heroes of the Norwegian resistance
Among many fascinating characters is Gunnar Waaler, a double agent who passed on intelligence to the British while posing as an enthusiastic member of Quisling’s police force
How Anne Frank’s photograph became as recognisable as the Mona Lisa
To date, the diary, pieced together from Anne’s notebooks, has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, with her story further explored in plays, films and novels
Nazis, killer dogs and weird sex: Empty Wigs, by Jonathan Meades, reviewed
Meades’s 1,000-page doorstopper is also vast in scope, containing 19 overlapping stories of a family scattered through time and space, and their role in a variety of nefarious goings-on
The world is now inexorably divided – and the West must fight to survive
One side wants to preserve core Judeo-Christian values; the other, driven by Islamist extremists, seeks to establish a dangerous new world of deracinated individuals, says Melanie Phillips
An excellent sixth-form drama project: Santi & Naz, at Soho Theatre, reviewed
Santi & Naz is a drama set in the Punjab in 1947 that uses an ancient and thrilling storyline about…
The international criminal justice system was prejudiced from the start
Double standards have existed since its foundation in 1945, with the most powerful nations determining who should be held accountable for war crimes
The horror of Hungary in the second world war
Having suffered heavy casualties fighting the Soviets as part of the Axis alliance, the country was then occupied by the Nazis, which led to wholesale carnage during the siege of Budapest in 1945
The ambassador’s daughter bent on betrayal
When the young Martha Dodd arrived at the American embassy in Berlin in 1933 she cared nothing about politics. By the time she left four years later, she was a committed Soviet spy
