I get goosebumps and my stomach sinks when I stand at the entrance to the Wolf’s Lair, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s Polish war headquarters. Here the Führer lived from 1940 to 1944, directing the Nazis in World War II and the Holocaust that led to the deaths of some 6 million European Jews. Overall, World … Read more
Shopping in Singapore, looking down from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, taking in the massive ancient temples in Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, and Borobudur in Java: tropical Southeast Asia is hardly short of things to do for tourists or places to go. Some of the region’s best attractions are not on land. Diving is another … Read more
Taiwan’s only memorial to wartime “comfort women” has been removed after the land it stood on was sold at auction, according to Taiwanese media. The removal of the statue – which commemorated atrocities committed by the Japanese military during World War II – comes as the island’s leadership continues its drive to erase common historical … Read more
Bernie Sanders, the curmudgeonly American politician, is always on a crusade. The Vermont senator’s latest campaign is to warn us all about ultra-processed foods (UPFs). This is now the generally accepted term for mass-produced foods. They typically include ingredients with long chemical names, sometimes with a number enclosed in brackets. These ingredients – preservatives, emulsifiers, … Read more
China has hailed American “Flying Tiger” pilots in a ceremony commemorating the end of World War II, in the latest push to foster people-to-people relations between the two nations. For the first time, the names of more than 2,500 pilots who died fighting the Japanese on behalf of China have been published. At a ceremony … Read more
The images begin with the city before the bomb was dropped, and, after showing its immediate impact, present glimpses through the decades leading to the city’s current state. The remains of Hiroshima’s Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which was later preserved as a monument, in September 1945. Photo: AFP “As the number of atomic bomb survivors … Read more
The playground, originally called Wan Chai Children’s Playground, opened in 1934; it was later renamed after Sir Wilfred Thomas Southorn, Hong Kong’s colonial secretary from 1925 to 1936. A photograph taken around 1950 shows Southorn Playground nestled among rows of tenement houses in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai neighbourhood. Photo: Hong Kong Public Libraries For history … Read more
JERUSALEM — Israel’s national Holocaust museum opened a new conservation facility in Jerusalem on Monday that will preserve, restore and store its more than 45,000 artifacts and works of art in a vast new building, including five floors of underground storage. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, serves as both a museum and a … Read more
Thursday, June 6, marks the 80-year anniversary of D-Day, the day of the greatest military invasion in modern history. Codenamed “Operation Overlord,” D-Day (June 6, 1944) began at 6:30 am when an Allied force of 156,000 troops made up of primarily Americans, Britons, and Canadians landed on five beaches stretching 50 miles along a heavily … Read more
The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans, including children, labelled enemies during World War II is an historical experience that has traumatised, and galvanised, the Japanese-American community over the decades. For George Takei, who portrayed Hikaru Sulu aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek, it is a story he is determined to keep telling every opportunity he … Read more
