World War II: The Holocaust

One of the most horrific terms in history was used by Nazi Germany to designate human beings whose lives were unimportant, or those who should be killed outright: Lebensunwertes Leben, or "life unworthy of life". First applied to the mentally impaired, later to the "racially inferior", or "sexually deviant", or merely "enemies of the state" both internal and external. From very early in the war, part of Nazi policy was to murder civilians en masse, especially targeting Jews -- which later in the war became Hitler's "final solution", the complete extermination of the Jews. Beginning with Einsatzgruppen death squads in the East, killing some 1,000,000 people in numerous massacres, later in concentration camps where prisoners were actively denied proper food and health care, and ending with the construction of extermination camps -- government facilities whose entire purpose was the systematic murder and disposal of massive numbers of people. In 1945, as advancing Allied troops began discovering many camps, they found the results of these policies: hundreds of thousands of starving and sick prisoners locked in with more thousands of dead bodies. Evidence of gas chambers, high-volume crematoriums, thousands of mass graves, documentation of awful medical experimentation, and much more. The Nazis killed more than 10 million people in this manner, including 6 million Jews. (This entry is Part 18 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]

Warning: All images in this entry are shown in full, not screened out for graphic content. There are many dead bodies. The photographs are graphic and stark. This is the reality of genocide, and of an important part of World War II and human history.

 

An emaciated 18-year-old Russian girl looks into the camera lens during the liberation of Dachau concentration camp in 1945. Dachau was the first German concentration camp, opened in 1933. More than 200,000 people were detained between 1933 and 1945, and 31,591 deaths were declared, most from disease, malnutrition and suicide. Unlike Auschwitz, Dachau was not explicitly an extermination camp, but conditions were so horrific that hundreds died every week. (Eric Schwab/AFP/Getty Images)

Libya: The End of Qaddafi and the Fall of Sirte

Muammar Qaddafi has been killed in fighting in Sirte, according Libya's National Transitional Council. Anti-government fighters had been closing in on Qaddafi's final stronghold in Sirte, and reportedly attacked a convoy carrying the former leader today, capturing him. Qaddafi was apparently alive at the time, but died soon afterward. The uprising that began in February and built to an armed revolution has now claimed control of the country, the death of Qaddafi, and the capture of one of his sons today. Collected here are images from Sirte over the past ten days, and of the events surrounding the death of Qaddafi. See also How Qaddafi Fooled Libya and the World by Max Fisher. [39 photos]

 

 

A tattered banner depicting Muammar Qaddafi hangs from a building during a street battle in the center of the city on October 12, 2011 in Sirte, Libya, eight days before the reports of the death of the former leader. National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters say this is the final assault on Muammar Qaddafi's home town as they captured the main hospital, university and the Ouagadougou Conference Center. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) 

World War II: The Fall of Nazi Germany

After the successful Allied invasions of western France, Germany gathered reserve forces and launched a massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes, which collapsed by January. At the same time, Soviet forces were closing in from the east, invading Poland and East Prussia. By March, Western Allied forces were crossing the Rhine River, capturing hundreds of thousands of troops from Germany's Army Group B, and the Red Army had entered Austria, both fronts quickly approaching Berlin. Strategic bombing campaigns by Allied aircraft were pounding German territory, sometimes destroying entire cities in a night. In the first several months of 1945, Germany put up a fierce defense, but was rapidly losing territory, running out of supplies, and running low on options. In April, Allied forces pushed through the German defensive line in Italy, and East met West on the River Elbe on April 25, 1945, when Soviet and American troops met near Torgau, Germany. Then came the end of the Third Reich, as the Soviets took Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30, and Germany surrendered unconditionally on all fronts by May 8 (May 7 on the Western Front). Hitler's planned "Thousand Year Reich" lasted only 12 incredibly destructive years. (This entry is Part 17 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]

"Raising a flag over the Reichstag" the famous photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei, taken on May 2, 1945. The photo shows Soviet soldiers raising the flag of the Soviet Union on top of the German Reichstag building following the Battle of Berlin. The moment was actually a re-enactment of an earlier flag-raising, and the photo was embroiled in controversy over the identities of the soldiers, the photographer, and some significant photo editing. More about this image from Wikipedia. (Yevgeny Khaldei/LOC)  

Ancient Greek Frieze by Eugenio Recuenco

 

Remembering the Berlin Wall

In 1961, East Germany erected a wall -- initially barbed wire, eventually concrete -- in the middle of Berlin to prevent its citizens from fleeing the communist country to West Germany during the height of the Cold War. It has been reported that 136 people died while trying to escape, but the total number is unknown. The wall finally came down at the beginning of November in 1989, part of the reunification of East and West Germany. Here are images from this past weekend’s recognition of the construction of the wall 50 years ago, as well as historic images. -- Lloyd Young (30 photos total)

 

A nun walks in front of a line of wreaths during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin Aug. 13. Germany marks the 50th anniversary of the day communist East Germany sealed itself off behind the Wall. Germany had been divided into capitalist western and communist eastern sectors after the end of World War II. At the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the East German regime started building the wall through the capital on Aug. 13, 1961. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press) 

 

After the Taking of Tripoli

Tripoli is a quieter city today than it was earlier this week, as rebel forces assumed control, announcing they would be transferring their leadership there from Benghazi. The U.N. has freed up millions of dollars in aid money and dozens of countries have now recognized Libya's National Transitional Council as the new legitimate governing body in Libya. However, International agencies are urging both sides to make efforts to halt widespread abuses and avoid revenge attacks. Parts of Tripoli were littered with bodies yesterday as rebel forces fought the last pockets of resistance by Muammar Qaddafi's loyalists. Fighting continues in other parts of Libya, in Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte and near the border of Tunisia, and Qaddafi once again urged his followers to fight the rebels, saying "The enemy is delusional, NATO is retreating". Collected below are scenes of a battered Tripoli from the past several days - a warning, some are rather brutal. [36 photos]

A rebel fighter walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, Libya, on August 26, 2011, after rebel forces took control and many prisoners were apparently freed. Abu Salim is one Libya's most notorious prisons and the scene of a 1996 massacre of prisoners. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)  

World War II: The American Home Front in Color

In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color. OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies in the early war years depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. Gathered here are some of these color images from Palmer and Hollem, complete with original captions from 1942. Also, be sure to see archival movies in our new Video Channel. All of the FSA/OWI photos are available from the Library of Congress. (This entry is Part 8 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]

This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber in Long Beach, California, She's one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions. Photo taken in October, 1942. (Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)  

Famine in East Africa

With East Africa facing its worst drought in 60 years, affecting more than 11 million people, the United Nations has declared a famine in the region for the first time in a generation. Overcrowded refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia are receiving some 3,000 new refugees every day, as families flee from famine-stricken and war-torn areas. The meager food and water that used to support millions in the Horn of Africa is disappearing rapidly, and families strong enough to flee for survival must travel up to a hundred miles, often on foot, hoping to make it to a refugee center, seeking food and aid. Many do not survive the trip. Officials warn that 800,000 children could die of malnutrition across the East African nations of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya. Aid agencies are frustrated by many crippling situations: the slow response of Western governments, local governments and terrorist groups blocking access, terrorist and bandit attacks, and anti-terrorism laws that restrict who the aid groups can deal with -- not to mention the massive scale of the current crisis. Below are a few images from the past several weeks in East Africa. One immediate way to help is to text "FOOD" to UNICEF (864233) to donate $10, enough to feed a child for 10 days, more ways to help listed here. [38 photos]

Mihag Gedi Farah, a malnourished seven-month-old child weighing only 7.5 pound (3.4kg), is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, on July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago, in a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)  

10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Stealth Bomber

 

Photograph by Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III/USAF

Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit, more affectionately known as the Stealth Bomber, is one sexy, sneaky and sophisticated piece of technology. More an alien spaceship than US Aircraft, the Stealth Bomber’s iconic design is instantly recognizable… unless of course it’s on a stealth mission. Below are ten things you might not have known about the world’s most expensive boomerang.

70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union

Wednesday marked the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Moscovites and World War II veterans attended a predawn ceremony in downtown Moscow and throughout the day, people gathered at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider outside the Kremlin. Officials held a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb during the day. In St. Petersburg, an early morning ceremony outside a church honored victims of the invasion. In Minsk, Belarus, there were candlelight vigils and re-enactments. (21 images)

A Belarus honor guard stands in front of eternal fire during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Nazi invasion in the town of Brest, 360 kilometers (223 miles) southwest of Minsk, Belarus, early Wednesday, June 22, 2011. AP / Sergei Grits

World War II: Before the War

The years leading up to the declaration of war between the Axis and Allied powers in 1939 were tumultuous times for people across the globe. The Great Depression had started a decade before, leaving much of the world unemployed and desperate. Nationalism was sweeping through Germany, and it chafed against the punitive measures of the Versailles Treaty that had ended World War I. China and the Empire of Japan had been at war since Japanese troops invaded Manchuria in 1931. Germany, Italy, and Japan were testing the newly founded League of Nations with multiple invasions and occupations of neighboring countries, and felt emboldened when they encountered no meaningful consequences. The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, becoming a rehearsal of sorts for the upcoming World War -- Germany and Italy supported the nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco, and some 40,000 foreign nationals traveled to Spain to fight in what they saw as the larger war against fascism. In the last few pre-war years, Nazi Germany blazed the path to conflict -- rearming, signing a non-aggression treaty with the USSR, annexing Austria, and invading Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile, the United States passed several Neutrality Acts, trying to avoid foreign entanglements as it reeled from the Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Below is a glimpse of just some of these events leading up to World War II. (This entry is Part 1 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]

 

Crisis in Yemen

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh was reportedly wounded today in a rocket attack on his compound in Sanaa. Yemeni government troops have been engaged in street fights with tribal groups loyal to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar for nearly two weeks now, after al-Ahmar sided with thousands of Yemeni protesters who have been peacefully demonstrating and calling for President Saleh's ouster for nearly four months now. Government forces have opened fire on protesters many times over those months, killing and wounding dozens. Adding further complications, Islamist militants, possibly tied to Al Qaeda, are now taking advantage of the chaos and instability, and have seized control of several towns in along Yemen's south coast. Collected here are images from the past several weeks of troubled Yemen, a country that may soon be mired in a civil war. [36 photos]

An anti-government protester flashes the victory sign through a gap in his national flag raised by other demonstrators during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday, March 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) 

Libyan conflict remains stalemated after nearly four months

The conflict in Libya is nearly four months along, but the situation on the ground appears mostly stalemated. NATO airstrikes have kept the outgunned rebels from being overrun, but the rebels have been unable to mount an effective offensive against Gadhafi's better equipped armed forces.
Gadhafi's regime has been slowly crumbling from within. A significant number of army officers and several Cabinet ministers have defected, and most have expressed support for the opposition, but Gadhafi's hold on power shows little sign of loosening. (36 images)

Rebel fighters fire their machine guns towards Moammar Gadhafi forces in the front line, 25 km west from Misrata, Libya, Monday, May 23, 2011. AP / Rodrigo Abd 

Three Months of Civil War in Libya

The civil war in Libya appears to have reached a stalemate after three months of conflict between Muammar Qaddafi's forces and rebels who seek to end his 40-year rule. Throughout that time, thousands of rebels, government forces, mercenaries, civilians, and journalists covering these events have paid with their lives. NATO forces have been involved for over two months now, carrying out hundreds of airstrikes and delivering aid and assistance to rebel forces. Just Tuesday, NATO unleashed its heaviest airstrikes yet, dropping bombs on several targets in Tripoli, including Qaddafi's compound. Rebel forces have firm control over the eastern part of Libya and recently gained control of the port city of Misrata, after street-by-street battles and a long siege by Qaddafi's military. Collected here are images from the past several weeks in war-torn Libya. [45 photos]