News - TracesOfWar.com

Jun2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Invasion by Air - D-Day [Part 1]

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Apr2023

Benjamin B. Ferencz, Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor, Dies at 103

Benjamin B. Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials, who convicted Nazi war criminals of organizing the murder of a million people and German industrialists of using slave labor from concentration camps to build Hitler’s war machine, died on Friday at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Fla. He was 103.

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Mar2023

New book: Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg

January 30, 1945 Hitler's last propaganda film went into premiere. The title of this film directed by German director Veit Harlan is ‘Kolberg’. The subject is the 1807 siege of the German city of the same name on the Baltic coast by Napoleon's troops. The Prussian army, supported by a civilian militia, had then held out for months against the besiegers. The film story was intended to inspire and encourage Germans in early 1945 to keep up the fight. The Allies had repulsed the German Ardennes offensive and were preparing to cross the Rhine. The Red Army was about to reach the Oder River and only needed to cover about 40 miles as the crow flies before reaching the outskirts of Berlin. The final battle for Nazi Germany had begun. The film and the rise and fall of the German town of Kolberg is the subject of a new book by Kevin Prenger, ‘Hitler's Last Chance Kolberg’. Below an excerpt about the 'making-of' of the film.

Mar2023

South Korea announces plan to resolve wartime labor dispute with Japan

Funds for compensating wartime laborers would be raised by “voluntary” private sector donations to a South Korean foundation, with Japanese firms possibly among those that donate.

Feb2023

‘The unending journey’ is part of a constant fight against the far-right in all its forms

Iris Mavraki (1954) is a singer and political artist from Greece living in England. Her Jewish mother Frida Wenig-Berliner fled in 1938 from Austria to Rhodes where she met her future husband and father of Iris. He was a Greek, involved in the resistance against the Italian Fascists. Together they fled to Africa where Iris was born after the war. In 2021 she published a book about her family history, titled ‘The Unending Journey’. We asked her by e-mail some questions about this publication and the story of her family.

Feb2023

Opinion: Germany's quiet betrayal of victims of the Holocaust | CNN

Editor’s Note: Lev Golinkin writes on refugee and immigrant identity, as well as Ukraine, Russia and the far right. He is the author of the memoir “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Jan2023

The Nazis’ most expensive and least watched propaganda film

After previous books about for instance Christmas during World War Two and SS judge Konrad Morgen and his crusade against SS corruption and ‘illegal’ murder, a new book of WW2 researcher Kevin Prenger will be published, entitled ‘Hitler’s Last Chance’. Its subject is the last propaganda movie of the Nazis and the rise and fall of the German city Kolberg, which is also the title of the movie. It premiered on 30 January 1945. Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels was closely involved in the making of this movie which is still prohibited in Germany. Dutch website Historiek.net asked Kevin Prenger some questions about the subject of his book.

Jan2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Ep 230 - Monte Cassino, the Battle Begins - January 21, 1944

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Jan2023

Voices of veterans' stories must be passed on

TRANSLATED BY FERNANDO LYNCH – Frank van Lunteren has been working on the history of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division since 2001. This unit fought, among other things, during Operation Market Garden and the Ardennes Offensive. The historian born and raised in Arnhem has published five books on the regiment. May 1st, 2022, marked the 80th anniversary of the 504th PIR. Reasons enough to ask Frank van Lunteren a couple of questions about his research on this platoon unit.

Jan2023

Marine Corps Honors WWII Veteran During Birthday Celebration

Dec2022

"With trivializing remarks, we will not achieve a better understanding of the Dutch resistance"

TRANSLATED BY FERNANDO LYNCH – The British publisher Osprey Publishing published a book on resistance and collaboration in the Netherlands this spring. The authors are the Dutch friends Michel Wenting and Klaas Castelein. The title is The Dutch Resistance 1940-45, World War II Resistance and Collaboration in the Netherlands. The richly illustrated publication, with drawings by Mark Stacey, is the 245th volume in the publisher's Elite series. We asked the authors some questions about their book via e-mail.

Dec2022

Christmas and New Year’s greeting on behalf of our volunteers

It occurs on more and more locations in the Netherlands: lighting candles on wargraves on Christmas Eve. A tribute to all who fought and died for our freedom. The picture below was taken on the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Oosterbeek (also known as the Airborne Cemetery). Here, 1,680 war graves from the Commonwealth can be found, 245 of them unidentified. In addition there are 73 Polish and 3 Dutch wargraves. Are you also going to light a candle on a wargrave on Christmas Eve in memory of those who died for our freedom?

Dec2022

'We were losing people at a worse rate than Bomber Command': The forgotten heroes of WW2

The unarmed Photographic Reconnaissance Unit risked everything to spy on Germany. Time is pressing to erect a memorial to their sacrifice

Nov2022

World War 2 Youtube Series - 220 - Kiev Liberated! Celebrations in Moscow! - WW2 - November 12, 1943

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Oct2022

World War 2 Youtube Series - The Combat Dogs of World War Two - WW2 Special

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Oct2022

Photo Report Race to the Bridge

On the Saturday in the weekend in which the Battle of Arnhem is commemorated, the Race to the Bridge will take place in the afternoon. With original vehicles, a long procession departs from the landing areas at Renkum to the Frost Bridge in Arnhem. The end point is at the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek.

Sep2022

Photo report commemoration at the Engineers Monument and Silent Tour White Ribbon Mile

When on 20 September the British 1st Airborne Division had to give up the positions at the Rhine bridge in Arnhem, they withdrew to the 'Perimeter' in Oosterbeek. This was a bridgehead of several square kilometers on the north bank of the Rhine. The idea behind this was that reinforcements could be transferred across the Rhine. After a few days it turned out that the perimeter could no longer be defended. On September 25, 1944, General Urquhart was ordered to withdraw the troops across the Rhine. The operation was codenamed: Berlin.

Sep2022

Photo report Commemoration Airborne memorial de Naald in Oosterbeek

On Friday 16 September the commemoration was held at the Airborne Memorial de Naald in Oosterbeek. By default, this ceremony is on September 17, but because that date fell on a weekend this year, this year it was moved to Friday.

Sep2022

World War 2 Youtube Series - Did D-Day win WW2? - a WW2 expert discussion

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Sep2022

Photo Report Airborne Hospital

In the weekend of the commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem, 'War Department' had again set up an field hospital in the concert hall in Oosterbeek. This living history group lets you experience what the stress in his field hospital must have been like.

Sep2022

Photo report commemoration Battle of Arnhem in Lombok

Every year on Friday afternoon in the weekend of the commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem, a commemoration is held at the September 1944 memorial in West-Arnhem (Lombok). This memorial was unveiled at the time by General Urquhart and it is located in the part of Arnhem where on the second day of the Battle of Arnhem the reinforcements for the 2nd battalion of Lt. Col Frost at the bridge, were blocked by the German defences.

Sep2022

Photo report unveiling new Airborne memorials

During the commemoration period of the Battle of Arnhem in September 2022, three new memorials were unveiled. With this image report we want to look at this in more detail:

Sep2022

Photo report interment of ashes Arnhem veteran John Jeffries

On Friday, September 16, 2022, the ashes of Arnhem veteran John Jeffries, who died in 2020, were interred at the Airborne cemetery in Oosterbeek. During the Battle of Arnhem John was assigned to the 156th Parachute Battalion as a liaison. He was injured during his jump on the Ginkelse Heide on September 18, 1944.