Neighbours in the tranquil Oxfordshire village of Great Rollright knew housewife Mrs Burton for the scrumptious taste of her scones in the summer of 1945. But they had no idea she was actually top Soviet spy Ursula Kuczynski, who came close to blowing up Adolf Hitler before Joseph Stalin got cold feet. Kuczynski, code-named Sonya, nearly averted the … Read more
The husband of the conductor in the Proms row is a guitarist for a heavy metal band that tried to release a song about Adolf Hitler. Dalia Stasevska’s husband, 42-year-old Lauri Porra, plays bass for Stratovarius, who have had three number one albums in their native Finland. The offending 2005 track, which the band had … Read more
A family heirloom that survived the Holocaust and escaped the rise of communism has been lost in the post while travelling through customs. The gold pendant was crafted by Vilém Werner, a Jewish Czech, for his niece, Eva Porges and featured her name. The heirloom, believed to have been crafted between 1927 and 1941, was … Read more
A spot-check almost caught out Adolfo Kaminsky. The teenager was clutching an attache case on the Metro in Nazi-occupied Paris when a patrol of the Milice, the vicious French militia who col laborated with the Germans, came sweeping through the train, checking papers, rummaging through bags and making arrests. They were on the hunt for … Read more
A woman has accused Facebook of trying to ‘delete history’ after the social media giant removed colourised images that showed Hitler and prominent Nazi figures from her profile and suspended her account for three days. Russian photo colourist Olga Shirnina from Moscow, Russia, is considered a world expert in transforming historic black and white pictures … Read more
A former Miss Hitler beauty pageant contestant who called herself ‘The Buchenwald Princess’ has been jailed for three years for being a member of the banned far-right terror group National Action. Alice Cutter, 23, was convicted of membership of a terrorist group alongside her ex-fiance Mark Jones and neo-Nazi ‘diehards’ Garry Jack and Connor Scothern following … Read more
Eighty years ago this past week, the British and French armies were in the midst of the most calamitous defeat in their combined history. Churchill and Lord Halifax are pictured above Eighty years ago this past week, the British and French armies were in the midst of the most calamitous defeat in their combined history. … Read more
HISTORY LONDON 1945 by Maureen Waller (John Murray £12.99, 560pp) Twenty-four hours of manic rejoicing flanked at both ends by years of queuing and hardship: that’s the overwhelming impression given by Maureen Waller’s superbly well-researched and detailed portrait of London in 1945, reissued in paperback to commemorate today’s anniversary of VE Day. It really happened: … Read more
It was Britain’s biggest street party: when the Nazis surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, people laid out trestle tables, danced in the streets, paddled in fountains and took part in tug of war races. Now, as the 75th anniversary approaches during lockdown Britain, Channel 4 producers have discovered rare footage of people … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN’S LEGACY by Nicholas Milton (Pen & Sword £25, 279pp) The wheel had turned, and, in a matter of a few weeks, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had gone from the hero promising ‘peace in our time’ to the villain whose attempted appeasement of the rapacious Adolf Hitler had failed. He … Read more