Get Schooled by the World’s First Sexology Institute of 1920s Berlin

They called him “the Einstein of Sex”. The German doctor who went (quite literally) where no other had gone before in his research, founding the massive Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or Sexology, just before the Nazis eclipsed bohemian Berlin and its costumed, sexually liberated splendour. His name was Magnus Hirschfeld (see the dude with the glasses…

The Reformed Nazi Cult trying to Open its Colony to Tourism

I was sent down a deep and dark rabbit hole today when I came across a new movie trailer for Colonia. The film is based on true events which took place in 1970s Chile at the Colonia Dignidad, a dangerous cult that was revealed to have Nazi ties and to have used torture among other atrocities within its inescapable walls.…

That Time the Paris Mosque Helped Jews Escape the Nazis by Giving Them Muslim IDs

Here’s one they left out of the history textbooks. A recent French film, Free Men, brought to light the remarkable true history of how Muslims gave sanctuary to French Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris during Second World War. An untold “Oscar Schindler” story, the film is inspired by actual events and in this case, our ‘Schindler’ is Si…

Nazi Summer Camp, Long Island, USA

Camp Siegfried was forcibly shut down by the US government when Germany declared war on the United States. It had been protected by the 1st Amendment until that time, when it became illegal for US citizens to swear allegiance to Germany. Founded in 1935, it was operated by the German American Bund, an American Nazi…

We’ll Call her Story a Real-Life “Handmaid’s Tale”

She escaped the Gestapo twice – a glamorous socialite, fashion columnist, pianist and mother of two before the war, she went on to become the only woman to head an underground resistance network against the Nazi Occupation in France. She recruited 3,000 members, 24% of which were women, making it the resistant organisation with the…

The Vault

How to Mess with the Nazis: The CIA’s Sabotage Manual for Ordinary Citizens

Trolling the Nazis. Sounds like fun right? During World War II, the OSS, (now the CIA) put out a “Sabotage Field Manual”, which described innovative ways in which ordinary citizens could sabotage America’s enemies by doing a range of disruptive things from starting arguments to starting fires. The OSS Director William J. Donovan recommended that the…

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Camouflaged Anti-Nazi Pamphlets found inside a Dusty Box at the Library

The label attached to the box said “Do not open until war is over”. It was the early 1980s and John Rathe, the librarian in the NYPL’s Rare Book room, had no idea what he was about to uncover when he opened the dusty box he had found in a remote corner of the library. Inside he found…

From Elizabeth Taylor to Adolph Hitler, Presenting History’s Greatest Decoys

First things first, we’re about to spill the contents of a very mixed bag of history’s greatest eccentrics. It’s one filled with impersonators, decoys, and body doubles throughout the 20th century who’ve got one thing in common: they’re really, really good at getting under someone else’s skin. From Andy Warhol to Adolf Hitler, some of…

The Zoo that Hid Jews from the German Army

It’s at times of great inhumanity that you can find the greatest examples of humanity, if you look closely enough. During WW2, the Warsaw Zoo provided shelter to over 200 Jews who sought refuge from the horrors of the Holocaust. Several families were hosted in the residential villa of the zoo’s owners, and temporary hiding-places were created…