So There Was a Secret Government Torture Facility on London’s Billionaires Row

Princess Diana lived next door in Kensington Palace, thousands flock to bustling Portobello market in search of past treasures just down the road, but this one has been left out of the guide books. The “London Cage”, a hidden WWII Guantanamo-esque compound on the most expensive street in London, Kensington Palace Gardens, was kept secret…

Walk through the Paris Flea Market in 1941

In 1941, Paris was under the heel of the Hitler’s army during the occupation of World War II. The photographer behind the lens is André Zucca, a French photojournalist and Nazi collaborator. It was the year he’d been contracted by the Germans to work as a correspondent for Signal, a propaganda magazine of the German Wehrmacht. His assignment: to support a…

Private Island Complete with an Abandoned “Nazi” Castle for Sale

You know what this island is made for? Childhood adventure stories. Deserted in the turquoise Caribbean sea with a creepy abandoned castle, mermaid caves and mysterious tales of World War II German submarines– it’s Tintin meets Jack Sparrow; a place to let your imagination run riot … for $39,000,000. Darby Island in the Bahamas, part of…

The Nazi Bunker Sitting Under a Paris Train Station

Unbeknownst to the thousands of passengers that pass through the station each day, right under their feet, between platforms 2 and 3 at the Gare de l’Est (East Train Station) lies an old concrete World War II bomb shelter. One of the busiest stations in the heart of Paris, the 19th century terminal is hiding a 120m²…

What History Didn’t Tell Us about the Nazi “Super Baby” Breeding Program

If there was one subject that could ever truly capture my attention at school, it was the monster story that was Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. I’ve admittedly always been a ‘bad reader’, but outside of class I devoured books on the war as a teenager and still to this day, there seems to be no end to its disturbing secrets…

When Paris Invited both the Nazis and Soviets to its 1937 World Expo

World War II wouldn’t break out for another two years, the Nazis wouldn’t invade Paris and hang Swastika flags all over town for another few. In 1937, the International Exposition dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life brought together 44 countries in the city of light, allies and enemies alike… In the vast online…

Up Close & Personal with Coco Chanel in her Apartment at the Ritz

The most controversial years in Coco Chanel’s life were spent living at the Hotel Ritz in Paris. While most of Paris was being booted out of their homes during the German occupation, Coco lived in luxury throughout most of World War II– thanks to a highly questionable relationship with her lover, a German Aristocrat and Nazi…

Coco Chanel was Definitely a Nazi

That’s quite a statement isn’t it? You may have heard rumblings about this back in August 2011 when author Hal Vaughan released his book Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War. But I don’t think we’ve really heard enough about it. I don’t really think we got a firm grip on the fact that today’s most…

That Time Donald Duck was a Nazi

Disney has its fair share of questionable cartoons in the archives and over the years, the company has been accused of everything from racism to sexism, the promotion of drug use and even pedophilia. And then there was that time that Donald Duck was a Nazi. In 1943, Walt Disney productions released the American animated…

The Anti-Nazi Teen Gang that Beat Up Hitler Youth and Danced to Jazz

A band of adolescent music-lovers, swing dancers and snappy dressers– not exactly the type you’d expect to take on the Nazi Hitler Youth. But in pre-WWII Germany, the Nazi regimentation of society inadvertantly gave rise to massive teenage street gangs who beat up the Hitler Youth, tagged anti-Nazi graffiti at train stations– and listened to…