Learn about WWII History

Explore the critical events related to the war and the personal stories of those who lived through that challenging time.

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Madeleine Riffaud
Madeleine Riffaud

​​Madeleine Riffaud was a member of the French Resistance who carried out daring missions against Nazi forces, enduring ...

#Biography

Witold Pilecki
Witold Pilecki

Witold Pilecki was a Polish Army officer who joined the conspiracy against the German and Soviet occupying forces in 193...

#Biography

Jürgen Stroop
Jürgen Stroop

Jürgen Stroop was an SS general (German: Gruppenführer). He took part in the occupation of the so-called Sudetenland in ...

#Biography

Cywia Lubetkin
Cywia Lubetkin

Cywia Lubetkin, nicknamed Celina, was a Polish Jew who became a symbol of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Before the war, sh...

#Biography

Zenon Malik
Zenon Malik

​​Zenon Malik was a Polish soldier and officer. During the occupation of Poland he joined the Home Army in Kraków and ga...

#Biography

Willi Graf
Willi Graf

Willi Graf was an devout Catholic and an active supporter of the White Rose. He was forced to serve as a medical orderly...

#Biography

Validio Mantovani
Validio Mantovani

Validio Mantovani was a factory worker and a member of the Milanese Gruppi di Azione Patriottica (Patriotic Action Group...

#Biography

​​Tadeusz Bieńkowicz
​​Tadeusz Bieńkowicz

​​Tadeusz Bieńkowicz was a member of the resistance and took part in one of the largest actions to free prisoners in occ...

#Biography

​​Stanisław Kolasiński​
​​Stanisław Kolasiński​

​​Stanisław Kolasiński was a soldier of the Polish Army. After the Polish defeat in 1939 he went to France to join the P...

#Biography

Sergio Kasman
Sergio Kasman

Sergio Kasman played a crucial part in the resistance, contributing to the liberation of political prisoners. His involv...

#Biography

Piet Meerburg
Piet Meerburg

Piet Meerbug was a member of the resistance in Amsterdam. He was the leader of a resistance group that helped to save hu...

#Biography

Kurt Huber
Kurt Huber

Kurt Huber was one of the few German professors who opposed the Nazi Regime. In December 1942, Huber joined the White Ro...

#Biography

Johan Snoek
Johan Snoek

Johan Snoek helped people in hiding. When he and his family were driven from their home by the Battle of Arnhem in Septe...

#Biography

Henryk Kosior
Henryk Kosior

​​Henryk Kosior fought in Polish Army in September 1939. During the Soviet occupation, he joined the resistance. He was ...

#Biography

Hans Scholl
Hans Scholl

​​Hans Scholl was the central figure of the White Rose, an anti-Nazi resistance group in Munich. Scholl, together with f...

#Biography

Hans Leipelt
Hans Leipelt

Hans Leipelt was a student at Munich University. He received a copy of the sixth leaflet of the White Rose on the day th...

#Biography

Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri

Ferruccio Parri was a key figure of the Italian resistance movement. As the Deputy commander of the Volunteers of Freedo...

#Biography

The Portsmouth Blitz
The Portsmouth Blitz

​​The Blitz in Portsmouth killed or injured over 3,000 people and included 67 major bombing raids. It is estimated that ...

#Story

Portsmouth during the Second World War
Portsmouth during the Second World War

​​​During the Second World War, Portsmouth, a small south coast city in England, played a crucial role in Allied operati...

#Story

Ernst Sillem
Ernst Sillem

When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, Ernst Sillem was 16 years old. From the start, he tried to thw...

#Biography

​​Danuta Siedzikówna
​​Danuta Siedzikówna

​​Danuta Siedzikówna joined the Home Army when she was 15 years old and served as nurse. After the war, when the communi...

#Biography

Christoph Probst
Christoph Probst

Christoph Probst came from an unconventional family and was the only one of the White Rose students who had children. He...

#Biography

Carlo Travaglini
Carlo Travaglini

Carlo Travaglini was German on his mother’s side, and was an independent partisan who managed to save numerous Italian s...

#Biography

Boy Ecury
Boy Ecury

Boy Ecury from Aruba – a Caribbean island colonized by the Dutch – was studying in the Netherlands when the country was ...

#Biography