Second World War

Winston Churchill and the Wartime Coalition 1940-45

In examining British politics from 1940 to 1945, Kevin Jefferys explains why the man who was widely perceived as winning the war lost the 1945 election.

Wagner's Influence on Hitler and Hitler's on Wagner

Jayne Rosefield looks at the interaction between the composer and the dictator. Winner of the 1998 Julia Wood Prize.

Saints and Nazi Skeletons

A Jewish-born Carmelite nun murdered at Auschwitz and due to be canonised by the Pope in October, is claimed to have been betrayed to the Nazis by a high-ranking Benedictine monk.

The Führer’s Decision

Peter Monteach comments on German historian Christian Gerlach's study of Adolf Hitler's announcement of his "decision in principle" to murder all of Europe's Jews on Dec 12, 1941.

The Nazi Economy - Was it Geared to War?

Controversy has raged about Hitler's military and economic preparations for war. Did he intend a world war or a series of short conflicts? Richard Overy argues that Hitler drew the lesson from 1914-18 not that a major war should be avoided but that Germany should prepare more systematically so that, this time, she would win.

Munich Agreement is Signed

The short-lived settlement was signed on September 30th, 1938.

Financing the SS

Milton Goldin explores Himmler’s ambitions to establish the SS as a ‘state within a state’, and highlights schemes the Nazis devised to finance the organisation through industrial enterprise and plundered Jewish assets.