Second World War

In the late 19th century a new trend captured the Czech people –gymnastics. But sokol was more than just exercise: a healthy body was a healthy nation and the Czechs wanted independence.

Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was an unexpected bestseller, whose success rose and fell with its author.

As new crimes are committed, new laws must be written to punish them. When it comes to crimes committed by states like Putin’s Russia, who decides?

As Jewish lapidaries were held in Nazi concentration camps, diamond sales soared in the US. Both sides saw gemstones as integral to the war effort. 

After winning the biggest shooting prize in the Empire, Marjorie Foster joined the new pantheon of women making sporting headlines. On the eve of the Second World War, she had a new target in her sights: the War Office.

A part-memoir, part-historical exploration of British Second World War masculinity and sexuality.

For the German military command, the citizens of East Prussia were not a concern; they were a weapon. 

The story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is typically one of defiance against the odds during the Holocaust. But what of those unable to fight?

The death of Joseph Stalin’s son Yakov Dzhugashvili in a German concentration camp 80 years ago was kept a secret for decades.