On 8 May 1995, the British prime minister, John Major, referred to the end of World War II as the end of a thirty years’ war; in this, he was correct: both sides saw this war as an attempt to complete a task left undone at the close of the First World War – the show-down which ended European global domination. The Second World War was, however, the ultimate catastrophe of modern history, laying waste the heart and soul of Europe. Here you will find contributions about this conflict, its prelude, conduct, and personalities – excluding non-military Nazi personalities, which are covered under the entry “Third Reich Era.” Also covered are contributions dealing with war crimes (and lies about alleged war crimes) committed in the course of the conflict. This does not include the “Holocaust,” which has a separate entry (and is not a war crime in the strict sense).
By Lothrop Stoddard ∙ January 1, 1940
During his lifetime Lothrop Stoddard (1883-1950) was one of America’s most influential writers. He earned a doctorate from Harvard, and was the author of 15 books, including the much-discussed 1920 work, The Rising Tide of Color. He wrote numerous articles and essays, and was an editorial writer and foreign affairs expert for The Washington Star….
By Mark Weber ∙ March 1, 2000
During the Second World War, Britain's main “dirty tricks” propaganda agency was the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), a unit of the British Foreign Office. This psychological warfare agency invented and distributed “black” propaganda disinformation to boost morale among anti-German British and Americans, and to promote anti-German sentiment in neutral countries. Its work also included manufacturing…
By Mark Weber ∙ March 1, 2000
A highly publicized German exhibition of atrocities allegedly carried out by regular German army forces during the Second World War has been closed down in the wake of revelations that many of the harrowing photographs it displayed are deceitful. The organizers of “War of Annihilation: Crimes of the German Armed Forces, 1941–1944,” announced the shutdown…
By Samuel Crowell ∙ December 15, 1999
As Holocaust historians concede, hard evidence for mass killings in Second World War gas chambers has proven to be elusive. After an extensive search, especially of wartime German wartime records held in Polish archives, French author Jean-Claude Pressac acknowledged in his detailed 1989 study, Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers, that he was…
By Klaus Sojka ∙ October 20, 1999
A common deception technique is to falsely caption or otherwise misrepresent an authentic photograph. Shown here is the front cover of a 1943 issue of the British magazine Parade, which was a tool of wartime Allied anti-German propaganda. It purports to show a disheveled and malevolent-looking German soldier, above the caption "Master Race." Derek Knight, an…
By Daniel W. Michaels ∙ October 20, 1999
wwii/prelude/USSRThe Journal of Historical Review, vol. 18, no. 3 (May/June), pp. 40-45New Evidence on the 1941 ‘Barbarossa’ Attack: Why Hitler Attacked Soviet Russia When He DidDaniel W. Michaels Stalins Falle: Er wollte den Krieg (“Stalin’s Trap: He Wanted War”), by Adolf von Thadden. Rosenheim: Kultur und Zeitgeschichte/Archiv der Zeit, 1996. (Available from: Postfach 1180, 32352…
By Mark Weber ∙ October 20, 1999
A youthful John F. Kennedy In late July and early August 1945, just weeks after the end of the war in Europe, the 28-year-old John F. Kennedy visited war-devastated Germany. Accompanying him on this tour was US Navy Secretary James Forrestal (whom President Truman later appointed as the first Secretary of Defense). Kennedy recorded his…
By Joseph Sobran ∙ August 1, 1998
Joseph Sobran is a nationally-syndicated columnist, lecturer, author, and editor of the monthly newsletter Sobran's (P.O. Box 1383, Vienna, VA 22183). This essay is reprinted from the August 1998 issue of Sobran's. Steven Spielberg's “Saving Private Ryan” is the most powerful movie I've seen in years. The opening sequence, already famous, shows the D-Day invasion…
By Mark Weber ∙ October 20, 1999
In a new book that proves he would rather be right than President, Patrick J. Buchanan has provoked the most heated public discussion about World War II history in many years. In A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny (Regnery), the well-known journalist, commentator and presidential candidate eloquently pleads for a US foreign policy…
By Mark Weber ∙ May 15, 1999
Of humanity’s many noteworthy achievements and inventions, few are as evil and as horrifying as biological warfare: deliberate, government-ordered mass killing of people with lethal diseases. During the Second World War, the Japanese army maintained a secret biological warfare testing program, as did the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1969 President Nixon…
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