The last great Nazi trialIn November, former Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk will appear before a Munich court, charged with 27,900 counts of accessory to murder. With time running out to prosecute other ex-Nazis, the case marks the end of an era in world history.
World war ii
The pointlessness of trekking Kokoda
A fourth Australian died of a heart attack this week while trekking the Kokoda Track this week. The way to prevent more deaths on Kokoda is forehead-smackingly simple, says Mel Campbell: don’t do the frickin’ trek.
How Monopoly helped WWII POWs escape
The ultimate “Get out of jail free” card: the incredible true story of how Monopoly sets containing hidden maps, compasses and tools were delivered to captured British soldiers during WWII to help them escape.
Brits call for government apology to Alan Turing
Alan Turing, a master code-breaker in WWII and the father of modern computer science, was also prosecuted for being gay, and was subsequently chemically castrated. Thousands of Brits are now petitioning the British government to offer him a posthumous apology.
The war time diary of a B-17 navigator
This mission-by-mission account of flying and surviving as the navigator on a B-17 in WWII makes for compelling reading, says Ben Sandilands.
Guy Rundle: Inglourious basterd Scheungraber captured. Hooray?
Germany has captured another Nazi war criminal: Josef Scheungraber, 90, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. It’s undoubtedly right and proper to bring justice to these war crimes, says Guy Rundle — but only if justice is actually possible.
The real Inglourious Basterd
Quentin Tarantino’s new film Inglourious Basterds tells the tale of an American death squad made up of Jewish soldiers — but the real story is even better. Kim Masters recounts the wartime tales of her father, a Jewish commando in the British Army during World War II.
Lessons in History: What we can learn from WW2 health reform
Until the 1940s, healthcare was more privilege than right. Were you be able to pull a few groats together, you might be able to get a doctor to bleed your ills away.
Voters going postal – or a benefit of incumbency?
The full results from the November 24 federal election are in - and they show something interesting. The Coalition ended up with 47.44% of the two party preferred voted. Despite the impression on the night of a strong Labor win, Kevin Rudd was only elected with a margin just over 1.5%, writes Christian Kerr.
Debunking Windschuttle’s benign interpretation of history
Crikey / Tuesday, 12 February 2008
The Weekend Australian of 9-10 February brought news that the intrepid history warrior, Keith Windschuttle, bane of leftist historians, now has “the facts” about the stolen generations. It is another instance of Windschuttle taking information and skewing it to fit his particular political and cultural agenda writes Naomi Parry.