Survivors of Operation Gomorrah–which began on July 24, 1943 for eight days and seven nights in the city of Hamburg, Germany–recall how it has affected their lives and their families’ lives. Operation Gomorrah was when British and U.S. air forces carpet bombed the city in order to demoralize German civilians … Continue reading
This news report from July 20, 1979 covers the day that the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in Managua, Nicaragua. Reporter Ike Seamans describes the national guard under Somoza surrendering to the Sandinistas. Seamans describes chaos in the streets of Managua as the Sandinista rebels–composed primarily of the country’s poorest … Continue reading
Esmeralda, a Sandinista rebel during the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1978-1979, describes what the country was like during the time when the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was trying to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship. The overthrow of the Somoza regime was a bloody and violent affair, but Esmeralda justifies the revolution … Continue reading
Veterans recount the ferocious and bloody 1944 battle that saw the U.S. retake the island of Guam from the Japanese. Over twenty thousand died on the small western pacific island in a conflict that lasted twenty days and highlighted the ferocity of the war in the Pacific as American forces … Continue reading
Ed Sullivan interviews Fidel Castro on January 11, 1959 in Cuba shortly after the Batista regime is overthrown during the Cuban Revolution.
People fleeing from Libya to Egypt during 2011′s Libyan Civil War share their escape stories. One Libyan laborer says he saw “death with [his] own eyes” in Benghazi and feels lucky to have gotten out of the violent conflict area. The Egyptian-Libyan border is full of people moving work tools, … Continue reading
“Hemingway was here for a few days—but once you meet him you’re not likely to forget him…” During the Spanish Civil War, many foreign volunteers arrived in Spain in order to try to prevent the Spanish Republican government from falling to fascism. This is a letter from a female American … Continue reading
In this interview, a Bosnian woman named Leila explains her decision to keep the child she became pregnant with after being raped in captivity. During the Bosnian War, the Army of the Republika Srpska is believed to have raped over 50,000 Bosnian Muslim women. After the war, the International Criminal Tribunal for … Continue reading
Angelina Jolie explains the reason why she “felt a responsibility” to learn about the Bosnian War. Ultimately, Jolie’s personal interest in its harrowing legacy inspired “The Land of Milk and Honey,” her directional debut. The famous actress and humanitarian describes the making of the film and her experience while interviewing … Continue reading
Author: Victor Englebert “‘Say your payers for you’re going to die,’ and with that he dropped the stick, pulled a revolver from his belt, and came around the jeep to put it to my head…” In 1967, Ras (Prince) Mengesha, son-in-law of Ethiopia’s emperor Haile Selassie, wrote to National Geographic that … Continue reading
