Modern Day Europe

Modern day Europe – this period of European history spans the period from 1900 to yesterday.

• The Hamburg Bombing of 1943: Lessons Still Relevant

  The memoirs of an immigrant to the United States tell a poignant tale of the 1943 bombing of Hamburg, and the experiences of a young girl in WWII Germany.

• Hungarian Jews and the Wallenberg Legacy

  Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat in Budapest, saved the lives of 100,000 Hungarian Jews scheduled for transportation to Nazi extermination camps. Wallenberg disappeared after meeting with Soviet military leaders and probably died in a Soviet prison.

• The Imposter General: Bernard Montgomery’s D-Day Body Double

  It was the role of a life time. Portray one of history’s most famous generals – Field Marshal Bernard “Monty” Montgomery – on a stage that spanned two continents. The casting, however, had one small drawback. A bad review could cost thousands of lives. A good one could cost your own.

• Great Deceivers of WWII: How Allied Ghost Armies Fooled the Germans

  In WWII, the Allies used an elaborate system of spies, double agents, and information leaks to keep the Abwehr, the German spy organization, from anticipating the invasion of Normandy. One of their key strategies was the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG), the largest army that never existed.

• Art as Collateral: Detroit Institute of Arts Follows Plundering Past

  Creditors are circling in Detroit – will the city consider selling the DIA collection as collateral, following in the worldwide history of plundered art?