Nazi Germany launched the Spring Offensive against France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in May 1940. Within six weeks it had achieved complete military dominance. The French government agreed to sign the Second Armistice agreement, whereby France was divided into two parts: the North was occupied by the Germans, while Vichy France was nominally independent. During this… Read More "Guests of the Gestapo"
The Nazis Take Paris
After German troops invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. Despite this, there were no major battles between the three countries for several months, the so-called “Sitzkrieg” or “phony war.” That changed drastically with the German invasion of France in May 1940. In six short weeks, the Germans defeated the… Read More "The Nazis Take Paris"
An Encounter with Hitler
So it’s 1935, you’re blonde and Jewish and have a bit of Wanderlust. And where do you go? Why, Nazi Germany, of course! Herbert Fierst traveled around Europe the year after his graduation from Yale University and wonders what if things had turned out differently. Read More "An Encounter with Hitler"
CSI: Sao Paulo — The Search for the Angel of Death
Stephen F. Dachi had one of the more unusual — and as it turned out, fateful — backgrounds of anyone in the Foreign Service. Born in Hungary in 1933, he was three years old when his parents died, leaving him in the care of his grandparents in Romania. After emigrating to the U.S., he became a… Read More "CSI: Sao Paulo — The Search for the Angel of Death"