By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
In his sweeping, intelligent and enormously ambitious book, British historian Brendan Simms argues that whoever controls Central Europe can dominate the world.
Surrenders, like modern wars, are not what they used to be. Tuesday marks the 68th anniversary of the surrender of the German armies that ended the European half of World War II. The last explosions of the war were the popping of champagne corks at 3 o'clock in the morning in the city of Reims in northern France.
Holocaust survivors and veterans gathered in the District to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with what was expected to be one of the last gatherings of such a large group of survivors.
Steen Metz puts on a brave face when he recalls his imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp. Edith Hendel must wipe away her tears.
In a remarkably short time, Germany recovered smartly from the wreckage of its defeat in World War II to become the economic strongman of Europe. Monuments to the nation's plunge into Nazism remain at Dachau and other death camps as grim reminders of the dangers of an all-powerful state with a messianic leader.
They were more than angry, those days when Adolf Hitler devastated Europe while America fretted about non-intervention.
For some gun shop owners, President Obama's push to tighten Second Amendment rights isn't all bad. One New Hampshire gun store has a picture of the president, along with photos of two AK-47s, next to this banner in its front window: "Firearms Salesman of the Year," CBS reports.
Adolf Hitler is running for election in India. So is Frankenstein.
Online retailer Amazon reacted to mounting criticism Monday by firing a security company named in a German television documentary about alleged mistreatment of foreign temporary workers.
France has said it will hand back seven old master paintings that hang in state galleries taken from two Jewish families during World War II.
BERLIN
Last week, singer Tony Bennett told Congress the violence in the United States was like that in Germany prior to World War II, when "the Nazis came over, created tragic things and they had to be told off" ("Tony Bennett: Without gun control, U.S. may become 1940s Germany," Web, Wednesday). Mr. Bennett's singing talent notwithstanding, his understanding of history is ridiculous.
According to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it's official: Iran has become a nuclear power. The respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Persian strongman this week at an Islamic conference in Cairo told an Egyptian daily Iran is a "nuclear country."
Egypt's Islamist president turned aside repeated criticism of his past comments referring to Jews as "the descendants of apes and pigs" as he visited Germany on Wednesday, insisting that the remarks were taken out of context and were aimed at criticizing Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
Time magazine has named President Obama as its Person of the Year for 2012. This has been, of course, controversial, and for the usual reasons: Much like with the president's Nobel Peace Prize, one has to wonder what he actually did to deserve it.
On May 1, 1937, he said: "This new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."
In a Nov. 6, 1933 speech, Adolf Hitler warned parents: "I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already.
