検索キーワード： 近代

At the turn of the 20th century, in the village of Nagyrév, Hungary, midwife Zsuzsanna Fazekas was more than a caretaker—she was a confidante. She helped poor women give birth; she assisted them with abortions; and she listened. Their stories were the same: husbands who drank, who beat them, who made their lives unbearable. In response, Auntie Zsuzsi asked one question: "Why bother with them?" Her solution was arsenic.

No country in history has been more deeply penetrated by spies than divided Germany after the Second World War. Fighting for the eastern corner were the 'first class comrades' of the Stasi—the East German Ministry for State Security. Rising from the ruins of a defeated country, and guided by its KGB masters, the early Cold War saw the Stasi establish itself as one of the world's most notorious spy and secret police agencies.

From the moment they met in 1940 in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Milena Jesenska and Margarete Buber-Neumann were inseparable. Czech Milena was Kafka's first translator and epistolary lover, and a journalist opposed to fascism. A non-conformist, bi-sexual feminist, she was way ahead of her time. With the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, her home became a central meeting place for Jewish refugees. German Margarete, born to a middle-class family, married the son of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber.

Prizewinning historian Michael David-Fox traces the experiences of Smolensk residents between the interwar years and the end of World War II, a period during which the city and region passed from Stalinist rule to Nazi occupation and back. The result is a revelatory examination of choice and power under dueling forms of murderous totalitarianism. Exploring the life-and-death decisions of a fascinating cast of characters, David-Fox shows how deeply the Stalinist and Nazi regimes relied on the co-optation of average citizens motivated by greed and need, but always within the orbit of ideology.

Step into the opulent yet treacherous world of Gilded Age New York, where wealth, power, and passion collided with deadly consequences. Architect of Desire reveals the shocking true story of Stanford White, whose fascination with the enchanting Evelyn Nesbit led to his tragic end at the hands of her husband, Harry K. Thaw. This immersive true crime audiobook offers a meticulously researched narrative that brings to life one of America's most notorious scandals. Experience the drama, intrigue, and historical depth through rich storytelling and vivid audio performance.

Russia's World Order describes the civilizational theory that has come to dominate Russian official discourse, and that has come to dominate Russian official discourse and that is being used to justify its clashes with the West. Whereas the West promotes a vision of history that drives all nations toward convergence on a single model, Russia's political leaders increasingly portray the world as consisting of numerous distinct civilizations, each diverging toward its own destination.

The last battle of World War II was not for military victory but for the technology of the Third Reich. In American Raiders, Wolfgang Samuel assembles from official Air Force records and survivors' interviews the largely untold stories of the disarmament of the Luftwaffe and of Operation Lusty—the hunt for Nazi technologies.

Tony Cornell spent his life probing the very edges of reality. A member of the UK’s Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Cornell’s role as an investigator of so-called “spontaneous cases” saw him returning time and again to the unsettling spaces that exist just on the periphery of our ordered, tidy, and rational lives, and which we all do our best to ignore: Ghosts. Spirits. Premonitions. Psychic powers. Glimpses of other worlds that throw into question everything we take for granted about life, death, and material existence itself.

Now, the fruits of Chas Henry's exhaustive four-year, two-continent investigation provide insight into what many have called the United States Marine Corps' worst-ever peacetime disaster. Fuji Fire shares the compelling and intimate stories of heartbreak and inspiration forged by these events while bringing to light new, critical analyses of the incident's causes and effects.

Based on actual events spanning forty years, this story is about the relentless struggle of a family’s search for freedom, the Great Seven Fidel Castro’s inner circle, and an epic adventure driven by a passionate love relationship set in pre- and post-Revolutionary Cuba. The love story is the main impetus of this chronicle. Pepe, the only survivor of the inner circle to escape several assassination attempts, is forced to leave his family and his fiancée (Alicia) in Cuba. Alicia, who is carrying his unborn child, conceals her pregnancy to ensure Pepe’s immediate departure to safety.

Das Ende des nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Reichs scheint klar verortet: Am 7. bzw. 9. Mai wird die bedingungslose Kapitulation der deutschen Wehrmacht unterzeichnet. Damit war zwar der Krieg zu Ende, noch nicht aber waren Wehrmacht und "Drittes Reich" endgültig untergegangen. Nicht jeder bekam sogleich mit oder wollte mitbekommen, dass alles zu Ende war. Manche kämpften weiter, Hinrichtungen von "Deserteuren" gab es noch massenhaft. Manche versuchten sich abzusetzen, begingen Selbstmord oder gerierten sich als Unbeteiligte wie Albert Speer.

In Drunk on Genocide, Edward B. Westermann reveals how, over the course of the Third Reich, scenes involving alcohol consumption and revelry among the SS and police became a routine part of rituals of humiliation in the camps, ghettos, and killing fields of Eastern Europe. Westermann draws on a vast range of newly unearthed material to explore how alcohol consumption served as a literal and metaphorical lubricant for mass murder. It facilitated "performative masculinity," expressly linked to physical or sexual violence.

Nicht weniger als ein ganzes Leben erzählt Annett Gröschner mit der Geschichte der Blumenbinderin und Kranfahrerin Hanna Krause – mit einer Wucht und Poesie, wie sie nur dort entstehen können, wo die Literatur wirklichkeitssatt ist. Hanna Krause war Blumenbinderin, bevor das Leben sie zur Kranführerin machte. Sie hat zwei Revolutionen, zwei Diktaturen, einen Aufstand, zwei Weltkriege und zwei Niederlagen, zwei Demokratien, den Kaiser und andere Führer, gute und schlechte Zeiten erlebt, hat sechs Kinder geboren und zwei davon nicht begraben können, was ihr naheging bis zum Lebensende.

When most of us think of nuns, we picture hands clasped in prayer, solemn shuffles down cloistered halls, and that iconic habit silhouette. But what about the nuns who ate spiderwebs, erupted into jealous fights over makeup, or chain-produced manuscripts for extra cash? In reality, these women were no one-dimensional martyrs. 16th- and 17th-century nuns were resourceful, rebellious, and refreshingly relatable—and their lives hold surprising lessons for us today.

In The Nuclear Age, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy paints an intricate picture of a world governed by fear. From the first artificial splitting of the atom in 1917 and the race to create the first atomic bomb in World War II, through the fraught arms race of the Cold War, to the imperialism, neo-colonial motivation and wars being waged today, the threat posed by nuclear weapons is as pertinent as ever.

¿Qué fue de los líderes nazis que acompañaron a Hitler? Rommel, Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Hess… Los líderes nazis que prefirieron seguir el final de Hitler. El suicidio como "solución final" para la élite nazidelTercer Reich es un fenómeno poco estudiado que Philippe Valode analiza en este libro a partir de seis casos ejemplares: los de Rommel, Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Hess y Göring.

Inside Tesla – Eine investigative Recherche über Macht, Gier und Skrupellosigkeit. Elon Musk ist der mächtigste Mann der Welt. Tesla machte ihn zum dreihundertfachen Milliardär, mit seinem Satellitennetzwerk Starlink beeinflusst er das Kriegsgeschehen in der Ukraine. Sein Social-Media-Netzwerk X nutzt Musk als Bühne für seine persönliche Propaganda. Im Herbst 2024 kaufte er sich auch noch in die US-Regierung ein.

'Think of the Bible and Homer, think of Shakespeare and think of me,' wrote Gertrude Stein in 1936. Admirers called her a genius, sceptics a charlatan: she remains one of the most confounding—and contested—writers of the twentieth century. In this literary detective story, Francesca Wade delves into the creation of the Stein myth.

In three decades under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch conducted investigations in 100 countries to uncover abuses – and pressured offending governments to stop them. Roth has grappled with the worst of humanity, taken on the most ruthless oppressors of our time, and persuaded leaders from around the globe to stand up to their repressive counterparts. This is a story of wins, losses, and ongoing battles in the ceaseless fight for a more decent world.

Kan iedereen uitgroeien tot oorlogsmisdadiger, als de omstandigheden daarom vragen? 'Hoeveel ik van Fokko'tje houd, kan ik niet schrijven en niet met woorden zeggen, Erika. Maar als ik bij jullie ben, dan zul je dat wel merken: dat geldt ook voor jou, Vrouwke.' Uit een brief van Willem aan Erika. Willem van der Neut mishandelde als bewaker in Kamp Amersfoort vele gevangenen en maakte deel uit van het executiepeloton. Wat was hij voor een man? Was hij een 'beestmens', zoals de naoorlogse kranten hem noemden? Een psychopaat, die in het kamp driften botvierde die hij eerder onderdrukte?