With the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, a secret and extraordinary pact came into effect. Two opposing ideologies, National Socialism and Communism, joined forces to wipe the hated Poland off the map. Even plans for a sub-Poland were eventually dismissed. This co-operation had earlier historical roots, but was also born out of practical necessity. Besides the origins of cooperation, we will reflect on the practical implementation of this pact. Europe’s two largest armies fo...

Suffering due to the consequences of the border revision of mid-europe, romania, led by marshal antonescu, opted for a pact with nazi germany. it was a deal with the devil. the romanian jews were sacrificed and the romanian army fell at stalingrad. the author sheds a light on the consequences of these fatal events through extensive archive work.

illustrated with special historical images

‘A Dutch historian explains the motivation behind the bloodbath at Odessa’

– Marius Ghilezan in Rom...

The Waffen-SS, as fourth ‘army branch’ of the German army, is still surrounded with a certain mystical fog. Some divisions, mostly from the first levies, have general fame, like Hitler’s body guard division, the ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’, or the ‘Das Reich’ division. However, the fact that Waffen-SS grew into a significant force - 38 divisions - during the war, is largely unknown. Yet, due to the expansion, the elite status of the Waff-en-SS lessened. Leveled by its large nu...

Besides the persecution and annihilation of the Jewish community, the quest for Lebensraum was a pillar of the Nazi’s ideology. The march east, operation ‘Barbarossa’ (1941), was essentially the final part of the geopolitics of the Third Reich. Historian Pierik takes readers into the world of ideas behind these politics, where cold blooded, rational elements go hand in hand with myths and radical beliefs.

An example of solid and, more importantly, understandable historiography

-Jan Je...

There are several biographies about Erich Ludendorff. What most of them have in common is that they stop at the year 1918, the end of the First World War. This is un-justified. At the peak of his long career, between 1915 and roughly 1925, Ludendorff developed into the strongest man on the ‘right’. Thus, the years after the war were also of great importance. He was not only an important general who, with Paul von Hin-denburg, was in supreme command of Germany’s de facto military leaders...