Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown: An Act of Mercy in the Skies of War
In 1943, German pilot Franz Stigler spared a crippled American bomber. Forty-seven years later, Charlie Brown found him. They remained friends until death.
Pulitzer-Winning Photo Death at Heaven Gates
Discover the Pulitzer-winning photo capturing chilling indifference: tourists relax as a drowned migrant lies nearby. A haunting story of tragedy and humanity.
HMS Glowworm: The Most Glorious Naval Battle of the Second World War
On the morning of 8 April 1940, during the Second World War, the British warship HMS Glowworm, under Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, was on its way to rejoin the Allied squadron in the West Fjord of Norway when, through the fog of the Norwegian Sea, it...
Benazir Bhutto: The Struggle and Legacy of Pakistan’s Daughter
On 27 December 2007, the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi witnessed the brutal silencing of one of its most prominent voices. As she was leaving a rally, Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to lead a modern Muslim state, was shot and, moments later, a suicide blast sealed her...
The Bosnian War: A Forgotten Genocide in the Heart of Europe
In the heart of Europe, at the very end of the twentieth century, a conflict of almost inconceivable brutality broke out, leaving an indelible scar on the continent's conscience. The Bosnian War, fought officially between 6 April 1992 and 14 December 1995, was far...
Spanish Civil War: The Dress Rehearsal for the Second World War
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was the first great clash of twentieth-century ideologies and the testing ground for the Second World War.
Spanish Flu: The Pandemic That Stopped the World in 1918
The deadly influenza pandemic known as the Spanish Flu, "La Grippe" and the "Dancer", was the most devastating epidemic in world history. The Spanish flu epidemic (January 1918 to December 1920) reached every continent and infected around 500 million people, a third...
The Trinity Test: The Dawn of the Atomic Age
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the shatterer of Worlds. - Robert Oppenheimer, in an American television interview two decades after the Trinity Test. A Race Against...
The Srebrenica Massacre: An Open Wound in Europe
To grasp the magnitude of the Srebrenica Massacre it is essential to go back to the turbulent state of the Balkan peninsula in the early 1990s. The former Yugoslavia, a mosaic of ethnicities and religions held together by the firm grip of the communist regime, began...
Hiroo Onoda: The Last Warrior of Imperial Japan
Discover the true story of Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese officer who kept fighting for 29 years after World War II officially ended, loyal to his mission.
Raphael Lemkin: The Origin of the Word Genocide
Raphael Lemkin was the architect of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on 9 December 1948. In 1951 the Convention entered into force, after the twentieth nation had ratified the treaty. During his lifetime Raphael Lemkin...
Aitzaz Hasan: The Boy Who Stopped a Suicide Bomber
In January 2014, 15-year-old Aitzaz Hasan faced a suicide bomber alone at the entrance of his school in Pakistan.
Sufi Zikr: The Chechen Dance Ritual
The zikr is danced in a circle until trance sets in. In Chechnya the Kremlin once saw the ritual as a sign of rebellion.
Ahmad Shah Massoud: The Lion of Panjshir
He repelled eight Soviet offensives and fought the Taliban. He was assassinated two days before 11 September 2001.
Che Guevara and Radio Rebelde in the Cuban Revolution
In 1958 Che Guevara founded a clandestine radio station in the Sierra Maestra that proved decisive to the Cuban Revolution.
The Last Jew of Vinnitsa: An Icon of the Holocaust
The 1941 photograph shows a man at the edge of a mass grave, seconds before being shot by Einsatzgruppe D.
Pablo Escobar: The Rise and Fall of the King of Medellín
He stole headstones, built the Medellín Cartel and became the third richest man in the world. The full story of Pablo Escobar.
El Porteñazo: A Chaplain Helps a Wounded Soldier in Puerto Cabello
In the photograph, the chaplain Luis María Padilla walks into the middle of the street, at the spot known as La Alcantarilla, in Puerto Cabello, during El Porteñazo, to rescue a wounded soldier at the height of the shooting, taking him into his arms to try to help...