A multimedia resource on WW2 history brought to you by the award winning historian and filmmaker Laurence Rees. More about us

THE FASCINATION OF WW2

WHY IS WW2 IMPORTANT?
Read an interview with Laurence Rees about why it is so necessary we know this history.
Laurence's new book

The Nazi Mind
Buy 'The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History' - a Sunday Times bestseller,
Expert interviews

World class historians
Many of the greatest WW2 experts in the world are interviewed at length, exclusively for WW2History.com.
Video

PLAY
4:07

Holocaust
1944

Development of Auschwitz 5
1944 was to be the year in which Auschwitz overtook all the other killing facilities in the Third Reich and became the site of the largest mass murder in the history of the world.
Testimony

LISTEN
5:22

Eastern
1945

Victim of the Soviets
As a schoolgirl in Budapest she witnessed the arrival of the Red Army, and was subsequently the victim of a series of horrendous attacks.
Key Moment

READ

Holocaust
1941

Einsatzgruppen killing squads start
Around 3,000 Germans in four Einsatzgruppen (task groups) entered the Soviet Union immediately behind the front line troops. They were told to kill Communist functionaries, selected Jews, and others who posed a ‘threat’ to Nazi rule.

More information on Laurence Rees

Laurence Rees is an acclaimed historian and filmmaker who has specialised in writing books and making TV documentary series about the Second World War for thirty years. In 2006 he won the British Book Award for history book of the year for 'Auschwitz: the Nazis and the 'Final Solution''. His many television awards include a BAFTA, a Grierson Award, a Broadcasting Press Guild Award, a BANFF festival award, an International Documentary Award, a Broadcast Award and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Read Laurence Rees’ full biography
"Rees knows a vast amount about the Second World War and his judgments can seldom be faulted."
Sir Max Hastings, Sunday Times.

"Scholars across the world owe a considerable debt of gratitude to Laurence Rees for his immense and unique contribution to historical understanding."
From the citation awarding Laurence Rees an Honorary Doctorate, University of Sheffield

Lesson Plans for Teachers
- Specialist educators have devised Lesson Plans and accompanying resources for teachers to make the most of WW2History.com.
  
  Lesson Plans cover topics on the Eastern Front, Western Front, Pacific Front and Holocaust
  
  View all lesson plans
Links
- Holocaust Educational Trust
  Committed to ensuring that the memory of the greatest crime in history never dies.
  
  Browse WW2 links
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