Video: 'Peter Jennings - Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped (1995)' (Apr. 11, 1945, 34:59)
(Wednesday, April 11, 1945; part of the Pacific War during World War II) — A report from the U.S. Joint Intelligence Staff on Unconditional Surrender of Japan concluded today that a Russian invasion of Japan could be decisive in ending the Pacific War.
Video: 'Buchenwald Concentration Camp'
(Wednesday, April 11, 1945, 3:15 p.m. CEST; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — The Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, where prisoners from all over Europe and the Soviet Union worked primarily as forced labor in local armaments factories, was liberated today by U.S. troops. Continue reading Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald liberated 70 years ago this hour (Apr 11 1945)
Video: 'Nordhausen concentration camp victims, Germany. HD Stock Footage'
(Wednesday, April 11, 1945; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — The Nazi concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany, which supplied labor for extending the nearby tunnels in the Kohnstein and for manufacturing the V-2 rocket and the V-1 flying bomb, was liberated today by U.S. troops.
Around one in three of the roughly 60,000 prisoners who were sent to Mittelbau since it was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp did not survive.
Video: 'Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship'
(Monday, April 9, 1945, at dawn CEST; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 39, was executed by hanging today by the Nazis at the Flossenburg concentration camp for allegedly being associated with the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler
Video: 'American Experience - FDR (Franklin Roosevelt) - Part 1/2 (PBS Documentary' (Apr. 8, 1945, at 2:09:58)
(Sunday, April 8, 1945; during World War II) — First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in Hyde Park, New York, today wrote a letter to her husband, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was recuperating from exhaustion in Warm Springs, Georgia: “I am so glad you are gaining. You sounded cheerful for the first time last night, and I hope you weigh 170 pounds when you return. Devotedly, E.R.”
Video: 'The World At War: The Bomb 2/5' (Apr. 7, 1945, at 2:36)
(Saturday, April 7, 1945; during World War II) — Seven days into the Battle of Okinawa, the growing peace party of Japan secured the appointment of a new cabinet today led by Admiral Kantaro Suzuki following the resignation of Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso.
(Saturday, April 7, 1945) — “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time” by the Les Brown Orchestra (with a vocal by Doris Day) was the #1 song on today’s Billboard Best Selling Retail Records chart for seven consecutive weeks (Apr. 7/14/21/28, May 5/12/19, 1945).
Video: '(2/5) Pacific Lost Evidence Okinawa World War II' (Yamato sunk at 6:23)
(Saturday, April 7, 1945, 12:41-2:23 p.m. JST; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — American planes today intercepted and effectively destroyed a Japanese fleet, which included the battleship Yamato, that was headed to Okinawa on a suicide mission. Continue reading Japanese battleship Yamato sunk by Allied forces 70 years ago this hour (Apr 7 1945)
Video: '(2/5) Pacific Lost Evidence Okinawa World War II' (Apr. 6, 1945, at 2:57)
(Friday, April 6, 1945, 3:00 p.m. JST; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — Starting today (through the end of the battle on June 22, 1945), the Japanese flew 1,465 kamikaze aircraft in large-scale attacks from Kyushu, 185 individual kamikaze sorties from Kyushu, and 250 individual kamikaze sorties from Formosa. Continue reading Japanese launch kamikaze attacks on Americans off Okinawa 70 years ago today (Apr 6 1945)
Video: 'Ohrdruf Concentration Camp Liberation April 4, 1945'
(Wednesday, April 4, 1945; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — The Ohrdruf concentration camp, a Nazi forced labor and concentration camp located near Ohrdruf, south of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany (part of the Buchenwald concentration camp network), was liberated today by the 4th Armored Division and the 89th Infantry Division. Continue reading U.S. Army liberates Nazi concentration camp for first time 70 years ago today (Apr 4 1945)
