Video: '(4/5) Pacific Lost Evidence Okinawa World War II' (June 4, 1945, at 8:59)
(Monday, June 4, 1945, 5:57 a.m. JST; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — Elements of the 6th Marine Division launched an amphibious assault today on Oroku Peninsula.
Video: 'Anne Frank (The Whole Story)' (June 3, 1945, at 2:47:31)
(Sunday, June 3, 1945; during World War II) — Otto Frank, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, returned to Amsterdam today, not knowing whether his daughters, Anne and Margot, are still alive. He is reunited with Miep and Jan Gies, two of the people who protected his family while they were in hiding in the Secret Annexe from 1942 to 1944 (click here to watch scenes from this time depicted in the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank at 5:35 and 2:50:59, although Otto did not receive the diary until after he confirmed his daughter’s death on July 18, 1945). Continue reading Anne Frank’s father, Otto, returns to Amsterdam 70 years ago today (June 3 1945)
Video: 'Peter Jennings - Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped (1995)' (June 1, 1945, at 41:04)
(Friday, June 1, 1945, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m./1:45 p.m.-3:30 p.m. EWT; during World War II) — The Interim Committee met again secretly today at the Pentagon, formally deciding that the atomic bomb “should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it be used on a war plant surrounded by workers’ homes; and that it be used without prior warning.”
Member James F. Byrnes then went to the White House and briefed President Harry S. Truman of the decision (click here for a clip of “American Experience: Truman” from this day (at 1:47:08).
Video: 'Peter Jennings - Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped (1995)' (May 31, 1945, 32:09/39:27)
(Thursday, May 31, 1945, 10:00 a.m.-1:15 p.m./2:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. EWT; during World War II) — The Interim Committee, created by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson at the urging of leaders of the Manhattan Project (a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs), met secretly today at the Pentagon to consider the idea of giving the Japanese a non-combat demonstration of the new weapon of mass destruction.
Video: 'Harry S. Truman — Bess Truman Christens an Ambulance Plane'
(Wednesday, May 30, 1945, Memorial Day; during World War II) — In her first public appearance as first lady, Bess Truman today tried to christen an ambulance plane at Washington’s National Airport with a unprepared bottle of champagne. Eventually a hammer is employed against the bubbly (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:51:40).
Video: 'Death Of Himmler (1945)'
(Wednesday, May 23, 1945, 11:04 p.m. CEST; on the Western Front and Eastern Front during World War II) — Nazi official Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust, committed suicide tonight by biting into a cyanide capsule while in British custody in Luneburg, Germany.
Video: 'The World At War 1973(World War II Documentary)Episode 25-Reckoning (April 1945)' (May 23, 1945, at 21:17)
Video: 'USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) damaged by suicide planes - 11 May 1945'
(Friday, May 11, 1945, shortly after 10:00 a.m. JST; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — The aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill was attacked and severely damaged today by two kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa; according to the U.S. Navy’s official website, 346 men were killed, 43 were left missing, and 264 were wounded.
Video: 'STUTTHOF-NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP'
(Wednesday, May 9, 1945; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — The Stutthof concentration camp, built in a secluded, wet, and wooded area near the small town of Sztutowo (Stutthof) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Gdansk in northern Poland, was liberated today by Soviet forces. Continue reading Stutthof becomes last Nazi concentration camp liberated by Allies 70 years ago today (May 9 1945)
Video: 'Schindler's List (8/9) Movie CLIP - He Who Saves One Life Saves the World Entire (1993) HD'
(Wednesday, May 9, 1945; part of The Holocaust during World War II) — The labor camp Brünnlitz, a sub-camp of the Nazi concentration camp Gross-Rosen located in the village of Brnenec in the Czech Republic where 1,200 Jews worked in a munitions factory, was liberated today by Soviet troops about 11 hours after their protector Oskar Schindler escaped. Continue reading Oskar Schindler’s labor camp Brünnlitz liberated 70 years ago today (May 9 1945)
Video: 'Liberation Of Prague (1945)'
(Wednesday, May 9, 1945, 10:00 a.m. CEST; during the Prague Offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II) — With World War II in Europe at an end, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation today. Continue reading Soviet forces liberate Czechoslovakia 70 years ago this hour (May 9 1945)
