An estimated 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis and their allies during the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands more suffered, but somehow survived, in concentration camps. And some escaped, savoring freedom they otherwise never would have known.
This week, CNN is exploring American exceptionalism -- the concept that the United States is exceptional when compared to other nations and is uniquely destined to bring democracy to the world.
The Polish prime minister on Wednesday reacted strongly to what the White House said was a mistake by President Barack Obama during a Medal of Freedom ceremony.
Greek president Karolos Papoulias proposes a technocratic government after coalition talks fail to produce anything.
A Jewish group in Greece has condemned the leader of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party over comments he made about the Holocaust in a TV interview.
Cinco de Mayo -- the unofficial U.S. holiday long believed to have been imported, with celebratory beer, from Mexico -- isn't a Mexican holiday at all but rather an American one created by Latinos in the West during the Civil War, according to new research by a California professor.
TIGHAR's Richard Gillespie on a new expedition being launched into the recovery of Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane.
In the early 20th century, there were almost no mentions of the contributions of African-Americans in U.S. history textbooks. That is what inspired historian and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson to start "Negro History Week" in 1926. Woodson choose the month of February for this focus because it was the birth month of two leaders who fought to end slavery: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Alison Shein considers herself an amateur genealogist, spending hours online searching for information about family members she never knew.
On Tuesday night, it will be time to meet the candidates.
On November 2, Lt. Susumu Ito with other members of the 442nd RCT will be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Out of sheer boredom, Susumu Ito, in World War II, became a forward artillery observer, one of the most dangerous jobs available.
Colleen McEdwards talks to security expert Anthony Roman about security issues surrounding the Norway terror attack.
A bright red cross marked the cover of a manifesto purportedly written by the suspect in last week's terror attacks in Norway.
It is a state visit that many in Ireland believed would never happen. But when the UK's Queen Elizabeth II lands in Dublin on Tuesday it will mark the reconciliation between two neighboring countries that once viewed each with suspicion and hostility.
A German court convicted onetime Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk on Thursday in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews at a Nazi concentration camp, capping a 30-year legal saga.
The last surviving WWI combat veteran dies at 110. Tamara Akers of Australia's Network TEN reports.
This week marks the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, a war that redefined national and regional identities and became an enduring tale of noble resistance in the South and, for the rest of the country, a mighty moral struggle to erase the stain of slavery.
One-hundred-fifty years ago Tuesday, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. Thirty-four hours later the siege ended with the surrender of the fort. Major Robert Anderson, a Kentuckian -- and the Federal commander of the fort -- reported no deaths from the bombardment.
He stood 5-foot-8 and weighed 145 pounds. His face was gaunt and sunburned. Ticks, fleas and lice covered his body.
Ninety-five acres of farm land where young men in blue and gray fought and died during the epic Civil War battle is being added to Gettysburg National Military Park, federal officials said.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday to honor Frank Buckles, the last American veteran of World War I to die.
The last American veteran of World War I to die should lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol, his daughter said after lawmakers appeared to block the suggestion.
The fate of famed aviator Amelia Earhart remains a mystery after DNA tests on one of three bone fragments discovered on a Pacific island proved inconclusive.
America's last surviving World War I veteran celebrates his 110th birthday.
Frank Buckles, the last living U.S. World War I veteran, has died, a spokesman for his family said Sunday. He was 110.
Everybody has to start somewhere. That includes all of the celebrities, billionaires, executives and CEOs of the world -- even U.S. presidents.
Since the late 1940s, it has been an American custom for pollsters and publications to release a ranking of U.S. presidents.
A Mississippi proposal wants to honor a Ku Klux Klansmen with a specialty license plate.
The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday.
Today, on the 110th birthday of Frank Buckles, it's worth pausing for a minute to reflect on the sweep of this man's remarkable life.
Richard "Dick" Winters, a decorated hero of World War II and the central figure in the book and miniseries "Band of Brothers," has died. He would have turned 93 years old in February.
It has been eight years since people in my state of Virginia got a chance to debate the meaning of the Civil War in front of the nation, and the comments posted on CNN and other news Web sites suggest our passion over the topic has not dimmed.
CNN's Joe Johns looks at the group that got Virginia's governor to issue a proclamation honoring the Confederate legacy.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell apologized Wednesday for leaving out any reference to slavery in his recent proclamation designating April as Confederate History Month, calling it a "major omission."
My unscientific poll of people who have visited or lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, revealed three top must-dos for a first-time visitor: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and cheese steak.
A German court sentences an 88-year-old former Nazi hitman to life in prison for 3 civilian kilings during World War II.
Jerry Yellin has spent most of his life trying to forget about the stench of death on the island of Iwo Jima 65 years ago.
Sixteen-fifty-one Pennsylvania Avenue isn't quite as famous as the address right across the street.
The aging veterans gingerly walk from the plane in the nation's capital. Some get pushed in wheelchairs. A brass band strikes up World War II era tunes. Strangers rise to their feet and clap their hands.
Honor Flight flies WWII veterans to see their memorial in Washington at no charge. A CNN crew went along on a recent trip.
Some reviewers have called "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies.
Only six fallen troops have received the Medal of Honor during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Barbara Starr explores why.
When President Obama gave a Medal of Honor to Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti's family this week, it was just the sixth time the nation's highest medal for valor has been awarded to a hero of the current conflicts.
Harry Patch, the last British WWI veteran is buried in Wells, England. ITN's Damon Green reports.
The last British soldier to serve in World War I was buried Thursday, marking "the passing of a generation," the British veterans minister said.
Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.
CNN's Tim Lister reports on the passing of Britain's last veteran of the Great War.
It turns out going to the moon is a tough act to follow.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin talks to CNN.com's Naamua Delaney about going to Mars and his moon landing.
Just after midnight on July 16, 1969, Jack King kissed his wife goodbye at their Cocoa Beach, Florida home, jumped in his car, and drove to Dunkin' Donuts for a doughnut and a cup of coffee.
D-day vets in DC
updated: Mon Jun 08 2009 13:09:00
65 years after D-Day, a handful of veterans visited the WWII Memorial in Washington for the first time. CNN's Elaine Quijano reports.
CNN's Rick Vincent reports on the somber ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
World leaders gave thanks Saturday to military veterans for their efforts in the D-Day landings of 65 years ago at a ceremony in northwest France, warning that their legacy must not be forgotten as the world faces renewed threats of tyranny.
The forthcoming trial in Germany of John Demjanjuk could be the last occasion on which a Nazi war crimes suspect faces prosecution.
France bears responsibility for deporting Jews to their deaths in concentration camps during World War II, the country's highest court ruled Monday.
Frank Buckles, 107, says it is his duty as the last living U.S. WWI vet to honor the soldiers at Arlington Cemetery.
Photographer David DeJonge plans to capture a vanishing bit of history Tuesday on a trip to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
CNN's Paula Hancocks meets David Dejonge, a photographer chronicling the last men of the WWI generation.
At 107, Frank Buckles must know there is not much time for him to honor the memory of his comrades who served the United States during the first World War. He's the last surviving U.S. veteran of what then was called the Great War.
Imagine that happy day around 1700 when the monk Dom Perignon, after much fiddling with the double fermentation of his grape juice, stumbled onto a bubbly delight. Having tasted the very first glass of champagne, he ran through the abbey shouting, "Brothers, come quickly ... I'm drinking stars!"
A historic flyover honors the 30,000 American airmen who gave their lives flying from British bases during WWII.
The last French World War One veteran to die is honored. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports.
CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports on recognition of 107-year-old WWI veteran Frank Buckles.
Frank Woodruff Buckles was just 15 years old when he joined the U.S. Army. Soon, he was deployed to war and headed overseas on the Carpathia -- the same ship used in the rescue mission of the Titanic.
President Bush met the last known surviving veteran of the first world war on Thursday, thanking the 107-year-old for his service and his "love for America."
ITN's Elodie Harper reports on recently released files that reveal British security services hired an astrologer to try to defeat Adolf Hitler.
On Thursday, President Bush said the fight against terrorism as the ideological struggle of the 21 and compared it to the 20th century's fight against fascism, Nazism, and communism.
The United States was told the location and approximate alias of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann more than two years before his capture but did nothing to pursue him, according to CIA documents released Tuesday.
Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders have gathered across the globe to commemorate their war dead in annual ANZAC Day memorial services and marches.
We will stay in Iraq, the president and his aides keep saying, until we have achieved victory. But how will we know when that is? What does victory look like these days?
World War IIupdated: Mon Aug 15 2005 16:15:00
Use this explainer to help students understand the history of World War II, a topic relevant to current news.
The Benedictsupdated: Tue Apr 19 2005 17:25:00
He calls himself a "simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord." But the new pope's choice of a name is a surprise to one church historian.
Airdate: August 28th 2004
Frail veterans of World War I have gathered in London to remember the 90th anniversary of the start of the conflict.
Historians still disagree about the reasons that led to the First World War, even if they roughly concur on the war's causes.
U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac have stressed their joint support for democratic strides being made in Iraq, although the French leader admitted he was troubled by the "level of chaos" in the Mideast country.
President Bush arrived in Paris Saturday as part of a 36-hour European trip designed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy and drum up support for the war in Iraq.
It began as one of the greatest secrets in history. But by the end of June 6, 1944, the world knew the Normandy invasion was under way, turning the tide in World War II.
Invoking the words of Ronald Reagan, President Bush on Wednesday compared the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism to World War II and the battle against communism.
In dedicating the World War II Memorial, President Bush addressed more than 140,000 people who had gathered on Washington's National Mall.
A day before the dedication of the National World War II Memorial, and almost 60 years after the end of the war, CNN's Paula Zahn spoke with three American WWII veterans about what this tribute to their service means.
A highlight of the Memorial Day weekend will be Saturday's dedication of the National World War II Memorial, which caps the 16-year effort to honor the spirit and sacrifice of America's involvement in World War II.
Sen. John Kerry may postpone accepting his party's presidential nomination at the July Democratic convention -- a tactic aimed at reserving his campaign war chest for the fight against President Bush.
The victors gathered on the northwestern coast of the Italian Riviera in a town called San Remo, then as now a place of respite for Europe's wealthy. It was April 1920, a moment that in the argot o...
Something about Hastings...the French fighting the English for some reason...and then a couple of Italians figured out how to paint in three dimensions...and then there was some guy who discovered ...
Whatever baggage we are dragging with us into the new millennium, at least we have had the good sense to leave some of the century's most poisonous economic ideas behind. Communism is buried. Begga...
Striding through the streets of Dublin these days is an entirely new species of Irishman and Irishwoman: educated, optimistic, and affluent--unaffected by the twin demons of poverty and despair tha...
On a blustery October day five decades ago, Mao Zedong proclaimed, "China has stood up." Thus began the People's Republic of China.
The First World War By John Keegan Knopf, 512 pages
Destiny has not scheduled a major cataclysm for the year 2000. Sorry, friends of the Millennium, but the Big Shaker won't arrive until about 2005. Just what it will look like is hard to tell. Perha...
When did big government begin? Conservatives of all ages tend to think federal spending went out of control around their tenth birthday. Commentators who have a little more historical perspective t...
Essays on the philosophy of history don't usually cause much of a stir among politicians and journalists. But when Francis Fukuyama's article ''The End of History?'' appeared in The National Intere...
A NERVOUS SOBRIETY has set in across Eastern Europe. Two years after the Iron Curtain came crashing down, the region's experiments with capitalism might, to some eyes, seem an excellent advertiseme...
WITH THE END of the Cold War, America enters an era in which national power is increasingly determined by economic rather than military might. In this new world where industries, not arsenals, matt...
''Bold and brilliant,'' trumpeted Chicago philosopher Allan Bloom when his former student Francis Fukuyama published ''The End of History?'' in the neoconservative journal The National Interest las...
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