Tag: Second World War
US tourist tries to steal artefact from Auschwitz death camp, faces jail
Krakow (TAN): An American tourist faces up to 10 years in jail for attempting to steal a portion of the railway tracks from the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland.
The 37-year-old, who has admitted to the action, has been released pending legal proceedings, Deutsche Welle reported. He has been charged with attempt to steal and item of cultural importance.
A report quoting an Auschwitz Museum spokesman said visitors raised an alarm when they noticed the man trying to remove the part from the tracks. Continue reading US tourist tries to steal artefact from Auschwitz death camp, faces jail
What really happened to this Van Gogh masterpiece?
A lot of people go to Germany for war tourism. I go because I love the food and the people there. But this time, I went to research my first novel. The historical fiction novel is called ON THE ROAD TO TARASCON.
The Internet had different and sometimes conflicting versions of the bit of history I was interested in. So, I decided to go to Magdeburg — a town one hour and 40 minutes by train from Berlin — and find out for myself the circumstances in which a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece had gone missing on April 30, 1945.
If you have an idea about the World War 2 history of Magdeburg, you would know it was completely flattened by the British Royal Air Force bombings in 1945. As I got down from the intercity express and walked into the city to find a tram to take me to my hotel, I kept imagining how the place would have looked in the early months of 1945. Continue reading What really happened to this Van Gogh masterpiece?