the Nazis
Seeds of hope in the siege of Leningrad
A Russian biologist’s dream of creating the world’s first seed bank is thwarted by Stalin’s paranoia and the Nazi invasion. But the pioneering project remains a potent symbol of hope
For Jews in Occupied France, survival was a matter of luck
Late in his life, I asked my uncle René about his exploits in wartime France. What I knew was that…
Poland was no walkover for the Reich
‘The victor will never be asked if he told the truth,’ Hitler remarked on the eve of invading Poland in…
Genocide is named and shamed
Prosecution for genocide or crimes against humanity is now a given in international law. But before the Nuremberg Trials, these two groundbreaking notions didn’t exist. Daniel Hahn describes their origins and inspiration
The fast, furious life of Max Mosley
Max Mosley’s autobiography has been much anticipated: by the motor racing world, by the writers and readers of tabloid newspapers,…
German history is uniquely awful: that’s what makes it so engrossing
As I grew up half German in England in the 1970s, my German heritage was confined to the few curios…
Picasso’s dealer
When she was four, Anne Sinclair had her portrait painted by Marie Laurencin. It is a charming picture, a little…