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Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Location | Buchenwald, Germany |
Result | Concentration Camp |
Date | 1937 – 1945 |
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil, following Dachau's opening just over four years earlier. Prisoners from all over Europe and the Soviet Union, Jews, Poles and other Slavs, the mentally ill and physically-disabled from birth defects, religious and political prisoners, Roma and Sinti, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses (then called Bible Students), criminals, homosexuals, and prisoners of war, worked primarily as forced labor in local armaments factories. Today the remains of Buchenwald serve as a memorial and permanent exhibition and museum.
Recent World War 2 Locations
Museum Reina Sofia Madrid
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the National Museum of Spanish Art of the 20th Century in Madrid. …Monument Calvo Sotelo
It is one of the major monuments of Francoist symbology in Madrid. It was built in memory of Jose Calvo …Naval Museum Madrid
The Madrid Naval Museum is a national museum displaying the history of the Spanish Navy from the Catholic monarchs of …Valley of the fallen
Valle de los Caídos is a monument of the Francoist regime, a Catholic basilica and a monument in the municipality …Copenhagen War Museum
The Danish Military Museum is a specialized museum of cultural history. When visiting permanent and special exhibitions on topics such …
Map of the European World War 2 Locations
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– War museums – Memorials – War locations and battlefields – Concentration camps – Forts and bunkers – Cemeteries
Museum Reina Sofia Madrid
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Calle de Santa Isabel, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the National Museum of Spanish Art of the 20th Century in Madrid. The museum was officially opened on September 10, 1992 and is named after Queen Sofia. The museum is primarily dedicated to Spanish art. The highlights of the museum are excellent collections of two of the greatest masters of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Surely the most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso's painting Guernica.
Monument Calvo Sotelo
Monument Sotelo Madrid
It is one of the major monuments of Francoist symbology in Madrid. It was built in memory of Jose Calvo Sotel, Minister in the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, Member of Parliament in the Second Republic.
Naval Museum Madrid
Naval museum madrid
The Madrid Naval Museum is a national museum displaying the history of the Spanish Navy from the Catholic monarchs of the 15th century until today. The screens place maritime history in a broad context with information about the Spanish rulers and former colonies of the country. The collections include navigation instruments, weapons, maps and pictures.
Valley of the fallen
Valley of the Fallen, Carretera de Guadarrama/El Escorial, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
Valle de los Caídos is a monument of the Francoist regime, a Catholic basilica and a monument in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, erected in the Cuelgamuros valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama, near Madrid. Franco claimed the monument was a "national act of salvation" and reconciliation. The monument, considered a landmark of 20th century Spanish architecture, was designed by Pedro Muguruza and Diego Méndez on a scale that, in Franco's words, would be "the majesty of ancient monuments that defy time and memory."
Copenhagen War Museum
Krigsmuseet, Tøjhusgade, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Danish Military Museum is a specialized museum of cultural history. When visiting permanent and special exhibitions on topics such as war, defense and weapon technology, you can experience the full range of Danish military history from 1500 to the present. Part of the museum is dedicated to Denmark in the Second World War.
War museum Trieste
Via Costantino Cumano, 22, 34139 Trieste, TS, Italija
The military museum has about 15,000 items in its inventory, including 2,800 pieces of weapons. It also has a substantial archive of 24,000 photos, 287 logs (38,000 pages), 12,000 books, 2,600 posters and flyers, 470 geographic and topographic maps. The Henriquez collection is now owned by the city of Trieste, which continues to rebuild materials.
Risiera di San Sabba – Concentration camp
Risiera di San Sabba, Via Giovanni Palatucci, Trieste, Province of Trieste, Italy
Risiera di San Sabba is a large building near Sv. Sobota (San Sabba), in which rice was first peeled, in 1943, the Nazis have turned it into a concentration camp. In 1944, a crematorium was built inside, in which about 4,000 to 5,000 people were burned. The furnace capacity was 50 to 70 bodies a day. The victims were mostly Slovenians, then Croats, Italian anti-fascists and Jews.
Volgograd – Mamayev Kurgan
Mamayev Kurgan, Prospekt Imeni V.i. Lenina, Volgograd, Russia
Mamayev Kurgan is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad). The formation is dominated by a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle, a hard-fought Soviet victory over Axis forces on the Eastern Front of World War II, turned into one of the bloodiest battles in human history. At the time of its installation in 1967 the statue named "The Motherland Calls on Mamayev Kurgan" formed the largest free-standing sculpture in the world, as of 2016 it is the tallest sculpture of a woman in the world.
Volgograd – Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad
The museum-panorama "The Battle of Stalingrad", Ulitsa Imeni Marshala V.i. Chuykova, Volgograd, Russia
The Museum displays the bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest confrontation of World War II, in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad, now called Volgograd. In the battle, the Red Army, with the victory over Nazi Germany, achieved a turning point in World War II. The capitulation of German troops, led by General Friedrich Paulus, is considered to be the greatest defeat of Nazi Germany. Even nowadays Russians believe that the Battle of Stalingrad is the most important event of the World War II. The battle lasted from August 23, 1942, until February 2, 1943. It is considered the bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. It claimed from 1.7 to 2 million dead, wounded or trapped. The strategically and ideologically important industrial city of Stalingrad, which was named after the leader of the former Soviet Union, Josip Stalin, from 1925 to 1961, was completely destroyed in the battle and later almost completely rebuilt. With the help of Romanian military units, the German army launched an offensive on Stalingrad in late August 1942. By mid-November, it managed to conquer 90 % of the city. At that time, the Red Army launched a large counteroffensive, causing the German army to remain trapped in the city. Stalingrad became, in the winter of 1942/43, when the temperature dropped below - 30°C, a scene of many-month street battles between the two sides. In addition to the fighting, the soldiers of both sides, as well as civil people, how we're still in the city, were caught by famine. At the beginning of 1943, the Red Army offered capitulation to the German army, but it initially rejected it, also because of Hitler's strong opposition, and then accepted it on January 31st. On February 2, 1943, tens of thousands of German and Romanian soldiers surrendered to the opposite side. The long-running battles for a significant transit centre on the way to the Caucasus, rich with oil and gas stocks, were over after five months, a week, and three days. The museum contains military exhibits, militaries, documents, weapons and military equipment, vehicles, dioramas and the largest panoramic display of the battle.
Volgograd – Pavlov's House
Dom Pavlova, Ulitsa Sovetskaya, Volgograd, Russia
Pavlov's House was a fortified apartment building which Red Army defenders held for 60 days against a heavy Wehrmacht offensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. The siege lasted from 27. 09 to 25. 11. 1942 and eventually the Soviet forces managed to relieve it from the siege. It gained its name from Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, who commanded the platoon that seized the building and defended it during the long battle.
Volgograd – Museum Headquarters Generalfeldmarschall Paulus
Pamyat', Ploshchad' Pavshikh Bortsov, Volgograd, Russia
This museum is devoted to the battle of Stalingrad and is established in the former field headquarters of General Feldmarschall Friedrich Paulus, commander of the German 6th Army. It owns many documents, photographs and maps related to this battle.
Volgograd – Alley of the Heroes
Alleya Geroyev, 1, Volgograd, Russia
On both sides of the Alley of the Heroes are the names of all the heroes of the Soviet Union and the recipients of all three types of "Order of the Glory of Volgograd". We can also find the names of heroes of the Soviet Union, who were rewarded for heroism in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Château Pignerolle Kriegsmarine Bunkers
Château de Pignerolle, Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, Francija
Following the amphibious operation "Chariot" the German Navy commander decided the risk to risk to certain units of seaborne attack was high and decided to relocate the command center for U-boats to Pignerolle. The Chateau was chosen as it was far enough from the sea to be safe, whilst the radio communications in the area were good. In the Chateau park Nazis built bunkers, that were finished in 1942, when Pignerolle became an official command center. All communications with U-Boats in the Atlantic were routed from Berlin through the Pignerolle command and communications center. Nowadays the chateau is also a museum of communication.
Le Grand Blockhouse Museum
Batz-sur-Mer, Francija
Le Grand Blockhaus Museum was an Observation Post built as part of the Atlantic Wall defenses in the area around Saint-Nazaire following the raid. Later the bunker was the eyes of a major coastal battery. The museum display tells a story of the sinking of the Lancastria, the Saint-Nazaire raid and the Atlantic Wall. You can also climb into the upper tier of the observation bunker using an original metal ladder.
Escoublac-La-Baule – Britain Cemetary
Escoublac, La Baule, Francija
On March 28, 1942, the British troops attacked the heavily defended dry dock at Saint Nazaire. The "Saint Nazaire Raid" or "Operation Chariot" was a successful amphibious attack. Saint-Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship to return to home waters via a different route, rather than having a port available on the Atlantic coast. With this amphibious attack, the allies' forces disabled German navy at the Atlantic. With the attack, they also protected Allied naval convoys that were vital for the United Kingdom. The fallen soldiers are buried at the Escoublac-La-Baule cemetery. The cemetery that begun with the burial of 17 British soldiers during 1940, is now the place of rest for 325 Commonwealth soldiers, that were killed in the line of duty during the II. World War.
Saint Nazaire – Atlantic Wall (Defence Bunkers)
Saint-Nazaire, Francija
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal defense and fortifications built by Nazi Germany along the coast of continental Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied during II. World War. The manning and operation of the Atlantic Wall was administratively overseen by the German Army, with some support from Luftwaffe ground forces. The German Navy maintained a separate coastal defense network, organized into a number of sea defense zones.
Saint Nazaire – U-boat Base
Boulevard Georges Charpak, Saint-Nazaire, Francija
During the II. World War the port of Saint Nazaire was strategically important. Because the Germans build here one of the largest fortified U-boat pen. The U-boat base was built between 1941 and 1942. The construction of the base required more than 313,000 cubic meters of concrete. The part of the U-boat base were also army workshops, which were later destroyed.
Saumur Tank Museum
1-99 Rue Fricotelle, 49400 Saumur, Francija
During the Battle of France, in World War II, Saumur was the site of the Battle of Saumur (1940) where the town and south bank of the Loire were defended by the teenage cadets of the cavalry school for the Honor of France. In 1944 the town was a target bombing raids by Allied planes. In Tank Museum, the aim was to gather everything tank related, whether French or foreign and being of historical, technological and educational interest. The collection includes mementos from the "Father of the French Tank" and from Major Bossut, one of the first officers to be killed in action whilst commanding a Tank Unit.
Battle of Ortona Museum
Museo Battaglia di Ortona, Corso Garibaldi, Ortona, Chieti, Italija
Battle of Ortona Museum shows photos of the battle, arms, uniforms and different arm artifacts. The Battle of Ortona was a battle fought between a battalion of German Fallschirmjäger, paratroops from the German 1st Parachute Division, and assaulting Canadian troops from the Canadian 1st Infantry Division. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy. The battle, known to those who fought it as the "Italian Stalingrad" for the deadliness of its close-quarters combat.
The Swiss Military Museum in Full
Schweizerisches Militärmuseum Full, Full-Reuenthal, Švica
The Swiss Military Museum in Full is a Swiss military museum, which is located in a village Full-Reuenthal, the canton Aargau. Museum has a collection of army gear and uniforms of a Swiss and foreign army forces, from the time of the II. World War and the Cold War. In addition of many tanks and cannons in the museum, there is also the entire collection of the former arms manufacturer Oerlikon. Also the German rockets VI and crashed British and American bombers, which are owned by the museum.
Fort Full-Reuenthal
Festungsmuseum Full-Reuenthal, Panoramaweg, Full-Reuenthal, Švica
Fort Reuenthal is a 20th century Swiss fortification located near the Swiss border with Germany. Built between 1937 and 1939, the fort overlooks the Rhine where it bends around the town of Full-Reuenthal. It is armed with two artillery blocks for 75mm guns and two machine gun blocks. It was a component of the Swiss Border Line of defenses intended to prevent a crossing of the Rhine at the hydroelectric plant at Dogern.
Fort Ebersberg
festung ebersberg
Fort Ebersberg, also known as Fort Rüdlingen, was built 1938–1940 in the Swiss Canton of Zurich to guard the Rhine against a German invasion at the opening of II. World War. The fort was part of the Swiss Border Line defenses.
Crestawald Fortress Museum
Festungsmuseum Crestawald, Sufers, Švica
The contemporary witness of Swiss military history. Construction of the fortifications in Crestawald was started in September 1939, and by 1940 the huge artillery guns were ready for action. For a long time, the bunkers were kept under the strictest of secrecy. With the restructuring of the army, the artillery fortresses near the state borders were decommissioned. In 2000 the secrecy was lifted and the fortress was turned into a public museum by the Verein Festungsmuseum Crestawald.
Toblerone Line
Route Suisse 8, Gland, Švica
The Toblerone line is a 10 km (6 miles) long defensive line made of dragon's teeth that were built during the II. World War between Bassins and Prangins, in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. These lines of defensive blocks can be found all over Switzerland, but more predominantly in border areas. Their purpose was to stop tank invasions. The 2.700 9-ton concrete blocks that make up the defenses are similar to the shape of the chocolate bar "Toblerone", which gave its name to the line. Since the line has been left to nature since its construction, it was decided to keep these concrete blocks and to make a hiking trail along their route. The line was built along twelve fortresses, the most well known being the "Villa Rose" in Gland, which was transformed into a museum and opened to the public in 2006.
Military History Institute Prague
Vojenský historický ústav Praha: Armádní muzeum Žižkov, U Památníku, Žižkov, Praga-Praha 3, Češka republika
The Army Museum is located in Prague-Žižkov, in the historic facilities of the National Liberation Monument. The first section is dedicated to the period of the I World War, the involvement of Czech and Slovak people in the war, and the political and military events that resulted in the constitution of the independent Czechoslovak Republic. The second section is dedicated to the Czechoslovak republic and its armed forces between the world wars, and the third section maps the period of the II. World War, and the involvement of the Czech and Slovak people in the military operations, home resistance and other events aimed at restoring the independence of Czechoslovakia. In addition to weapons, the exhibitions show many unique uniforms, banners, marks of distinction, and also personal memorabilia of the Czechoslovak presidents and leading army representatives.
Operation Anthropoid Memorial
Památník Operace Anthropoid, 182 00 Praha 8, Češka republika
The Operation Anthropoid Memorial is a memorial in Prague that commemorates Operation Anthropoid, the code name refers to the assassination of senior Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovakian partisans on 27 May 1942.
Syrmian Front
Adaševci, Vojvodina
The Syrmian Front saw some of the most difficult fighting in Yugoslavia in II. World War. It lasted for almost six months. As the bulk of the Red Army involved in the Belgrade operation continued their offensive in Hungary, the Yugoslav Army, accustomed to guerrilla warfare in the mountainous terrain of the Dinaric Alps, remained to fight the entrenched front line heavily contested by the Axis on the flat ground of the Pannonian plain. Young men from Vojvodina and Central Serbia, many from freshly liberated regions, were drafted en masse and sent to the front, and the amount of training they received and their casualty levels remain in dispute. Although mostly stationary, the front moved several times, generally westward, as the Axis forces were pushed back. The fighting started east of Ruma and stabilized in January 1945 west of Šid after the town changed hands due to Axis counterattacks. In late March and early April 1945, Yugoslav Army units mounted a general offensive on all fronts. The Yugoslav First Army, commanded by Peko Dapčević, broke through German XXXIV Corps defenses in Syrmia on 12 April, quickly capturing the cities of Vukovar, Vinkovci, and Županja, and enabling further advances through Slavonia toward Slavonski Brod and Zagreb in the last month of the war.
Belgrade – Military Museum
Vojni Muzej, Beograd
The Belgrade Military Museum is intended on the military history of Serbia, since Antiquity until the civil war in 90. years of 20th century. A large number of tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery, they are all a part of outside exhibition.
Belgrade – Museum of Aviation
Airport Nikola Tesla Belgrade, Beograd
The Museum of Aviation was founded in 1957 in Belgrade. It is located adjacent to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, with 6.000 m2 (1,2 acre) of exhibition space. It owns over 200 aircraft previously operated by the Yugoslav Air Force, Serbian Air Force, and others, as well as aircraft previously flown by several civil airliners and private flying clubs. The museum also displays wreckage of a downed USAF F-117 Nighthawk and F-16 Fighting Falcon, both shot down during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
Military Museum of Slovenian Armed Forces
15 Engelsova ulica, Maribor, Slovenija
The Military Museum collects, documents, preserves, studies, examines and presents museum material related to the life and work of the Slovenian army. The Museum portrays different historical periods that shaped the present image of Slovenia, its inhabitants, and army. It also monitors and documents the Slovenian army development. Collections include museum objects, archive and library material, visual artworks, videothequeunit, and photographs.
Memorial Room in Topolšica
54 Ljubljanska cesta, Velenje, Slovenija
A memorial room in Topolšica is consecrated to the signing of one of four partial capitulations of the German army. With this document the II. World War ended for the Slovenians. A memorial room that represents partial German capitulation of the army troop E and German forces in southeast Europe. It was signed by General Aleksander Löhr. You can see a short film about the events occurring in these parts in May 1945. Behind the glass wall is a reconstruction of the signing of capitulation that was one of the most important events on our territory during the II. World War. One of the main curiosities of the collection is also a gun of general Löhr that was confiscated only a few days after the signing.
Teharje Camp
Teharje, Celje, Slovenija
Teharje camp was a prison camp near Teharje, Slovenia, during the II. World War, organized by Nazi Germany and used after the war by the Partisans. In 1943, Nazi forces built a military camp for approximately 500 people in Teharje, including six residential barracks and ten other buildings. Towards the end of the war, Nazis used the camp to hold prisoners that had participated in the defense of the city Celje, and the camp was abandoned for a short time after the war. The camp was reactivated by the Yugoslav communists at the end of May 1945 to accommodate former members of the Slovene Home Guard and others that had collaborated with the Germans, as well as civilians that had fled before the advancing Yugoslav People's Army to Allied camps in Austrian Carinthia. On 31 May 1945, the entire 2nd Assault Battalion headed by Vuk Rupnik was brought to Teharje, the battalion was known by the name Rupnik's battalion. In the first days of June 1945, approximately 3.000 members of the Slovene Home Guard joined them. It is estimated that the postwar authorities executed approximately 5.000 internees of Teharje without trial during the first month or two after the II. World War ended in Europe.
Mauthausen Ljubelj Concentration Camp
Podljubelj 310, 4290 Tržič, Slovenija
National Liberation Struggle Memorial
Cvibelj, Žužemberk, Novo mesto, Slovenija
Memorial with a tomb in which are buried the mortal remains of those who fell. The memorial was built in memory 1140 Partisans, who fell in a battle for Suha Krajina. Around the monument are the public announcements of the executions of some 667 people who were condemned to death by the German forces. The memorial as well pays tribute for foreigners, who fought in Slovene National Liberation Struggle. The memorial was built 1961 and is a work of Marjana Tepine. Large spherical bronze memorial where are photos of a group of people.
Rupnik Line
2 Tabor, Žiri, Slovenija
Rupnik Line named after the Slovene general in the Yugoslav army, Leon Rupnik, was a line of fortifications and weapons installations that Yugoslavia constructed along its terrestrial western and northern border. The construction of the line was a safety measure taken in order to counter the construction of Alpine Wall, a line built by the bordering country Italy, as well as against imposing danger of a German invasion. Yugoslavia's Rupnik line was inspired by various other fortification systems built along borders. It was established to provide good positions to enforce the existing border, as well as to repel a potential invasion. Although there were troops manning the fortifications at its peak, the line was never used to full potential, as it was largely unprepared and abandoned by the time Yugoslavia was invaded in April 1941 by Italy, Germany, and Hungary.
Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship Ljubljana
Pot spominov in tovarištva, Ljubljana, Slovenija
The Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship also referred to as the Trail Along the Wire, is a gravel-paved recreational and memorial walkway almost 33 km (21 mi) long and 4 m (13 ft) wide around the city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The walkway leads past Koseze Pond and across the Golovec Hill. During II. World War, the Province of Ljubljana, annexed by Fascist Italy, was subjected to brutal repression after the emergence of resistance and the Italian forces erected a barbed wire fence around Ljubljana in order to prevent communication between the city's underground Liberation Front activists in Ljubljana and the Slovene Partisans in the surrounding countryside. The trail was built since 1974 and it was completed in 1985. It is marked by signposts, information boards with the map of the trail, plaques, and metal markers, as well as signposts at the turn-offs. One hundred and two octagonal memorial stones have been installed at the former positions of the bunkers. Along the green area adjacent to it, 7.400 trees of 49 tree species have been planted. Since 1988, it has been protected as a designed nature monument.
Pohorje Battalion
Lukanja 19, 2317 Oplotnica, Slovenija
The battlefield of Pohorje Battalion is located at "Three Nails", 30 minutes on a footpath from Osankarica home. At "Three Nails" there is a main local and municipal monument from the National Liberation Struggle when on this spot fell whole Pohorje Battalion. The Osankarica home has a museum collection in its extension, an exhibition named "Partisan Pohorje". It presents developments in the wider area of the Pohorje mountain range, the cradle of partisan resistance in Štajerska during the Second World War. Special attention is paid to the last standby fighters of the Pohorje Battalion at Osankarica on 8 January 1943. After fighting overwhelmingly superior German forces for two and a half hours, 69 fighters, including women, lost their lives. Only one partisan was captured alive by the Germans and he was later shot as a hostage. The Pohorje Battalion became a legend in the resistance of the Slovenes against the occupation.
Park of Military History Pivka
Park vojaške zgodovine, Kolodvorska cesta, Pivka, Slovenija
The Park of Military History in Pivka, Slovenia, is a museum and adventure center, which is located in a former Italian barracks. An exhibition is composed of tanks and artillery collection. It also includes the Italian fortress on Rapallo border.
Museum of Hostages
Katzenstein - Begunjski grad, Begunje na Gorenjskem, Slovenija
Museum of Hostages in an idyllic village named Begunje, in Gorenjska Region, Slovenia, is a reminder of the horrors of II. World War. The mighty Katzenstein Castle in the middle of the settlement served as a Gestapo prison during the time of Nazi occupation. A part of the former prison cells in the extension of the castle has been converted into a memorial museum, nearby in a park, near village Draga, there is a mass grave of hostages.
National Liberation Museum Maribor
Muzej narodne osvoboditve Maribor, Maribor, Slovenija
The Museum of National Liberation of Maribor has been functioning as an autonomous museum since 1958. It is a historical museum dealing primarily with museological and historiographical analyses of the recent history of the North-Eastern parts of Slovenia. The new collection will present the major turning points of the 20th century – I. and II. World War, Independence War, lives of local inhabitants, the misery of simple people whose lives, though residing in the same city, were totally different from those of the wealthier classes.
Lokev Military Museum
Vojaški muzej Tabor, Lokev, Slovenija
The Lokev Military Museum represents the biggest private collection this sort in Europe. All the artifacts are unique. The most interesting artifacts are military uniforms, among which stands out an artfully red uniform from the period of Maria Theresa and the uniform of Svetozar Barojevič the general of the Soča front. One of the few instances has a special place a sword with a gold handle, such as Adolf Hitler giving its officers for special merits. It is preserved only 11 such swords. Also one of the rarest artifacts is a child's gas mask and a soap from the Dachau concentration camp.
National Museum of Contemporary History Ljubljana
Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, Celovška cesta, Ljubljana, Slovenija
The Museum of Contemporary History in Slovenia is a national museum, dedicated to heritage of contemporary history from the start of the 20th century until today. The museum's collections from the I. and the II. World War, collections from an era between the wars, an era of communism and about the liberated country of Slovenia.
Šeškov Home
šeškov dom kočevje
Šeškov home is an important monumental building even from the pre-war era. During the II. World War here was the first Assembly of the emissaries of the Slovene nation in the building, from 1 till 4 October 1943. They were the first directly elected representation of an occupied nation in Europe during II. World War. The assembly was the largest political gathering during the national liberation war and with its declarative rather that constitutional meaning it is an important cornerstone in the development of the national liberation fight on Slovene territory. The assembly was captured in the paintings by Božidar Jakec. The collection is exhibited in a hall and it means a unique show of historical events.
Commander Stane
41 Spodnje Pirniče, Slovenija
Franc Rozman, with the Partisan name Stane or Stane Mlinar, was a Slovene Partisan commander in II. World War. He was one of the most important actors of National Liberation Struggle. After his death he became a national hero, there is a song to honor him, a lot of elementary schools are named after him, also the barracks was named in his honor: The Barracks of Franc Rozman - Stane.
Battle of Dražgoše
Dražgoše, Škofja Loka, Slovenija
The Battle of Dražgoše was the II. World War battle between the Slovene Partisans and Nazi Germany armed forces, which took place between 9 January and 11 January 1942, in the village of Dražgoše, Slovenia. This battle was the first direct confrontation between the two. Fighting (both numerically and equipment-wise) vastly superior Germans the Partisan Cankar Battalion (numbering 240 combatants) suffered eight casualties throughout the entire battle. German forces suffered 26 casualties according to German documents. After three days of fighting, the Partisans were forced to leave the village. After the battle, the Partisans were pursued and killed by the Germans. More recent publications have cast the events in a different light, stating that the Partisans selected Dražgoše as a scene to challenge the German forces. On the one hand, the Battle of Dražgoše was lauded as a heroic act of defiance during the Communist era. It was also highly praised after Slovenia declared independence and introduced democracy.
Gestapo Prison in Dravograd
7 Trg 4. julija, Slovenija
A museum collection is on display in the cellar of the Dravograd municipal building, depicting the horrors of the Gestapo based in Dravograd during II. World War. The imprisoned partisans, their associates, and supporters, as well as mere suspects, were brutally tortured there, and some even died as a result. The survivors were shot as hostages in nearby forests or transported to concentration camps. Several houses and farm buildings were burnt down in the Dravograd area, with the locals killed or burnt alive.
The Gorge Dovžanova Soteska
Dovžanova soteska, Čadovlje pri Tržiču, Tržič, Slovenija
Partisan techniques were secret printeries, that reproduced partisan journal. In the year 1942, they start working in Gorenjska region. They print, radio reports, leaflets with slogans, flyers and other propaganda material. The Partisan techniques Carinthian partisan detachment has issued a journal of Gorenjska Partisan Detachment named Goremkslo Partisan. The Partisan press played an important role in the fight against occupation. It encouraged the population to join forces of the National Liberation Struggle.
Dolenjska Museum
Dolenjski muzej Novo mesto, Novo mesto, Slovenija
The Museum of Dolenjska's permanent contemporary history exhibition was set up in 1981. The exhibition covers the time from the first organized proletarian activity before II. World War to the liberation of Novo mesto on 8 May 1945, with the main focus on the activities during the war, the National Liberation Struggle in this part of Slovenia. An extra feature of the exhibition is photo albums and the memorial hall with the names of almost 3.000 fallen partisans, activists, and victims of the occupation from the inner Dolenjska area. The venue of the exhibition is one of the few museum buildings that were built specifically for that purpose in Slovenia after II. World War.
Exile Museum Bučka
2 Bučka, Slovenija
On the premises of the Culture House in Bučka village, there is a memorial room in the local collection of materials on the expulsion of its inhabitants during the war in Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1945. The exhibition shows moments of despair when people are leaving their homes, their stay in the German concentration camps and happy returns to the home village. A number of documents, letters, postcards, maps and some items that are used by people in exile, are on display. Also, the museum has a memorial book of testimonies of those who survived the horrors of the German concentration camps. Also, it displays collected works that describe the happenings during II. World War.
The Pauček Partisan Hospital
Legen, Slovenija
The covert partisan hospital complex comprised six units and was being built on the western Pohorje Hills from April 1944 until the end of the war by Dr. Ivan Kopač – Pauček (1916–1988), a partisan doctor, with the help of local activists, partisans, and the Liberation Front associates. Around 300 wounded people were treated in the hospital units. Despite German strongholds in the valley and numerous field searches, the occupation forces never found the hospital units. The preserved hospital unit with the secret name of Trška Gora in Legen, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Slovenj Gradec, is a cultural monument of national importance.
The Jesen Partisan Hospital
29 Veliko Tinje, Slovenija
The Jesen Partisan Hospital is the only renovated partisan hospital on the eastern Pohorje. In the second half of October 1944, they started to build the hospital, that is how the hospital got the name Jesen, which means Autumn. The first wounded were taken care on the 6. January 1945. Those were the fighters of Šercerjeve brigade. The transfer of the wounded to the hospital was very tough because they have to take the victims over long distances and cover the tracks so that the enemy would not find them. The hospital has preserved documents showing that 25 wounded were treated there. According to the statements of the medical team, there were many more patients. At the end of May 1945, they left the hospital and the wounded were transferred to a military hospital in the Maribor Gosposvetska road.
The Franja Partisan Hospital
Partizanska bolnica Franja, Dolenji Novaki, Slovenija
The Franja Partisan Hospital was a secret II. World War hospital at the Dolenji Novaki near Cerkno. It was run by the Slovene Partisans from December 1943 until the end of the war as part of a broadly organized resistance movement against the Fascist and Nazi occupying forces. Built in difficult and rugged terrain in the remote Pasica Gorge. The hospital was located deep inside German-occupied Europe, only a few hours from Austria and the central parts of the Third Reich. German military activity was frequent in the general region throughout the operation of the hospital. The hospital's entrance was hidden in the forest, and the hospital could only be reached by bridges. The bridges could be retracted if the enemy was in the vicinity. In order to preserve the secrecy necessary for a clandestine hospital to operate, the patients were blindfolded during transportation to the facility. The hospital was named after its manager and physician, Franja Bojc Bidovec, who began working there in February 1944. Extremely well equipped for a clandestine partisan operation, the hospital remained intact until the end of the war. It was designed to provide treatment to as many as 120 patients at a time. Most of its patients were wounded anti-Nazi resistance fighters, who could not go to regular hospitals because they would be arrested. Among its patients were many nationalities, including one wounded German enemy soldier who, after being treated, remained in the hospital as a member of the hospital staff. The hospital operated until 5 May 1945. It became a part of the Cerkno Museum in 1963. In 1997, an American Association of Air Force Veterans issued an award to Franja Hospital for saving and treating downed American pilot Harold Adams.
The Bela Krajina Museum
Belokranjski muzej Metlika, Metlika, Slovenija
The Bela Krajina Museum is located in Metlika Castle. The collection recalls important events in the first half of the 20th century. At the turn of the century, though economic conditions forced thousands of Bela Krajina people to emigrate in different countries, most of them in the United States of America. In former Yugoslavia, Bela Krajina was only slowly picking from backwardness. There was no industry, there was just a few craft workshops and coal mine Kanižarica. On the outbreak of II. World War Bela Krajina fell into the Italian occupation zone. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943, the area between the Kolpa river and Gorjanci mountains became a free partisan territory, this was a unique phenomenon, not only in the II. World War, but also in the entire history of warfare.
Base 20 Memorial Site
baza 20 kočevski rog
Near a village Dolenjske Toplice between karst doline and densely planted pine trees, the National Liberation Movement hid the partisan hospitals, printer shops, and workshops. They chose the location for the Command Headquarters of National Liberation Movement. The Base 20 was the main base of Central Commission Communistic Party of Slovenia and Executive Committee Liberation Front during II. World War in Kočevski Rog, from 1942 until 1944.
German Army Cemetery in Hunkovce
Hunkovce, Slovaška
The town Hunkovce is located near the main road across the Dukla Pass. It has a German II. World War cemetery, the place of the last rest for more than 3,000 German soldiers who died between 1944-45.
Memorial and Cemetery of Soviet Soldiers
Čsl. armády 364/7, 089 01 Svidník, Slovaška
Memorial and Cemetery of Soviet Soldiers in Svidnik, stands on a hill near the Battle of Dukla Museum. It is dedicated in honor the deaths of Russian soldiers during the Battle of Dukla in autumn 1944.
Memorial and Cemetery of Czech and Slovak Soldiers
Čsl. armády 364/7, 089 01 Svidník, Slovaška
Memorial and Cemetery of Czech and Slovak Soldiers is located on the main road across Dukla pass on the Polish-Slovakian border. Nearby is also a cemetery 563 soldiers of 1st Czechoslovak army.
Dukla Observation Tower
Dukla Observation Tower
The Observation Tower was built on the altitude 655 in the original place as the commander's observation post of General Ludvik Svoboda celebrating the 30th anniversary of Carpathian-Dukla Operation. It is 49 m high and was built on the site of an original wooden observation tower.
Open-Air Army Museum
Svidnik Open-Air Army Museum, Bardejovská, Svidník, Slovaška
The Dukla Pass is a strategically significant mountain pass in the Laborec Highlands of the Outer Eastern Carpathians, on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Today a peaceful rural area on the Slovak-Polish border, the Dukla Mountain Pass witnessed one of the biggest and most bloody battles of II. World War on the Eastern Front - The Battle of Dukla Pass, officially known as the "Carpathian Operation". Three months after the Allies landed in Normandy, on the other side of Europe burst a frantic battle between the Soviet Red Army supported by the Czechoslovak Corps and the defending German and Hungarian forces fortified in the Carpathian Mountains on the Slovak-Polish border. In a small town of Svidnik, there is an open-air museum. Here you will touch and see war machines, cannons, and vehicles, with most interesting exhibits being the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher, the tank T 34, the German armored carrier D-7, the soviet infantry mortar M-13 and the soviet transport airplane.
Valley of Death, Battle of Dukla Pass
Dukla Pass, Dukla, Poljska
The Valley of Death is located in the Dukla Pass just outside the village of Svidnik in the northeastern corner of Slovakia. In this valley several tanks and other remains from one of the great tank battles of II. World War, the Battle of the Dukla Pass, can still be seen. Some of the tanks are left almost where they stopped during the battle, while other have been turned into monuments. Most of the tanks are Russian model T-34.
Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad
Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad
This small but extremely moving museum commemorates perhaps the most harrowing period of the city's history, the 900-day Blockade of Leningrad which lasted from 8 September 1941 to 17 January 1944. For two-and-a-half years, the citizens of Leningrad suffered chronic privations and constant bombardment. Although the precarious Road of Life brought supplies across the ice of Lake Ladoga in the winter months, the food was woefully short, fuel was scarce in winter, and in summer the dire state of sanitation spread disease at epidemic levels. In all, over 700.000 civilians died during the Blockade. Their sacrifice and the extraordinary endurance of the survivors is etched on the conscience of the city, a source of immense pride and profound sorrow.
Central Museum of Armored Vehicles
Central Museum of armored vehicles, Moskovska, Rusija
The Kubinka Tank Museum is a military museum in Kubinka, near Moscow. The museum consists of open-air and indoor permanent exhibitions of many famous tanks and armored vehicles. It is also known to house and display many unique and one-of-a-kind military vehicles, such as the Nazi German Panzer VIII Maus super-heavy tank, the Troyanov heavy tank and a Karl-Gerät heavy self-propelled artillery, amongst other single or limited-production prototypes from the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
Monument to Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
Monument to Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, ploshchad' Pobedy, Sankt Peterburg, Rusija
The Memorial to Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square was unveiled solemnly on Victory Day: 9th May 1975. To commemorate the heroic efforts of the residents of Leningrad and the soldiers on the Leningrad Front to the repel the Nazis in the 900-day Siege of Leningrad during II. World War. Leningrad was never occupied by Germans.
Road of Life Museum
Kokkorevo, oblast Leningrad, Russia
The Road of Life was the ice road winter transport route across the frozen Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) while the perimeter in the siege was maintained by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces. The siege lasted from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944. Over one million citizens of Leningrad died from starvation, stress, exposure and bombardments. In addition to transporting thousands of tons of munitions and food supplies each year, the Road of Life also served as the primary evacuation route for the millions of Soviets trapped within the starving city. The road today forms part of the World Heritage Site.
Moscow Red Square
Red Square, Moscow, Rusija
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square itself is around 330 meters (1,080 feet) long and 70 meters (230 feet) wide, It separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod. The Kremlin and Red square were together recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. During the Soviet era, Red Square maintained its significance, becoming a focal point for the new state. Besides being the official address of the Soviet government, it was renowned as a showcase for military parades from 1919 onward. Lenin's Mausoleum would from 1924 onward be a part of the square complex, and also as the grandstand for important dignitaries in all national celebrations. In the 1930s, Kazan Cathedral and Iverskaya Chapel with the Resurrection Gates were demolished to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through the square. The buildings surrounding the Square are all significant in some respect. Nearby is a memorial for all fallen soldiers during the II. World War with an eternal flame, along the wall of the Kremlin, are ceramic cubes filled with the soil of Soviet cities Heroes.
Central Naval Museum
Central Naval Museum, Sankt Peterburg, Rusija
Central Naval Museum is a naval museum in St. Petersburg. It is one of the first museums in Russia and one of the world's largest naval museums, with a large collection of artifacts, models, and paintings reflecting the development of Russian naval traditions and the history of the Russian Navy. During the three centuries of its existence, the museum has collected more than 700.000 objects that reflect the most important events in the history of the fleet. There are over 13.000 items of naval equipment, 11.000 weapons and firearms, 62.000 works of art, 56.000 uniforms, awards and decorations, flags and banners, and 44.000 documents and manuscripts, together with around 300,000 photographs and negatives, and sheets of drawings. The museum has one of the world's richest collections of model ships, about 2,000 models, covering the history of Russian and foreign military shipbuilding.
Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery
Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery
The memorial complex was opened on 9 May 1960. About 420.000 civilians and 50.000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front (now St. Petersburg) were buried in 186 mass graves. Near the entrance, an eternal flame is located. A marble plate affirms that from 4 September 1941 to 22 January 1944 107.158 air bombs were dropped on the city, 148.478 shells were fired, 16.744 men died, 33.782 were wounded and 641.803 inhabitants died of starvation.
Museum of the Great Patriotic War
пл. Победы, 3, Moskva, Rusija, 121096
The Museum of the Great Patriotic War is a history museum located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Gora. The museum features exhibits and memorials concerning II. World War, known in Russia as "The Great Patriotic War". In the center of the museum is the Hall of Glory, a white marble room which features the names of over 11.800 of the recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction. A large bronze sculpture, the "Soldier of Victory," stands in the center of this hall. The upper floors feature numerous exhibits about the war, including dioramas depicting major battles, photographs of wartime activities, weapons and munitions, uniforms, awards, newsreels, letters from the battlefront, and model aircraft. In addition, the museum maintains an electronic "memory book" which attempts to record the name and fate of every Russian soldier who died in II. World War. The museum is set in Victory Park, a 2,424-hectare park on Poklonnaya Hill. The park features a large, paved plaza, fountains, and open space where military vehicles, cannons, and other apparatus from II. World War are displayed.
The Central Armed Forces Museum
The Central Armed Forces Museum
The Central Armed Forces Museum also is known as the Museum of the Soviet Army, is located in northern Moscow. Over its history the museum has managed to accumulate the most prominent and important military relics of the Soviet period, creating a record of its military past. In total, more than seven hundred thousand individual exhibits are now stored at the museum. The most valuable are displayed in the 25 halls of the main building. The period of the Russian Civil War includes a photocopy of the original decree outlining the creation of the RKKA which includes Lenin's corrections; a banner of the 195th infantry regiment into which Lenin was officially conscripted; weapons, documents, awards and personal belongings of famous Red Army men. The most prized display is that dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, which includes the Victory Banner as well as all of the front banners and the captured Nazi ones that were used during the Victory Parade in 1945. The Great Patriotic War differs from II. World War in that it began on 22 July 1941 with the German invasion of the Soviet Union. II. World War started on 1 September 1939 with the co-ordinated attacks on Germany and the Soviet Union on Poland. Part of the Great Patriotic War section is devoted to the Soviet Union's allies on the Western Front. There are examples of Soviet propaganda posters depicting Germany being crushed between the two fronts and maps of the Allied advance from Normandy into Germany. British and American small arms and uniforms are displayed. The last halls display the post-war and modern developments of the Soviet Army and Navy, the Cold War section contains wreckage from the U-2 spy-plane that was piloted by Gary Powers and the involvement of Soviet forces in Cold War conflicts. A special display is dedicated to the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan and recent combat operations in Chechnya.
The State Museum of the Defence of Moscow
Muzey oborony Moskvy, Moskva, Rusija
The State Museum of the Defence of Moscow was founded on 25 December 1979. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the site of the former villages Troparevo-Nikulino, where was in October-November 1941 a defensive line of the Moscow volunteer division. The main goal is to reenact the battle of Moscow as an intense historical event through the perception the ones involves and victims. It shows their sacrifice and heroic actions.
Museum of Artillery St. Petersburg
Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signals, Sankt Peterburg, Rusija
Artillery Museum is a state-owned military museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its collections, consisting of Russian military equipment, uniforms, and decorations, are hosted in the Kronverk of the Peter and Paul Fortress situated on the right bank of the Neva near Alexander Park.
Mayakovskaya Moscow Metro Station
Mayakovskaya, Triumfalnaya Square, Moscow, Rusija
Mayakovskaya is a Moscow Metro station. Considered to be one of the most beautiful in the system, it is a fine example of pre-II. World War Stalinist Architecture and one of the most famous Metro stations in the world. Located 33 meters beneath the surface, the station became famous during II. World War when an air raid shelter was located in the station. On the anniversary of the October Revolution, on 7 November 1941, Joseph Stalin addressed a mass assembly of party leaders and ordinary Muscovites in the central hall of the station. During II. World War, Stalin took residence in this place.
Cruiser Aurora
Cruiser Aurora, Petrogradskaya embankment, Sankt Peterburg, Rusija
Aurora is a 1900 Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. During the II. World War, the guns were taken from the ship and used in the land defense of Leningrad. The ship herself was docked in Oranienbaum port and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 September 1941, she was damaged and sunk in the harbor. In 1957 she became a museum ship.
The Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin, Moskva, Rusija
The Moscow Kremlin usually referred to as the Kremlin, is a fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River to the south, Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square to the east, and the Alexander Garden to the west. It is the best known of the kremlins, Russian citadels and includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. Also within this complex is the Grand Kremlin Palace. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow on 12 March 1918. Vladimir Lenin selected the Kremlin Senate as his residence. Joseph Stalin also had his personal rooms in the Kremlin. He was eager to remove all the "relics of the tsarist regime" from his headquarters. Golden eagles on the towers were replaced by shining Kremlin stars, while the wall near Lenin's Mausoleum was turned into the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. From three entrance doors, only one serves as an entrance for visitors.
National Military Museum Bucharest
National Military Museum, Strada Mircea Vulcănescu, Bucharest, Romunija
The National Military Museum in Bucharest, Romania, is one of the main historical museums in Romania. With its chronological rundown of how the country defended itself through the history from country's beginning until today. The museum shows us the most important battles for independents and freedom in Romanian history. It includes army documents, trophies and a great collection of firearms, including artillery, tanks, and air crafts.
Galicia Jewish Museum
Galicia Jewish Museum, Dajwór, Krakov, Poljska
Jewish Historical Institute
Jewish Historical Institute, Tłomackie, Varšava, Poljska
The Jewish Historical Institute was created in 1947 as a continuation of the Central Jewish Historical Commission. Primarily dealing with the history of Jews in Poland. The institute is a repository of documentary materials relating to the Jewish historical presence in Poland. It is also a center for academic research, study and the dissemination of knowledge about the history and culture of Polish Jewry. The most valuable part of the collection is the Warsaw Ghetto Archive, known as the Ringelblum Archive. It contains about 6.000 documents, about 30.000 individual pieces of paper. Other important collections concerning II. World War include testimonies (mainly of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust), memoirs and diaries, documentation of the Joint and Jewish Self-Help, and documents from the Jewish Councils. The section on the documentation of Jewish historical sites holds about 40 thousand photographs concerning Jewish life and culture in Poland.
Museum of Independence
Museum of Independence, aleja Solidarności, Varšava, Poljska
Pawiak was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Poland. The Pawiak prison got the name after aa street named Pawia, which in polish means "Peacock Street". Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939 it was turned into a German Gestapo prison, and then part of the Nazi extermination camp system. Approximately 100.000 men and 200.000 women passed through the prison, mostly members of the Armia Krajowa, political prisoners and civilians taken as hostages in street round-ups. An estimated 37.000 were executed and 60.000 sent to German death and concentration camps. On August 21 an unknown number of remaining prisoners were shot and the buildings burned and blown up by the Nazis.
Underground Szczecin
Kolumba 1/16, Szczecin, Poljska
The shelter was built by the Germans in 1941 as an anti-aircraft shelter for civilians. Shelter is 5 floor deep. Its ferroconcrete walls are 3 meters thick, a ceiling is 2,80 meters thick. The longest corridor is about 100 meters long. The total surface of shelter is 2.500 m2 and 1.900 m2 useful surface. There was enough space for 5.000 inhabitants. After the war, the shelter could be used as a nuclear shelter.
Wolf's Lair
Wolf's Lair, Kętrzyn, Poljska
Wolf's Lair was Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in II. World War. The complex, which would become one of Führer Headquarters. It was built for the start of Operation Barbarossa (Invasion of Soviet Union) in 1941. Despite the security, the most notable assassination attempt against Hitler was made at Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944. In the summer of 1944, work began to enlarge and reinforce many of the Wolf's Lair original buildings. However, the work was never completed because of the rapid advance of the Red Army during the Baltic Offensive in autumn 1944. On 25 January 1945, the complex was blown up and abandoned 48 hours before the arrival of Soviet forces.
Westerplatte, Gdansk, Poljska
The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle in the Invasion of Poland and marked the start of the II. World War in Europe. Beginning on 1 September 1939, German naval forces and soldiers and Danzig police assaulted the Polish Military Transit Depot on the peninsula of Westerplatte, in the harbor of the Free City of Danzig. The site is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments.
Lubuskie War Museum
Lubuskie Muzeum Wojskowe, Świdnica, Poljska
Lubuskie War Museum has an enormous collection polish war gear from II. World War. The collection includes more than 30 airplanes/helicopters and more than 100 pieces heavy army gear as tanks, rocket systems, guns, etc. Museum also has a collection of old handguns and uniforms.
Warsaw Memorial Route of Jewish Martyrdom and Struggle
Zamenhofa 10, Warszawa, Poljska
The Memorial Route of Jewish Martyrdom and Struggle in Warsaw is located the Muranów district to commemorate people, events and places of the Warsaw Ghetto during the German occupation of Poland.
Warsaw Museum of The Polish Army
Museum of the Polish Army, Aleje Jerozolimskie, Varšava, Poljska
Museum of the Polish Army is a museum in Warsaw documenting the military aspects of the history of Poland. It occupies a wing of the building of the Polish National Museum. It's Warsaw's second largest museum and the largest collection of military objects in Poland. The collection illustrates a thousand years of Polish military history - from the 10th century to the II. World War.
Warsaw Uprising Museum
Warsaw Uprising Museum, Grzybowska, Varšava, Poljska
The Warsaw Uprising was a major II. World War operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. The uprising was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces. However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support. The Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement during II. World War. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide plan, Operation Tempest, when the Soviet Army approached Warsaw. The main Polish objectives were to drive the German occupiers from the city and help with the larger fight against Germany and the Axis powers. Secondary political objectives were to liberate Warsaw before the Soviets, to underscore Polish sovereignty by empowering the Polish Underground State before the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation could assume control.
Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto Street, Ramla, Izrael
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all the Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during II. World War. It was established in the Muranów neighborhood of the Polish capital between October and 16 November 1940, within the new General Government territory of German-occupied Poland. There were over 400.000 Jews imprisoned there, at an area of 3,4 km2 (1,3 sq mi). Mass deportations started in the summer of 1942. Earlier that year, during the Wannsee Conference, the Final Solution was set in motion. About 254.000 Warsaw Ghetto inmates were sent to Treblinka to be murdered.
Treblinka Extermination Camp
Muzeum Walki i Męczeństwa w Treblince, Kosów Lacki, Poljska
Treblinka was an extermination camp, built by Nazis in occupied Poland during II. World War. The camp operated between 23 July 1942 and 19 October 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the deadliest phase of the Final Solution. During this time, it is estimated that around 800.000 Jews were killed.
Stutthof Concentration Camp
Muzeum Stutthof, Muzealna, Sztutowo, Poljska
Stutthof was a German concentration camp built in a secluded, wet, and wooded area near the small town of Stutthof, 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Gdańsk. Stutthof was the first concentration camp outside German borders, in operation from 2 September 1939, and the last camp liberated by the Allies on 9 May 1945. More than 85.000 victims died in the camp out of as many as 110.000 inmates deported there.
Sobibór Extermination Camp
Muzeum Byłego Obozu Zagłady w Sobiborze, Włodawa, Poljska
Sobibór was a Nazi extermination camp located on the outskirts of the village of Sobibór. Its official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibór. Jews from Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, as well as few not-Jewish Soviet prisoners-of-war, were transported to Sobibór by rail. Most were suffocated in gas chambers fed by the exhaust of a large petrol engine. Up to 200.000 people were murdered at Sobibór.
Majdanek Concentration Camp
The State Museum of Majdanek, Lublin, Poljska
Majdanek or KL Lublin was a Nazi German Extermination camp established on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in II. World War. Although initially proposed for forced labor rather than extermination, the camp was used to kill people on an industrial scale during Operation Reinhard, the German plan to murder all Jews within their own General Government territory of Poland.
Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp
Muzeum Gross-Rosen w Rogoźnicy, Rogoźnica, Poljska
Gross-Rosen concentration camp was a Nazi German network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated during II. World War. The main camp was located in the village of Gross-Rosen not far from the border with occupied Poland, in the modern-day Rogoźnica in Poland directly on the rail line between the towns of Jawor and Strzegom. At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps located in eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and on the territory of occupied Poland. The population of all Gross-Rosen camps at that time accounted for 11% of the total number of inmates trapped in the Nazi concentration camp system.
Chełmno Extermination Camp
Chełmno 59A, 62-660 Chełmno, Poljska
Chełmno extermination camp built during II World War, was a Nazi German extermination camp situated 50 kilometers (31 mi) north of the metropolitan city of Łódź, near the Polish village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Germany annexed the area into the new territory of Reichsgau Wartheland, aiming at its complete "Germanization", the camp was set up specifically to carry out ethnic cleansing through mass killings. It operated from 8 December 1941 parallel to Operation Reinhard during the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, and again from 23 June 1944 to 18 January 1945 during the Soviet counter-offensive. Polish Jews of the Łódź Ghetto and the local inhabitants of Reichsgau Wartheland (Warthegau) were exterminated there. In 1943 modifications were made to the camp's killing methods because the reception building was already dismantled. At a very minimum 152.000 people were killed in the camp, though the West German prosecution, citing Nazi figures during the Chełmno trials of 1962–65, laid charges for at least 180.000 victims. The Polish official estimates, in the early postwar period, have suggested much higher numbers, up to a total of 340.000 men, women, and children. The victims were killed with the use of gas vans. Chełmno was a place of early experimentation in the development of Nazi extermination program, continued in subsequent phases of the Holocaust throughout occupied Poland. Chełmno was set up by SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Lange, following his gas van experiments in the murder of 1.558 Polish prisoners of the Soldau concentration camp. Russian troops captured the town of Chełmno on 17 January 1945. By then, the Nazis had already destroyed evidence of the camp's existence leaving no prisoners behind. One of the camp survivors who was fifteen years old at the time testified that only three Jewish males had escaped successfully from Chełmno. In June 1945 two survivors testified at the trial of camp personnel in Łódź. The three best-known survivors testified about Chełmno at the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Two survivors testified also at the camp personnel trials conducted in 1962–65 by West Germany.
Bełżec Extermination Camp
Muzeum – Miejsce Pamięci w Bełżcu, Bełżec, Poljska
Bełżec was the first of the Nazi extermination camps created for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to eliminate Polish Jewry, a key part of the "Final Solution" which entailed the murder of some 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The camp operated from 17 March 1942 to the end of December 1942. It was situated about 0.5 km (0.31 mi) south of the local railroad station of Bełżec in German-occupied Poland. The burning of exhumed corpses on five open-air grids and bone crushing continued until March 1943. Between 430.000 and 500.000 Jews are believed to have been murdered by the SS at Bełżec. Only seven Jews performing slave labor with the camp's Sonderkommando survived II. World War and only one of them, became known from his own postwar testimony submitted officially. The lack of viable witnesses who could testify about the camp's operation is the primary reason why Bełżec is so little known despite the enormous number of victims.
Auschwitz Extermintaion Camp
Więźniów Oświęcimia 20, Oświęcim, Poljska
Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of German Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It consisted of: Auschwitz I (the original camp), Auschwitz II–Birkenau (a combination concentration/extermination camp), Auschwitz III–Monowitz (a labor camp to staff an IG Farben factory), 45 satellite camps Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners, who began to arrive in May 1940. The first extermination of prisoners took place in September 1941, and Auschwitz II–Birkenau went on to become a major site of the Nazi Final Solution to the Jewish Question. From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe, where they were killed with the pesticide Zyklon B. An estimated 1.3 million people were sent to the camp, of whom at least 1.1 million died. Around 90 percent of those killed were Jewish; approximately 1 in 6 Jews killed in the Holocaust died at the camp. Others deported to Auschwitz included 150.000 Poles, 23.000 Romani and Sinti, 15.000 Soviet prisoners of war, 400 Jehovah's Witnesses, and tens of thousands of others of diverse nationalities, including an unknown number of homosexuals. Many of those not killed in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labor, infectious diseases, individual executions, and medical experiments. One hundred forty-four prisoners are known to have escaped from Auschwitz successfully, and on 7 October 1944, two Sonderkommando units, prisoners assigned to staff the gas chambers, launched a brief, unsuccessful uprising. As Soviet troops approached Auschwitz in January 1945, most of its population was evacuated and sent on a death march. The prisoners remaining at the camp were liberated on 27 January 1945, a day now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The camp became a dominant symbol of the Holocaust. In 1947, Poland founded the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, and in 1979.
Schindler's Factory in Krakow
Lipowa 4E, 30-702 Kraków, Poljska
Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory a former metal item factory in Kraków is now host to two museums: the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, on the former workshops, and a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków, situated at ul. Lipowa 4 in the administrative building of the former enamel factory known as Oskar Schindler's Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (DEF). Operating here before DEF was the first Malopolska factory of enamelware and metal products limited liability company, instituted in March 1937. On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the II. World War broke out. On 6 September, German troops entered Kraków. It was also probably around that time in which Oskar Schindler, a Sudeten German who is a member of the NSDAP and an agent of the Abwehr, arrived in Kraków. Using the power of the German occupation forces in the capacity of a trustee, he took over the German kitchenware shop on ul. Krakowska, and in November 1939, on the power of the decision of the Trusteeship Authority he took over the receivership of the "Rekord" company in Zablocie. He also produced ammunition shells, so that his factory would be classed as an essential part of the war effort. He managed to build a subcamp of the Płaszów forced labor camp in the premises where "his" Jews had scarce contact with camp guards. In the face of the Soviet Red Army's advances, Schindler relocated, with the blessing of the German authorities, his munitions business, and its workforce in late 1944 to the branch of Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp in Bohemia's Brunnlitz. About 1,200 Jewish prisoners from Krakow survived there to be liberated by the Soviets on 8 May 1945.
Project Riese
Owl Mountains, Bielawa, Poljska
Riese is the code name for a construction project of Nazi Germany in 1943–1945, consisting of seven underground structures located in the Owl Mountains and Książ Castle in Lower Silesia. None of them were finished, all are in different states of completion with only a small percentage of tunnels reinforced by concrete. In the presence of the increasing Allied air raids, Nazi Germany relocated a large part of its strategic armaments production into safer regions including the District of Sudetenland. Plans to protect critical infrastructure also involved a transfer of the arms factories to underground bunkers and construction of the air-raid shelters for government officials.
Miedzyrzecz Underground Fortifications
Miedzyrzecki Fortified Region, Międzyrzecz, Poljska
Międzyrzecki Rejon Umocniony or Międzyrzecz Fortification Region was a fortified military defense line of Nazi Germany between the Oder and Warta rivers. Built in 1934–44, it was the most technologically advanced fortification system of Nazi Germany and remains one of the largest and the most interesting systems of this type in the world today. It consists of around 100 concrete defense structures partially interconnected by a network of underground tunnels. Some of the forts and tunnels are available for visiting. The most interesting part is the central section, which begins in the south with the so-called Boryszyn Loop near the village of Boryszyn and extends about 12 km (8 mi) to the north. In the central section, the bunkers are interconnected with an underground system of tunnels, 32 kilometers (19 mi) long and up to 40 meters (34 yd) deep. In the underground system, there are also railway stations, workshops, engine rooms, and barracks.
Museum of Allied Prisoners-of-War Martyrdom
Muzeum Obozów Jenieckich, Lotników Alianckich, Żagań, Poljska
From the autumn of 1939 until autumn 1942 there was a complex of prisoner-of-war Nazi camps in Zagan and its neighborhood. The camp known as Stalag VIIIC was the biggest camp in the 8th Military Divison of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. From the autumn of 1939 until autumn 1942 there was a complex of prisoner-of-war Nazi camps in Zagan and its neighborhood. The camp known as Stalag VIIIC including its branches was the biggest camp in the 8th Military Divison of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. Among its prisoners were: French, Russian, Belgian, Italian, Yugoslavian and Polish war prisoners. In May 1942 Stalag Luft III, a prisoner-of-war camp for the British and American airmen, was opened in the neighborhood of Stalag VI-IIC. The prisoners of this camp attempted to escape. The greatest flight happened at night on March 24/25, 1944. However, only three prisoners managed to escape and the remaining 73 were captured. As soon as Hitler got to know about it, he had a briefing with Keitel, Himmler, and Goering. A decision was madê to shoot the fifty fugitives captured. The epilog of the "great runaway" took place before the British Military Court of Justice in Hamburg in 1947, Fourteen of the accused were sentenced to death, whereas the remaining four were sentenced to imprisonment of many years. In front of the museum, there is a sculpture from 1961 by Mieczysław Walter which commemorates the victims of crimes by German Nazi Wehrmacht soldiers.
Sochaczew Museum
Museum of Sochaczew's area and Battle on Bzura, Plac Tadeusza Kościuszki, Sochaczew, Poljska
The museum is located in Sochaczew town 60 kilometers west of Warsaw. It own the greatest collection of weapons, equipment, uniforms and other relics from September Campaign of 1939, especially connected with the Bzura River Battle, the biggest Ally offensive engagement against Wehrmacht in early years of II. World War.
Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Anielewicza, Varšava, Poljska
The Museum stands in what was once the heart of Jewish Warsaw an area which the Nazis turned into the Warsaw Ghetto during II. World War. Occupying around 4.000 m2 (ca. 43.000 ft2), the Museum's Core Exhibition will immerse visitors in the world of Polish Jews, from their arrival in Po-lin as traveling merchants in medieval times until today. The history of the Jews is shown in 8 galleries. One of the gallery shows the tragedy of the Holocaust during the German occupation of Poland, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 90% of the 3.3 million Polish Jews. The gallery also covers the horrors experienced by the non-Jewish majority population of Poland during II. World War as well as their reactions and responses to the extermination of Jews.
Polish Resistance Home Army Museum
Wita Stwosza 12, Krakov, Poljska
The Polish resistance movement in II. World War, with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistances in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defense against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European anti-fascist resistance movement. It is most notable for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front, providing military intelligence to the British, and for saving more Jewish lives during the Holocaust than any other Allied organization or government. It was a part of the Polish Underground State. The permanent exhibition presents the history of Polish Underground State and Home Army in their complexity. The main section of the exhibition begins with the so-called September Campaign (Invasion of Poland). The division of Poland into two occupied zones, German and Soviet, consists of several sections and are well documented with photographic displays. Day-by-day life, both civilian and military, and the policy of both occupants is shown in the rich narrative scenography of the exhibition, based on documents and artifacts such as uniforms, munitions, many documents, and decorations.
The Museum of Coastal Defence
Helska, 84-150 Hel, Poljska
The Museum of Coastal Defence in Hel was established in buildings formerly occupied by the German "Schleswig-Holstein" 406 mm battery: the B2 gun emplacement and the range-finder tower. The aim of the museum is to show the military history of Hel and the Polish Navy. A number of thematic exhibitions show the heroism of the defense of Hel in 1939, and the development of the Polish Navy through history. The development of naval armaments and communications over the last fifty years is shown in detail.
Dukla Museum
Muzeum Historyczne - Pałac w Dukli, Trakt Węgierski, Dukla, Poljska
The historical museum in a palace of Dukla is a combination of small local heritage and II. World War with a highlight of the year 1944 and the Battle of Dukla Pass. This was one of the last major tank battles of II. World War, which concluded the full liberation of Ukraine. The museum includes a huge collection of artillery weaponry and a collection of weapons small caliber, uniforms and army gear.
Memorial Katyn
Świętokrzyskie Mountains, Bodzentyn, Poljska
The Katyn massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, a Soviet secret police organization (NKVD) in April and May 1940. Though the killings took place at several different locations, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered. The massacre was prompted by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all captive members of the Polish officer corps, dated 5 March 1940, approved by the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, including its leader, Joseph Stalin. The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000. The victims were executed in the Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons, and elsewhere. Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers imprisoned during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, and the rest were arrested Polish intelligentsia that the Soviets deemed to be intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, officials, and priests.
Mauerwald Mamerki Bunkers
Mamerki Bunkry, Węgorzewo, Poljska
Command and Communication Center Mauerwald (OKH) was a headquarters of a German Army Supreme Command, not far from Mamry Lake. OKH Mauerwald is a system of bunkers and military posts belonging to German Supreme Command during the years 1941 and 1944. It was built around 20 km northeast from Wolfschanze by organization Todt. Similar as Wolfschanze, but bigger, the area covered more than 200 structures with more than 30 reinforced buildings and bunkers. When Adolf Hitler was in Wolfschanze, the Wehrmacht and other Chiefs of General Staff were in Mauerwald. You can read more about most famous locations of II. World War in northern Poland in our trip book.
Lvov, Lviv Oblast, Ukrajina
Lviv is an administrative center in western Ukraine with more than a millennium of history as a settlement and over seven centuries as a city. Prior to the creation of the modern state of Ukraine, Lviv had been part of numerous states and empires, including, under the name Lwów, Poland and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the name Lemberg, the Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian Empires, the short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic after I. World War, Poland again and the Soviet Union. After signing a neutrality pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1. September 1939. The German 1st Mountain Division reached the suburbs of Lviv on 12 September and began a siege. The city's garrison was ordered to hold out at all cost since the strategic position prevented the enemy from crossing into the Romanian Bridgehead. Also, a number of Polish troops from Central Poland were trying to reach the city and organize a defense there to buy time to regroup. Thus a 10-day-long defense of the city started and later became known as yet another Battle of Lwów. On 19 September an unsuccessful Polish diversionary attack under was launched. Soviet troops, part of the force which had invaded on 17 September under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, replaced the Germans around the city. On 21 September Polish troops formally surrendered to Soviet troops under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko. On 22 September 1939 Poland officially capitulated. Germans and Soviets divided Poland into two parts, the Eastern part fell in Soviet part and the Western part became a part of the Third Reich. German and Soviet soldiers gazed into their eyes and celebrated the victory with a cigarette.
Central Prisoner-of-War Museum Lambinowice
Centralne Muzeum Jeńców Wojennych, Muzealna, Łambinowice, Poljska
Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf was a notorious German Army prisoner of war camp, later renamed Stalag-344, located near the small town of Lamsdorf, now called Łambinowice, in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French prisoners in I. World War. At this same location, there had been a prisoner camp during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. After the war, the camp was used for German prisoners-of-war and it renamed in Łambinowice Camp. The museum collection includes archives and artifacts, also a great collection of books. The collection is really rich and connected to polish prisoners-of-war.
Field Cathedral of the Polish Army
Katedra Polowa Wojska Polskiego, Długa, Varšava, Poljska
The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, also known as the Church of Our Lady Queen of the Polish Crown, is the main garrison church of Warsaw and the representative cathedral of the entire Polish Army. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the cathedral was one of the churches frequently targeted by the Luftwaffe. Heavy fighting was also fighting for the ruins, as the preserved western tower was used as an observation post. At the same time, the cellars of the monastery and the crypts beneath the church were used as a provisional field hospital. The remnants of the church, along with the hospital, were destroyed by German aerial bombardment on 20 August 1944.
Dolnych Wałów, Glivice, Poljska
The Gleiwitz incident was a false flag operation by Nazi forces posing as Poles on 31 August 1939, against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (since 1945: Gliwice, Poland) on the eve of II. World War in Europe. The goal was to use the staged attack as a pretext for invading Poland. This provocation was the best-known of several actions in Operation Himmler, a series of unconventional operations undertaken by the SS in order to serve specific propaganda goals of Nazi Germany at the outbreak of the war. It was intended to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany in order to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland.
Gdansk, Poljska
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 after having signed a non-aggression pact (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) with the Soviet Union in late August. The German attack began in Gdansk, with a bombardment of Polish positions at Westerplatte by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, and the landing of German infantry on the peninsula.
Hoek Fort 1881
Fort 1881, Stationsweg, Hoek van Holland, Nizozemska
The museum is located in ex-fort Hoek van Holland. This fort was primarily built as a defensive system for the new waterway against enemies. More than 100 years old building with many hallways, staircases, and rooms, which gives a visitor a good look into a life of soldiers in the fort.
Westerbork Transit Camp
Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork, Oosthalen, Hooghalen, Nizozemska
The Westerbork transit camp was a II. World WarNazi refugee, detention, and transit camp in Hooghalen, ten kilometers (6.2 miles) north of Westerbork. It functions during the II. World War was to assemble Romani and Dutch Jews for transport to other Nazi concentration camps.
Herzogenbusch Vught Concentration Camp
Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught, Lunettenlaan, Vught, Nizozemska
Herzogenbusch concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Herzogenbusch was, with Natzweiler-Struthof in occupied France, the only concentration camp run directly by the SS in western Europe outside of Germany. The camp was first used in 1943 and held 31.000 prisoners. 749 prisoners died in the camp, and the others were transferred to other camps shortly before the camp was liberated by the Allied Forces in 1944. After the war, the camp was used as a prison for Germans and Dutch collaborators. Today there is a museum with exhibitions and a national monument remembering the camp and its victims.
Amersfoort Concentration Camp
Nationaal Monument Kamp Amersfoort, Loes van Overeemlaan, Bosgebied, Leusden, Nizozemska
Amersfoort concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp in Amersfoort, Netherlands. The official name was Police Transit Camp Amersfoort. During the years of 1941 to 1945, over 35.000 prisoners were kept here. Amersfoort was a transit camp, where prisoners were sent to places like Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Neuengamme. It was on July 15, 1942, that the Germans began deporting Dutch Jews from Amersfoort, Vught, and Westerbork to concentration camps and death camps such as Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Theresienstadt.
Rotterdam War and Resistance
Museum Rotterdam '40-'45 NU, Coolhaven, Rotterdam, Nizozemska
The city of Rotterdam played important role in the II. World War. It became unrecognized on 14 May 1940, when it was bombed by Nazi forces. Called Rotterdam Blitz was the aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe. Later Germans occupied the Netherlands and Allied forces carried out a number of operations over Rotterdam. These included bombing strategic installations, leaflet dropping and during the last week of the war, the dropping off emergency food supplies. The city was burst in shreds. 850 people lost their lives, 25.000 homes and 11.000 buildings were razed to the ground, and more than 80.000 inhabitants without the roof over their head. The museum is not just a monument but also serves as a reminder of injustice that is happening in the world today.
Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery
Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Van Limburg Stirumweg, Oosterbeek, Nizozemska
The Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, more commonly known as the Airborne Cemetery, is a cemetery in Oosterbeek, near Arnhem. The cemetery is home to 1.759 graves from the II. World War. In Operation Market-Garden Allies lost between 15.130 and 17.200 soldiers. Allied victims are buried in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery.
Museumpark 1A, 5825 AM Overloon, Nizozemska
The Battle of Overloon was a battle fought in the II. World War battle between Allied forces and the German Army which took place in and around the village of Overloon in the southeast of the Netherlands between 30 September and 18 October 1944. Operation Aintree resulted in an Allied victory. The Allies went on to liberate the town of Venray. The museum contains many vehicles, tanks, warcraft, documentation, all connected with the Battle of Overloon.
Netherlands American Cemetery
Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Nizozemska
The II. World War Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial is a war cemetery which lies in the village of Margraten six miles (10 km) east of Maastricht, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. The tall memorial tower can be seen before reaching the cemetery which covers 65.5 acres (26.5 ha). From the cemetery entrance through the Court of Honor with its pool reflecting the chapel tower. There is visitors' building and the museum with its three engraved operations maps describing the achievements of the American Armed Forces in the area during II. World War.
National Liberation Museum
Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum 1944-1945, Wylerbaan, Groesbeek, Nizozemska
The Liberation Museum is set in the beautiful landscape near Nijmegen, Arnhem and the German border. Operation Market-Garden, the largest airborne operation in history took place here in September 1944 and Operation Veritable, the Rhineland Offensive, the final road to freedom in Europe, started from here in February 1945. The museum brings the historical events of the liberation by the American, British, Canadian and Polish troops back to life. In the museum, you live through the period preceding the war, experience the occupation, celebrate the liberation and witness the rebuilding of the Netherlands and Europe after the war. The museum with its presentations, models, movies and audio recordings, brings the war back to life and offers a unique exhibition.
Wings of Liberation Museum
Bevrijdende Vleugels Museum, Sonseweg, Best, Nizozemska
On 17. September 1944 this area was a place of Operation Market-Garden, also here, 101st American paratroopers landed. The museum exhibits a liberation of south Limburg, Operation Market-Garden, Operation Barbarossa in Russia. An exhibition contains war gear and vehicles, including an airplane Dakota and Lockheed TF-104g Starfighter.
Dutch Resistance Museum
Verzetsmuseum, Plantage Kerklaan, Amsterdam, Nizozemska
The Dutch Resistance Museum, chosen as the best historical museum of the Netherlands, tells the story of the Dutch people in II. World War. From 14 May 1940 to 5 May 1945, the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany. Permanent exhibit of the museum recreates the atmosphere of the streets of Amsterdam during the German occupation. Big photographs, old posters, objects, films and sounds from that horrible time, help to recreate the scene. The background of the Holocaust is visualized to the visitor. This is an exhibition about the everyday life during that time, but also about exceptional historical events, the ·resistance of the population against the Nazis and heroism.
Nijmegen Bridge
Valkhofpark, Nijmegen, Nizozemska
Following D-day invasion and slow progress of Allied forces. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, began to contemplate the Allies' next move. General Omar Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group in the Allied center, advocated in favor of a drive into the Saar to pierce the German Westwall or Siegfried Line defenses and open Germany to invasion. Field Marshal Montgomery's strategic goal was to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr, in a pincer movement. The northern end of the pincer would circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line giving easier access into Germany. The aim of Operation Market Garden was to establish the northern end of a pincer ready to project deeper into Germany. Allied forces would project north from Belgium, 60 miles (97 km) through the Netherlands, across the Rhine and consolidate north of Arnhem on the Dutch/German border ready to close the pincer. The operation made massed use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and allow a rapid advance by armored ground units to consolidate north of Arnhem. The operation required the seizure of the bridges across the Maas (Meuse River), two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) together with crossings over several smaller canals and tributaries. At the furthest point of the airborne operation at Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division encountered initial strong resistance. The delays in capturing the bridges at Son and Nijmegen gave time for German forces, including the 9th and 10th SS panzer divisions who were present at that time, to organize and retaliate. In the ensuing battle, only a small force managed to capture the north end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them, the paratroopers were overrun on 21 September. The remainder of the 1st Airborne Division were trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, having to be evacuated on 25 September. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine and the river remained a barrier to their advance into Germany until offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945. The failure of Market Garden to form a foothold over the Rhine ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944. The 82nd Airborne Division's assault on the Nijmegen bridge in September 1944 received the nickname "Little Omaha" due to the heavy casualties and became a significant turning point in the battle. War reporter Bill Downs described it as: "A single, isolated battle that ranks in magnificence and courage with Guam, Tarawa, Omaha Beach. A story that should be told to the blowing of bugles and the beating of drums for the men whose bravery made the capture of this crossing over the Waal possible."
John Frost Bridge
John Frost Bridge, Arnhem, Nizozemska
Following D-day invasion and slow progress of Allied forces. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, began to contemplate the Allies' next move. General Omar Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group in the Allied center, advocated in favor of a drive into the Saar to pierce the German Westwall or Siegfried Line defenses and open Germany to invasion. Field Marshal Montgomery's strategic goal was to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr, in a pincer movement. The northern end of the pincer would circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line giving easier access into Germany. The aim of Operation Market Garden was to establish the northern end of a pincer ready to project deeper into Germany. Allied forces would project north from Belgium, 60 miles (97 km) through the Netherlands, across the Rhine and consolidate north of Arnhem on the Dutch/German border ready to close the pincer. The operation made massed use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and allow a rapid advance by armored ground units to consolidate north of Arnhem. The operation required the seizure of the bridges across the Maas (Meuse River), two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) together with crossings over several smaller canals and tributaries. At the furthest point of the airborne operation at Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division encountered initial strong resistance. The delays in capturing the bridges at Son and Nijmegen gave time for German forces, including the 9th and 10th SS panzer divisions who were present at that time, to organize and retaliate. In the ensuing battle, only a small force managed to capture the north end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them, the paratroopers were overrun on 21 September. The remainder of the 1st Airborne Division were trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, having to be evacuated on 25 September. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine and the river remained a barrier to their advance into Germany until offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945. The failure of Market Garden to form a foothold over the Rhine ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944.
Bunker Museum
Badweg 38, IJmuiden, Nizozemska
All around the city of Ijmuiden are bunkers from the II. World War, built by German forces as a part of huge defensive system Atlantic Wall.
Arnhem War Museum
Kemperbergerweg, Arnhem, Nizozemska
The Arnhem War Museum is a private museum dedicated to battle of Arnhem. This collection consists of Allied and German documents, uniforms, weapons, and many non-military objects, for example, newspapers, which give an impression of the daily life of that time.
Airbone Museum Hartenstein
Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', Utrechtseweg, Oosterbeek, Nizozemska
The Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein' is dedicated to the Battle of Arnhem in which the Allied Forces attempted to form a bridgehead on the northern banks of the Rhine river in September 1944. Hartenstein served as the headquarters of the British 1st Airborne Division. Operation Market Garden, 17–25 September 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the II. World War. Operation Market Garden, which includes the Battle of Arnhem, in September 1944, was the largest airborne battle in history. It was also the only real attempt by the Allies to use airborne forces in a strategic role in Europe. It was a massive engagement, with its principal combatants being 21 Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for the Allies and Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model for the Germans. It involved thousands of aircraft and armored vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of troops and was the only major Allied defeat of the Northwest European campaign.
Hartenstein Airborne Monument
Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', Utrechtseweg, Oosterbeek, Nizozemska
Operation Market Garden, 17–25 September 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the II. World War. Operation Market Garden, which includes the Battle of Arnhem, in September 1944, was the largest airborne battle in history. It was also the only real attempt by the Allies to use airborne forces in a strategic role in Europe. It was a massive engagement, with its principal combatants being 21 Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for the Allies and Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model for the Germans. It involved thousands of aircraft and armored vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of troops and was the only major Allied defeat of the Northwest European campaign.
Anne Frank House
Anne Frank Huis, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, Nizozemska
Annelies Marie Frank was a German-born diarist and writer. One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously following the publication of her diary, with documents of her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in II. World War. The museum preserves the hiding place, has a permanent exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, and has an exhibition space about all forms of persecution and discrimination.
Westwall Museum
Westwallmuseum, Irrel, Nemčija
The museum on the french-german border between the cities Metz, Saarbrücken, Karlsruhe and Strasbourg. This was the place of bloody clashes in the 19th and 20th century. Before and during the II. World War the line was focused on the defensive line "Ligne Maginot" and on the German site "Siegfried line" or "Westwall".
Torgau, Nemčija
Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. The town is the place where during the II. World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met the forces of the Soviet Union coming from the east during the invasion of Germany on 25 April 1945, which is now remembered as "Elbe Day". marking an important step toward the end of II. World War in Europe. This contact between the Soviets, advancing from the East, and the Americans, advancing from the West, meant that the two powers had effectively cut Germany in two.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, Straße der Nationen, Oranienburg, Nemčija
Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 until the end of the Third Reich. After II. World War, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD special camp until 1950. The remaining buildings and grounds are now open to the public as a museum. Sachsenhausen was the site of Operation Bernhard, one of the largest currency counterfeiting operations ever recorded. The Germans forced inmate artisans to produce forged American and British currency, as part of a plan to undermine the United Kingdom's and United States' economies. There were over one billion pounds in counterfeit banknotes. The Germans introduced fake British £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes into circulation in 1943. Furthermore, the Bank of England never found them. A major user of Sachsenhausen labor was Heinkel, the aircraft manufacturer, using between 6,000 and 8,000 prisoners on their He 177 bomber. Prisoners also worked in a brick factory, which some say was supposed to supply the building blocks for Hitler's dream city, Germania, which was to be the capital of the world once the Nazis took over.
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp
Mahn- u. Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück |Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten, Straße der Nationen, Fürstenberg/Havel, Nemčija
Ravensbrück was a women's concentration camp during II. World War, near the village of Ravensbrück, north Germany. Construction of the camp began in November 1938 and was unusual in that the camp was intended to hold exclusively female inmates. The facility opened in May 1939 and underwent major expansion following the invasion of Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, some 130.000 to 132.000 female prisoners passed through the Ravensbrück camp system. Many of the slave labor prisoners were employed by the German electrical engineering company.
Neuengamme Concentration Camp
Neuengamme concentration camp Memorial, Neuengammer Hausdeich Brücke, Hamburg, Nemčija
The Neuengamme concentration camp was a German concentration camp, established in 1938 by the SS near the village of Neuengamme in the district of Hamburg, Germany. It was operated by the Nazis from 1938 to 1945. Over that period an estimated 106,000 prisoners were held at Neuengamme and at its subcamps. 14.000 perished in the main camp, 12.800 in the subcamps and 16.100 during the last weeks of the war on evacuation marches or due to the bombing. The verified death toll is 42.900. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the British Army used the site until 1948 as an internment camp. In 1948, the facility was transferred to the Hamburg prison authority which tore down the camp huts and built a new prison cell block. The site nowadays serves as a memorial.
Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp
Dora-Mittelbau, Kohnsteinweg, Nordhausen, Nemčija
Mittelbau-Dora was a German Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying labor for extending the nearby tunnels in the Kohnstein and for manufacturing the V-2 rocket and the V-1 flying bomb. In total, around 60.000 prisoners passed through the Mittelbau camps between August 1943 and March 1945. The precise number of people killed is impossible to determine. The SS files counted around 12.000 dead. In addition, an unknown number of unregistered prisoners died or were murdered in the camps. Around 5.000 sick and dying were sent in early 1944 and in March 1945 to Lublin and Bergen-Belsen.
Flossenbürg Concentration Camp
KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg, Gedächtnisallee, Flossenbürg, Nemčija
Flossenbürg Concentration Camp was a Nazi German concentration camp built in May 1938. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners passed through the camp, around 30,000 of whom died there.
Dachau Concentration Camp
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Alte Römerstraße, Dachau, Nemčija
Dachau concentration camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany, intended to hold political prisoners. It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau. There were 32.000 documented deaths at the camp and thousands that are undocumented. Approximately 10.000 of the 30.000 prisoners were sick at the time of liberation. In the postwar years the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial.
Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Buchenwald, Weimar, Nemčija
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil, following Dachau's opening just over four years earlier. Prisoners from all over Europe and the Soviet Union, Jews, Poles and other Slavs, the mentally ill and physically-disabled from birth defects, religious and political prisoners, Roma and Sinti, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses (then called Bible Students), criminals, homosexuals, and prisoners of war, worked primarily as forced labor in local armaments factories. Today the remains of Buchenwald serve as a memorial and permanent exhibition and museum.
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Anne-Frank-Platz, Lohheide, Nemčija
Bergen-Belsen or Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially, this was an "exchange camp", where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas. The camp was later expanded to accommodate Jews from other concentration camps. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there. Overcrowding, lack of food and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery, leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberation.
Submarine U-995
U-Boot Museum U-995, Strandstraße, Laboe, Nemčija
German submarine U-995 is a Type VIIC/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Memorial hall and german submarine U-995 museum, the only one left type VII U-boat.
Auto & Technik MUSEUM SINSHEIM, Eberhard-Layher-Straße, Sinsheim, Nemčija
The Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim is a technology museum in Sinsheim, Germany. The museum has a great exhibition of army vehicles, tanks and other army crafts.
Merkers Mine
Erlebnis Bergwerk Merkers, Zufahrtstraße, Merkers-Kieselbach, Nemčija
Nazi gold is the rumored gold allegedly transferred by Nazi Germany to overseas banks during II. World War. The regime is believed to have executed a policy of looting the assets of its victims to finance the war, collecting the looted assets in central depositories. The occasional transfer of gold in return for currency took place in collusion with many individual collaborative institutions. The precise identities of those institutions, as well as the exact extent of the transactions, remain unclear. The present whereabouts of Nazi gold that disappeared into European banking institutions in 1945 has been the subject of several books, conspiracy theories. The draining of Germany's gold and foreign exchange reserves inhibited the acquisition of material, and the Nazi economy focused on militarisation, could not afford to deplete the means to procure foreign machinery and parts. Nonetheless, towards the end of the 1930s, Germany's foreign reserves were unsustainably low. By 1939, Germany had defaulted upon its foreign loans and most of its trade relied upon command economy barter. During the war, Nazi Germany continued the practice on a much larger scale. Germany expropriated some $550m in gold from foreign governments, including $223m from Belgium and $193m from the Netherlands. These figures do not include gold and other instruments stolen from private citizens or companies. The total value of all assets allegedly stolen by Nazi Germany remains uncertain.
The Bridge at Remagen
Ludendorff Bridge, An der Alten Rheinbrücke, Remagen, Nemčija
As the Allied armies approached, Hitler ordered the destruction of all the bridges that spanned the Rhine. By March 7, they all had been, except one - the Ludendorff railroad bridge at the little resort town of Remagen a few miles to the southeast of Cologne. On that day Lady Luck smiled on the Allies. At about 1 PM an American reconnaissance patrol reached the wooded hills overlooking the river at Remagen, and to their surprise, discovered the bridge still intact. Then the race began. The Americans quickly launched a full-scale assault on the bridge while the defending Germans scrambled to detonate the explosive charges that had been set to destroy it. The fighting was fierce as both sides realized what was at stake. The American soldiers scrambled under withering gunfire from girder to girder returning fire and ripping the explosives from the bridge's superstructure. The German's were successful in detonating some explosives - but not enough to destroy the bridge. By 4 PM - approximately four minutes after the assault began - the Americans had reached the other side of the river and secured the bridge.
Dragon's Teeth Tank Traps
Monschauer Straße, Aachen, Nemčija
Dragon's teeth are square-pyramidal fortifications of reinforced concrete first used during the II. World War to impede the movement of tanks and mechanized infantry. The idea was to slow down and channel tanks into killing zones where they could easily be disposed of by anti-tank weapons. They were employed extensively, particularly on the Siegfried Line.
Prora, Binz, Nemčija
Prora was a beach resort on the island of Rügen, Germany, known especially for its colossal Nazi-planned tourist structures. The enormous building complex was built between 1936 and 1939 as a Strength Through Joy project. The eight buildings were identical, and although they were planned as a holiday resort, they were never used for this purpose. The complex has a formal heritage listing as a particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture. For the past 70 years, none of the hotel's 10,000 rooms have been in use.
Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde, Peenemünde, Nemčija
Peenemünde is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, Germany. In II. World War, the area was highly involved in the development and production of the V-2 rocket, until the production's relocation to Nordhausen. The village's docks were used for the ships which recovered V-2 wreckage from test launches over the Baltic Sea. German scientists such as Wernher von Braun, who worked at the V-2 facility, were known as "Peenemünders". The entire island was captured by the Soviet Red Army on 5 May 1945. The gas plant for the production of liquid oxygen still lies in ruins at the entrance to Peenemünde. The birthplace of modern rocket science is today displayed at the Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum, opened in 1992 in the power station of the former Army Testing Site and the area of the II. World War power station, exhibits include a V-1 and a V-2.
Dokumentation Obersalzberg
Dokumentation Obersalzberg, Salzbergstraße, Berchtesgaden, Nemčija
Dokumentation Obersalzberg is a museum in the Obersalzberg resort near Berchtesgaden, providing historical information on the use of the mountainside retreat by Nazi leaders, especially Hitler who regularly vacationed in this area beginning in 1928. The museum exhibition is taken care of by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich. It offers over 950 documents, photographs, audio clips, films and maps as well as a scale model of the Obersalzberg area overlaying current buildings with the position of historical Nazi installations.
Nürnberg – Zeppelinfeld
Zeppelinfeld, Nürnberg, Nemčija
The Zeppelinfeld is located east of the Great Road. It consists of a large grandstand or Zeppelinhaupttribüne with a width of 360 meters (390 yards) and a smaller stand. It was one of Albert Speer's first works for the Nazi party. The grandstand is famous as the building that had the swastika blown from atop it in 1945, after Germany's fall in II. World War.
Nürnberg – Great Road
Große Straße, Nürnberg, Nemčija
The great road is almost 2 km (1.2 mi) long and 40 m (130 ft) wide. It was intended to be the central axis of the site and a parade road for the Wehrmacht. In its northwestern prolongation, the road points towards Nuremberg Castle. This was to create a relation between the role of Nuremberg during the Third Reich and its role during medieval times. The road reached from the Congress Hall to the Märzfeld, the construction work started in 1935 and was finished in 1939. It has never been used as a parade road, as due to the beginning of II. World War, the last rally was held in 1938. The pavement was made of granite pavers in black and gray with edges of exactly 1.2 m (3.9 ft). A representative entrance portal and two pylons were planned at the northwestern end of the Great Road. Near the entrance area of the German Stadion, a grandstand with a hall of pillars was planned for the government leaders and generals which were to take the salute on Wehrmacht formations which were to march in direction of the parade ground Märzfeld. After the war, the road was used as a temporary airfield for the USA Army.
Nürnberg – Memorium Nuremberg Trials
Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse, Bärenschanzstraße, Nürnberg, Nemčija
The Nuremberg trials (German: die Nürnberger Prozesse) were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces after II. World War, which were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, judicial and economic leadership of Nazi Germany who planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany. The first, and best known of these trials, described as "the greatest trial in history" was the trial of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Held between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the Tribunal was given the task of trying 24 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich. Not included were Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, all of whom had committed suicide in the spring of 1945, well before the indictment was signed. Reinhard Heydrich was not included, as he had been assassinated in 1942. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT), which included the Doctors' Trial and the Judges' Trial, from 1964 until 1949. The International Military Tribunal was opened on 19 November 1945 in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. The prosecution entered indictments against 24 major war criminals and seven organizations, the leadership of the Nazi party, the Reich Cabinet, the Schutzstaffel (SS), Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Gestapo, the Sturmabteilung (SA) and the "General Staff and High Command", comprising several categories of senior military officers. These organizations were to be declared "criminal" if found guilty. Of the 24 major criminals, 11 were sentenced to death by hanging, 3 were found not guilty, the rest of them were sentenced to prison time. This was the first such process in history, in which Allies showed an example of what shall happen if you commit war crime. In the museum of Nuremberg Trails, visitors can see a background of most known trail. Also, there are some artifacts, documents, video and audio recordings and magnificent hall 600, where the trails took place.
Nürnberg – Kongresshalle
Kongresshalle, Bayernstraße, Nürnberg, Nemčija
The Congress Hall or Kongresshalle, in German, is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress center for the Nazi Party with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the pond Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 m (128 ft) and a diameter of 250 m (820 ft). The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other features) is inspired by the Colosseum in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings.
Nürnberg – Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds
Bayernstraße 110, Nürnberg, Nemčija
Topics inside the museum are directly associated with Nuremberg form the major focus of the exhibition, which is organized into chronologically structured exhibition areas. These topics include: the history of the Nazi Party Rallies, the buildings at the Party Rally Grounds, the "Nuremberg Laws" of 1935, the 1945/46 Nuremberg Trial of the people and major organisations chiefly responsible for the war crimes, the 12 Subsequent Proceedings, and the difficulty of dealing sensitively with the National Socialist architectural legacy after 1945.
Nürnberg – Historic Art Bunker
Historischer Kunstbunker, Obere Schmiedgasse, Nürnberg, Nemčija
The Historic art bunker or Historische Kunstbunker in German is a tunnel complex under Nuremberg Castle in the old city of Nuremberg. It forms part of the Nuremberg Historic Mile. Sheltered in the depths of the castle rock, the most important Nuremberg art treasures survived the air raids of II. World War unharmed.
German Tank Museum
Panzermuseum Munster, Hans-Krüger-Straße, Munster, Nemčija
The German Tank Museum is an armored fighting vehicle museum in Munster, Germany. Its main aim is the documentation of the history of German armored troops since 1917. The museum displays tanks, military vehicles, weapons, small arms, uniforms, medals, decorations and military equipment from the I. World War to the present. The heart of the exhibition is a collection of about 40 Bundeswehr and former East German tanks as well as 40 German tanks and other Wehrmacht vehicles from the II. World War. In addition, there are tanks from the Soviet Red Army, the British Army, and the United States Army from the Second World War, as well as other modern tanks such as the Israeli Merkava.
Munich – Deutsches Museum
Deutsches Museum, Munich, Nemčija
The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology. Before and during World War II the museum was put on a shoestring budget by the Nazi party and many exhibits were allowed to get out of date with a few exceptions such as the new automobile room dedicated 7 May 1937. By the end of 1944, the museum was badly damaged by air bombings with 80% of the buildings and 20% of the exhibits damaged or destroyed. As Allied troops marched into Munich in April 1945, museum director, Karl Bässler, barely managed to keep the last standing bridge to Museum Island from being blown up by retreating German troops.
Munich – Odeonsplatz
Odeonsplatz, München, Nemčija
The Odeonsplatz is a large square in central Munich which was developed in the early 19th century. The square was the scene of a fatal gun battle which ended the march on the Feldherrnhalle during the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. According to many historians, this traditional function was the reason for the Nazi march on the Feldherrnhalle on 9 November 1923 in the course of the Beer Hall Putsch, which ended in a gunfight in which four state police officers and 16 Nazis were killed.
Munich – Nazi Eagle
Schellingstraße 50, München, Nemčija
The Reichsadler was the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors and in modern coats of arms of Germany, including those of the Second German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the "Third Reich" (Nazi Germany, 1933–1945). During Nazi rule, a stylized eagle combined with the Nazi swastika was made the national emblem by order of Adolf Hitler in 1935. Despite its mediæval origin, the term "Reichsadler" in common English understanding is mostly associated with this specific Nazi era version. The Nazi Party had used a very similar symbol for itself, called the Parteiadler ("Party's eagle"). This two insignia can be distinguished as the Reichsadler looks to its right shoulder whereas the Parteiadler looks to its left shoulder. After II. World War the Federal Republic of Germany re-implemented the eagle used by the Weimar Republic by an enactment of President Theodor Heuss in 1950.
Munich – Stadtmueum
Münchner Stadtmuseum, Sankt-Jakobs-Platz, Munich, Nemčija
The museum offers a permanent exhibition about National Socialism in Munich. Having been founded in Munich in 1919/20, the National Socialist German Workers' Party maintained its headquarters in the city until 1945. It was here that Adolf Hitler and other key figures in the Nazi regime launched their political careers.
Munich – Memorial White Rose
Ludwigstraße 1, München, Nemčija
The White Rose was a non-violent, an intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany led by a group of students and a professor at the University of Munich. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign which called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. Their activities started in Munich on 27th June 1942 and ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on 18th February 1943. They, as well as other members and supporters of the group who carried on distributing the pamphlets, faced unjust trials by the Nazi People's Court, and many were sentenced to death or imprisonment.
Munich – Hofbräuhaus
Hofbräuhaus München, Platzl, Munich, Nemčija
The Hofbräuhaus is a beer hall in Munich, Germany, originally built in 1589 by Bavarian Duke Maximilian I as an extension of the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München brewery. The general public was admitted in 1828 by Ludwig I. The building was completely remodeled in 1897 by Max Littmann when the brewery moved to the suburbs. All of the rooms except the historic beer hall ("Schwemme") were destroyed in the World War II bombings. In Hofbräuhaus was on 24.02.1920 Nazi meeting, where Hitler declared 25 theses Nazi program.
Munich – Hitler's locations
Prinzregentenplatz 16, München, Nemčija
When Adolf Hitler was discharged from the German Army, March 1920, he returned to Munich and began a full-time job in National Socialist German Workers Party. Their headquarters was in the city of Munich. Hitler regularly visited Munich's restaurants, bar's and cafe's, especially in the late 20's and the in the beginning of 30's. Later he became terrified for his life, so he limited his movements. He commonly visited Schelling Salon and Osteria Bavaria (today Osteria Italiana). In 1929 Hitler moved into a luxury nine-room apartment at Prinzregentenplatz 16. The apartment was on the second floor (according to European convention; third floor by American convention) and included two kitchens and two bathrooms. His publisher initially paid for it; a decade later Hitler paid for it outright. Eventually, the whole building became a property of the Nazi Party. In 1925 Hitler brought his widowed half-sister Angela Raubal from Austria to serve as housekeeper for both his Munich apartment and his rented villa The Berghof. She brought along her two daughters, Geli and Friedl. Hitler became very close to his niece Geli Raubal, and she moved into his apartment in 1929 when she was 20. Their relationship is shrouded in mystery, but was widely rumored to be romantic. On 18 September 1931, she died of a gunshot wound in the apartment; the coroner proclaimed her death a suicide. Hitler was on his way to Erlangen to give a speech, but he returned immediately to Munich on hearing the news. He took her death very hard and went into a depression. He mourned her for years, maintaining her rooms exactly as they had been. Hitler continued to live in the apartment until 1934 when he became Führer and Reichskanzler of Germany. After that, Hitler kept the apartment, but spent most of his time either in Berlin or in his Berghof residence.
Munich – Bürgerbräukeller
8. November 1939, Munich, Germany
The Bürgerbräukeller was a large beer hall located in Munich, Germany. From 1920 to 1923, the Bürgerbräukeller was one of the main gathering places of the Nazi party. The Bürgerbräukeller was the location from which Adolf Hitler launched the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923. After Hitler seized power in 1933, he commemorated each anniversary on the night of 8 November with an address to the Alte Kämpfer in the great hall of the Bürgerbräukeller. The event climaxed with a ceremony at the Feldherrnhalle to revere the 16 'blood martyrs' of the Beer Hall Putsch. In 1939, a time bomb concealed inside a pillar in the Bürgerbräukeller was set to go off during Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch address on 8 November. The bomb exploded, killing eight people and injuring 57, but Hitler had cut short his speech and had already left. An Anarchist, Georg Elser, was arrested, imprisoned for 5 ½ years, and executed shortly before the end of the war. Don't miss out our trip books!
Black Madonna Chapel
Friedenskapelle "Schwarze Madonna", Goethestraße, Remagen, Nemčija
The chapel Black Madonna is located in Remagen on the Rhine river. It is the only chapel in Germany to remind us that Germans were also taken as prisoners of war. In remembrance of the camp Golden Mile (POW camp) for German prisoners of war. Towards the end of the II. World War, Allied troops established a prisoner of war camps along the River Rhine for the detention of German soldiers. During the conquest of Rheinland, 250.000 German soldiers were captured and later on the number got bigger for 325.000. The chapel reminds us that also German soldiers suffered the war and here is the only place where we can remember them.
Laboe Naval Memorial
Naval Memorial, Strandstraße, Laboe, Nemčija
The Laboe Naval Memorial or Laboe Tower is a memorial located in Laboe, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally memorialized the World War I war dead of the Kaiserliche Marine, with the Kriegsmarine dead of II. World War being added after 1945. In 1954, it was rededicated to commemorate the sailors of all nationalities who died during the World Wars. The monument consists of a 72-metre-high (236 ft) tower topped by an observation deck. The deck stands a total 85 m (279 ft) above sea level. A hall of remembrance and II. World War era German submarine U-995, which houses a technical museum, both sit near the foot of the monument. U-995 is the world's only remaining Type VII U-boat.
Defense Technology Museum Koblenz
Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz, Mayener Straße, Koblenz, Nemčija
The museum is located in a city of Koblenz and it actually is the German Armed Forces Research Collection, also known as the Defense Technical Museum, that focuses on defense technology. It is one of the largest technical exhibitions in Germany. It was opened in 1962 with a primary goal to show its visitors the technical side of the weapons that have been built in the past and are being developed today.
Siegfried Line Museum
Westwallmuseum Irrel, Auf'm Rothenhügel, Irrel, Nemčija
The Siegfried Line Museum lies near the German-Luxembourg border in the Eifel mountains. It is housed in a bunker that was part of the former Siegfried Line (Westwall), the Katzenkopf Strongpoint (Panzerwerk Katzenkopf), which was built from 1937 to 1939.
Hotel zum Türken
Hotel zum Türken, Hintereck, Berchtesgaden, Nemčija
The beginning of the "Hotel zum Türken" goes back to the year 1630. In 1933 the hotel was seized by the Nazis, not only the hotel but the whole Obersalzberg. On 25th April 1945 the Obersalzberg-Area was heavily bombed and almost completely destroyed. After the unconditional surrender of the 3rd Reich, there were plans of face grinding all the building on the Obersalzberg. The entrance that is still accessible is underneath "Hotel Zum Türken". Emergency exits of the bunker system are all over the mountain, but they're not longer accessible.
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle, Schloßgasse, Colditz, Nemčija
Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz in the state of Saxony, Germany. It gained international fame as Oflag IV-C, a prisoner-of-war camp during II. World War for "incorrigible" Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps. After the outbreak of II. World War, the castle was converted into a high-security prisoner-of-war camp for officers who had become security or escape risks or who were regarded as particularly dangerous. Since the castle is situated on a rocky outcrop above the River Mulde, the Germans believed it to be an ideal site for a high-security prison. The larger outer court, known as the Kommandantur, had only two exits and housed a large German garrison. The prisoners lived in an adjacent courtyard in a 90 ft (27 m) tall building. Outside, the flat terraces which surrounded the prisoners' accommodation were constantly watched by armed sentries and surrounded by barbed wire. Although known as Colditz Castle to the locals, its official German designation was Oflag IV-C and it was under Wehrmacht control. Although it was considered a high-security prison, it had one of the highest records of successful escape attempts. This could be owing to the general nature of the prisoners that were sent there; most of them had attempted escape previously from other prisons and were transferred to Colditz because the Germans had thought the castle escape-proof. On April 1945, American troops entered Colditz town and, after a two-day fight, captured the castle on 16 April. In May 1945, the Soviet occupation of Colditz began. According to the agreement at the Yalta Conference it became a part of East Germany. The Soviets turned Colditz Castle into a prison camp for local burglars and non-communists. Later, the castle was a home for the aged and nursing home, as well as a hospital and psychiatric clinic. For many years after the war, forgotten hiding places and tunnels were found by repairmen.
Dresden, Nemčija
The bombing of Dresden was a British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, that took place during the Second World War in the European Theatre. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed over 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the city center. An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed.
Dresden Frauenkirche
Dresden Frauenkirche, Dresden, Nemčija
The Dresden Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. An earlier church building was Roman Catholic until it became Protestant during the Reformation, and was replaced in the 18th century by a larger Baroque Lutheran building. Built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed in the bombing of Dresden during II. World War. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, following the decisions of local East German leaders. The church was rebuilt after the reunification of Germany, starting in 1994. The church was reconsecrated on 30 October 2005. On 13 February 1945, Anglo-American allied forces began the bombing of Dresden. The church withstood two days and nights of the attacks and the eight interior sandstone pillars supporting the large dome held up long enough for the evacuation of 300 people who had sought shelter in the church crypt, before succumbing to the heat generated by some 650,000 incendiary bombs that were dropped on the city. The temperature surrounding and inside the church eventually reached 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). The dome finally collapsed on 15 February. The pillars glowed bright red and exploded; the outer walls shattered and nearly 6,000 tons of stone plunged to earth, penetrating the massive floor as it fell.
Berlin – Topography of Terror
Topography of Terror, Berlin, Nemčija
The Topography of Terror is an outdoor and indoor history museum in Berlin, Germany. On the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the principal instruments of repression during the Nazi era. The buildings that housed the Gestapo and SS headquarters were largely destroyed by Allied bombing during early 1945 and the ruins demolished after the war. The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation in Berlin ran along the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, so the street soon became a fortified boundary, and the Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street. The wall here was never demolished. Indeed, the section adjacent to the Topography of Terror site is the longest extant segment of the outer wall.
Berlin – The German Resistance Memorial Center
Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Stauffenbergstraße, Berlin, Nemčija
The German Resistance Memorial Center is a memorial and museum in Berlin. It was here that Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and other members of the failed 20 July plot. On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters. The name Operation Valkyrie, originally referring to a part of the conspiracy, has become associated with the entire event. The apparent purpose of the assassination attempt was to seize political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party, including the SS, and to make peace with the western Allies as soon as possible. The underlying desire of many of the involved high-ranking Wehrmacht officers was apparently to show to the world that not all Germans were like Hitler and the Nazi Party. The details of the conspirators' peace initiatives remain unknown, but they likely would have included demands to accept wide-reaching territorial annexations by Germany in Europe. Although the memorial is primarily intended to commemorate those members of the German Army who tried to assassinate Hitler in 1944, it is also a memorial to the German resistance in the broader sense. Historians agree that there was no united, national resistance movement in Nazi Germany at any time during Hitler's years in power. Nevertheless, the term German Resistance is now used to describe all elements of opposition and resistance to the Nazi Regime, including the underground networks of the Social Democrats and Communists, The White Rose, opposition activities in the Christian churches, and the resistance groups based in the civil service, intelligence organs and armed forces.
Berlin – Soviet War Memorial, Treptower Park
Puschkinallee, Berlin, Nemčija
The Soviet War Memorial is a vast war memorial and military cemetery in Berlin's Treptower Park. It was built to commemorate 5.000 of the Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin, during 16 April and 2 May 1945. It opened four years after II. World War on 8 May 1949. The Memorial served as the central war memorial of East Germany. At the conclusion of II. World War, three Soviet war memorials were built in the city of Berlin to commemorate Soviet deaths, especially the 80,000 that died during the Battle of Berlin. The memorials are not only commemorative but also serve as cemeteries for those killed.
Berlin – Reichstag Building
Reichstag Building, Friedrich-Ebert-Platz, Berlin, Nemčija
The Reichstag building caught fire on 27 February 1933, under circumstances still not entirely known. This gave a pretext for the Nazis to suspend most rights provided for by the 1919 Weimar Constitution in the Reichstag Fire Decree in an effort to weed out communists and increase state security throughout Germany. The fire was used as evidence by the Nazi Party that communists were plotting against the German government. During the 12 years of National Socialist rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions. The main meeting hall of the building (which was unusable after the fire) was instead used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II, for military purposes. It was also considered for conversion to a flak tower but was found to be structurally unsuitable. The building, having never been fully repaired since the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture due to its perceived symbolic significance.
Berlin – Allied Museum
Allied Museum, Clayallee, Berlin, Nemčija
The Allied Museum is a museum in Berlin. It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of the Western Allies (US, France and Britain) in Germany, particularly Berlin, between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin.
Berlin – Luftwaffenmuseum
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr - Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow, Berlin, Nemčija
The Lufteaffenmuseum presents us with a history of military air forces and air battles in Germany from its beginnings until the present day. The museum includes air combat operations in both world wars and the presence of others armed forces on German soil after the year 1945.
Berlin – Wannsee Conference
Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, Am Großen Wannsee, Berlin, Nemčija
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior government officials of Nazi Germany and SS leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference, called by the director of the Reich Main Security Office SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the final solution to the Jewish question, whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and murdered. On 31 July 1941 Hermann Göring gave written authorization to Heydrich to prepare and submit a plan for a "total solution of the Jewish question" in territories under German control and to coordinate the participation of all involved government organizations. At Wannsee, Heydrich emphasized that once the mass deportation was complete, the SS would take complete charge of the exterminations. A secondary goal was to arrive at a definition of who was formally Jewish and thus determine the scope of the genocide. One copy of the Protocol of the meeting survived the war. It was found by the Allies in March 1947 among files that had been seized from the German Foreign Office. It was used as evidence in the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials. The Wannsee House, site of the conference, is now a Holocaust memorial.
Berlin – Karlshorst
Karlshorst, Berlin, Nemčija
Karlshorst is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. In April 1945, as the Red Army approached the Reich's capital, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, established his headquarters at a former Wehrmacht officer's mess hall in Karlshorst, where on 08 May, the unconditional surrender of the German forces was presented to Zhukov by Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
Berlin – Jewish Museum
Jewish Museum, Lindenstraße, Berlin, Nemčija
Jewish Museum Berlin is one of the largest Jewish Museums in Europe. Two millennia of German-Jewish history are on display in the permanent exhibition as well as in various changing exhibitions. German-Jewish history is documented in the collections, the library, and the archive, in the computer terminals at the museum's Rafael Roth Learning Center, and is reflected in the museum's program of events.
Berlin – Hitler's Bunker
Hitler's Bunker, In den Ministergärten, Berlin, Nemčija
The Führerbunker was an air-raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases which were completed in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters used by Adolf Hitler during II. World War. Hitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945 and it became the center of the Nazi regime until the fall of Berlin. This was also the place, where Hitler and Eva Braun got married in April 1945, shortly before they committed suicide. After the Führer moved in he was joined by his senior staff, including Martin Borman and Joseph Goebbels. Few dozen support, medical, and administrative staff were also sheltered there. On 16 April Red Army started the Battle of Berlin. On the 20 April, Adolf Hitler's 56th birthday, he made his last trip to the surface. That afternoon, the Reich's capital was heavily bombed by Soviet artillery for the first time. On 30 April Führer was informed by Mohnke that he would be able to hold for less than two days. That afternoon, Adolf Hitler shot himself, his wife Eva Braun took cyanide, the two bodies were burned in the garden behind the Reich Chancellery. In the following, events nearly everybody in Führerbunker committed suicide or left, and were later captured. After the war, both the old and new Chancellery buildings were leveled by the Soviets. Despite some attempts at demolition, the underground complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988–89. During the reconstruction of that area of Berlin, the sections of the old bunker complex that were excavated were for the most part destroyed. The site remained unmarked until 2006 when a small plaque with a schematic diagram was installed. Some corridors of the bunker still exist, but are sealed off from the public.
Berlin – Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Evangelische Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirchengemeinde, Lietzenburger Straße, Berlin, Nemčija
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Germany. It is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the center of the Breitscheidplatz. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. On the night of 23 November 1943, the church was extensively damaged in an air raid. A remnant of the spire and much of the entrance hall survived intact, as did the altar and the baptistry. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with an attached chapel, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall.
Berlin – Air Raid Shelter
Schöneberger Str. 23, Berlin, Nemčija
A museum with the belongings of people who found a shelter here, during the Allied bombings, is located in a cellar of the bunker. Other items in the museum also remind us of the dark days of the II. Word War.
Berlin – Teufelsberg
Teufelsberg, Berlin, Nemčija
Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain) is a man-made hill in Berlin, Germany, in the Grunewald locality of former West Berlin. It rises about 80 metres (260 ft) above the surrounding Teltow plateau and 120.1 metres (394 ft) above the sea level, in the north of Berlin's Grunewald Forest. It was named after the Teufelssee (Devil's Lake) in its southerly vicinity. Created in the 20 years following the II. World War by moving approximately 75,000,000 m3 (98,000,000 Cu yd) of debris from Berlin. While part of the rubble of destroying quarters in East Berlin was deposited outside the city boundary, all the debris from West Berlin had to be dumped within the western boundary. Due to the shortage of fuel in West Berlin, the rubble transport stopped during the Berlin Blockade. Although there are many similar man-made rubble mounds in Germany and other war-torn cities of Europe, Teufelsberg is unique in that the never completed Nazi military-technical college (Wehrtechnische Fakultät) designed by Albert Speer is buried beneath. The Allies tried using explosives to demolish the school, but it was so sturdy that covering it with debris turned out to be easier. During the Cold War, there was a U.S. listening station on the hill, Field Station Berlin.
Berlin – Tempehof Airport
Tempelhof, Berlin, Nemčija
On 20 June 1948, Soviet authorities, claiming technical difficulties, halted all traffic by land and by water into or out of the western-controlled sectors of Berlin. The only remaining access routes into the city were three 20 miles (32 km) -wide air corridors across the Soviet Zone of Occupation. Faced with the choice of abandoning the city or attempting to supply its inhabitants with the necessities of life by air, the Western Powers chose the latter course, and for the next eleven months sustained the city's 2½ million residents in one of the greatest feats in aviation history.
Berlin – Grunewald station
S Grunewald (Berlin), Berlin, Nemčija
Starting on 18 October 1941 until February 1945 was one of the major sites of deportation of the Berlin Jews. From 1942 the trains drove directly for the Auschwitz and Theresienstadt concentration camps. The Deutsche Bahn had a memorial established on 27 January 1998 at the historic track 17 ("Gleis 17"), where most of the deportation trains departed.
Berlin – Schwerbelastungskörper
Schwerbelastungskörper, General-Pape-Straße, Berlin, Nemčija
Schwerbelastungskörper (German: "heavy load-bearing body") is a hefty concrete cylinder in Berlin, Germany. It was erected in 1941-1942 by Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer to determine the feasibility of constructing large buildings on the area's marshy, sandy ground, specifically a massive triumphal arch on a nearby plot. The arch was to be about three times as large as the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and was one component of a plan to redesign the center of Berlin as an imposing, monumental capital reflecting the spirit of the Third Reich as envisioned by Hitler. Work on the new capital was soon discontinued because of World War II and measurements at the cylinder ceased in June 1944. An analysis of the meticulous measurements only took place in 1948, revealing that the cylinder had sunk some 19 cm (cca. 7 inches) after two and a half years. The arch as conceived by Speer could only have been built after considerable prior stabilization of the ground.
Berlin – Seelow Heights Memorial Site and Museum
Seelower Höhen, Küstriner Straße, Seelow, Nemčija
The memorial site at the Seelower Höhen (Seelow Heights) recalls the biggest battle of the II. World War on German soil. In the spring of 1945, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, 14,000 pieces of artillery, 5,000 armoured vehicles and the same number of aeroplanes confronted each other in the Oderbruch area and on the mountain range. The Battle of the Seelow Heights was part of the Seelow-Berlin Offensive Operation during 16th April and 2nd May 1945. It was an assault between Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front and German 9th Army. The museum provides information on the battles between the river Oder and Berlin in the winter and spring of 1945 and in the outdoor area of the museum soldiers' memorials and gravestones line the path.
Berlin – The Plötzensee Memorial Center
Gedenkstätte Plötzensee, Berlin, Nemčija
The Plötzensee Memorial Center commemorating the victims of Nazism. From 1933 to 1945, were unjustly executed thousands of people by the National Socialist judiciary, on this spot. Almost half of the executed Germans were sentenced as enemies of the system.
Berlin – Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Nemčija
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event that was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Adolf Hitler had built a new 100,000-seat track and field stadium, six gymnasiums, and many other smaller arenas. The games were the first to be televised, and radio broadcasts reached 41 countries. Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy, and the official Nazi party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jews should not be allowed to participate in the Games. When threatened with a boycott of the Games by other nations, Hitler appeared to allow athletes of other ethnicities from other countries to participate. However German Jewish athletes were barred or prevented from taking part by a variety of methods and Jewish athletes from other countries (notably the USA) seem to have been sidelined in order not to offend the Nazi government. Although Nazi Party should not cause any problem during the Games, in a sound of that all the anti-Semites attacks were forbidden for SA. Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals in the sprint and long jump events and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin while the host country was the most successful country overall with 89 medals total, with the United States of America coming in second with 56 medals. After the Olympic Games, the Olympic Stadium annually saw 20 to 25 large-scale events. The Academy for Athletics, however, was ordered to cease operations, and instead a new school, the State Academy for Athletics, was opened on 15. April 1936 by Hitler's orders. Here, aspiring teachers were destined to receive a "uniform education as leaders in the field of physical education" – but in reality, the school served the purposes of the paramilitary SA sports training. The Reichssportfeld had been preparing for war quite early, in the area around the Marathon tunnel, a concrete ceiling and separating walls had been added to expand these underground rooms into a real bunker. At the dawn of the war, the German company Blaupunkt produced primers for anti-aircraft weapons here. In late 1944, the Allied bombardments became increasingly more intense, and the underground facilities of the stadium were prepared as a makeshift headquarters for the Nazi Germany's national radio network. The administration building north of the Olympischer Platz served as an ammunition depot, other buildings were used for large-scale food and wine storages. The Olympischer Platz was one of ten locations in Berlin, where, on 12. November 1944, Hitler's last contingents were being sworn in.
Berlin – Olympic Village from 1936
Olympic Village from 1936, Wustermark, Nemčija
The 1936 Olympic village is located at Elstal in Wustermark, on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which is 19 miles (30 km) from the centre of the city, consisted of one and two-floor dormitories, a large dining hall, Dining Hall of the Nations, a swimming facility, gymnasium, track, and other training facilities. During the games this facility hosted more than 4.000 athletes (women were settled elsewhere) from 49 countries. After the completion of the Olympic Games, the village was repurposed for the Wehrmacht into the Olympic Döberitz Hospital and Army Infantry School and was used as such through the II. World War.
Berlin – German Historical Museum
German Historical Museum, Unter den Linden, Berlin, Nemčija
The German Historical Museum, is a museum in Berlin devoted to German history and defines itself as a place of enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans. It is often viewed as one of the most important museums in Berlin and is one of the most frequented.
Berlin – Museum The Story of Berlin
The Story Of Berlin, Kurfürstendamm, Berlin, Nemčija
The Story of Berlin is a multimedia exhibition with over 20 themed rooms, that shows more than 800-year history of the capital city: from the Middle Ages to the Berlin Wall. One of the highlights is "The Story of Berlin", an interactive exhibition with a guided tour of an original nuclear shelter.
Berlin – Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen-Center, Badstraße, Berlin, Nemčija
A concrete complex is the entrance to a huge underground bunker, civilian bomb shelter for 1.300 people against bomb attacks during the II. Second War.
Berlin – Checkpoint Charlie
Mauermuseum - Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Friedrichstraße, Berlin, Nemčija
Checkpoint Charlie or Checkpoint C was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991). GDR leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneuvered to get the Soviet Union's permission to construct the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop Eastern Bloc emigration westward through the Soviet border system, preventing escape across the city sector border from communist East Berlin into West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the reunification of Germany, the building at Checkpoint Charlie became a tourist attraction. It is now located in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighborhood of Berlin.
Berlin – Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, Berlin, Nemčija
The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin. When the Nazis ascended to power, they used the gate as a party symbol. The gate survived II. World War and was one of the damaged structures still standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945. The gate was badly damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions.
Berlin – Memorial at Bebelplatz
Bebelplatz, Berlin, Nemčija
The Bebel Place (Bebelplatz), Berlin, best known by its book burning. On 10 May 1933 at an evening time the Nazi Party burnt books. It was some sort of the celebration in most of German, University towns, which was supported by a German student initiative. Everything began when the library of an institute about sexes was emptied of students and all the books were thrown on the Bebelplatz. Before the books were burnt, the crowd gathered and the German propagate minister Joseph Goebels spoke to them. All the Nazi supporters were there, the Nazi student Society, SA, SS and all Hitler's youngsters. They have burnt nearly 20.000 books.
Berghof, Hintereck, Berchtesgaden, Nemčija
The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Germany. Other than the "Wolf's Lair" (Wolfsschanze), his headquarters in East Prussia for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Hitler spent more time at the Berghof than anywhere else during II. World War. It was also one of the most widely known of his headquarters, which were located throughout Europe. Rebuilt, much expanded and renamed in 1935, the Berghof was Hitler's vacation residence for ten years. In late April 1945 the house was damaged by British aerial bombs, set on fire by retreating SS troops in early May, and looted after Allied troops reached the area.
Berchtesgaden, Nemčija
Adolf Hitler had been vacationing in the Berchtesgaden area since the 1920s. He purchased a home in the Obersalzberg above the town on the flank of the Hoher Goll and began extensive renovations on his Berghof in the following years. Even though a feared "National Redoubt" last stand of the Nazi Regime in the Alps failed to materialize, late in II. World War the Allies launched a devastating air raid on the Berchtesgaden area. Concentrated on the Obersalzberg, the 25 April 1945 bombing did little damage to the town. On May 4 forward elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division arrived and received the town's surrender.
Aachen, Nemčija
The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of II. World War, fought by American and German forces. By September 1944, the Western Allies had reached Germany's western border, which was protected by the extensive Siegfried Line. This is the main defensive network on the Western border. The Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr Basin. In October, soldiers of the 26th Infantry Regiment, supported by the reinforced battalion of the 110th Infantry Regiment finally conquered central Aachen, that day also marked the surrender of the last German garrison, in the Hotel Quellenhof, ending the battle for the city.
The Lascaris War Rooms
The Lascaris War Rooms, Valletta, Malta
The Lascaris War Rooms are an underground complex of tunnels and chambers in Valletta, Malta, that housed the War Headquarters from where the defence of the island was conducted during the II. World War. Lascaris was the advance Allied headquarters from where General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder directed the Allied invasion of Sicily, code named Operation Husky, in 1943. The rooms were later used by the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet and NATO.
National War Museum – Fort St Elmo
National War Museum - Fort St Elmo, Valletta, Malta
Hosted by Fort St Elmo, the National War Museum houses a great collection of items which takes us back to prehistoric times. Two halls are dedicated to Malta's important role in I. World War, the Inter-War Period and Malta's historical role in the II. World War. One of the highlights includes the fuselage of a Gloster Sea Gladiator N5520, the only survivor from the Hal Far Fighter Flight. It also contains a Willys Jeep 'Husky' used by General Eisenhower before the invasion of Sicily and also by Roosevelt while visiting Malta. The George Cross that was awarded to Malta by King George VI on April 1942 is also on display.
Malta at War Museum
Malta at War Museum, Birgu, Malta
The Malta at War Museum is dedicated to Malta's role in II. World War. The museum is housed within a barrack block and a rock-hewn air-raid shelter within Couvre Porte Counterguard. The museum's collection consists of memorabilia such as weapons, uniforms, medals, documents and other items. It also features original film footage of the war, such as the 1943 Malta G.C
Malta Aviation Museum
Malta Aviation Museum, Attard, Malta
The Malta Aviation Museum is situated on an ex-airport of Royal Air Forces, Ta 'Qali. The museum is divided into different hangars, dedicated to a different purpose. First, you can see the main hanger, where is an exhibition of aircrafts, next is a hanger dedicated to the Air Battle of Malta, the museum ends with two buildings of Rommey exhibition hanger.
Malta Memorial
War Memorial, Floriana, Malta
The Malta Memorial is a commemorative war memorial monument to the 2,298 Commonwealth air forces, who lost their lives in the II. World War air battles and engagements around the Mediterranean, and who have no known grave.
Budapest – Gellért Hill
Gellért Hill, Budimpešta, Madžarska
Gellért Hill played an important role in II. World War and in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, when Soviet tanks fired down into the city from the hill. At the end of Citadella is the Liberty Statue a large monument made by the Soviet Red Army to commemorate their victory in II. World War.
Budapest – Museum of Military History
Budimpešta, Kapisztrán tér 2-4, Madžarska
The museum is situated in the northwestern part of the Buda Castle district. Its main attractions include a remarkable collection of historical weaponry from before the 150-year Turkish occupation to the recent past. Uniforms, maps, shells, flags, a coin collection containing about 28,000 items, also an exhibition dedicated to the recollections of Hungarian airmen who left Hungary after II. World War.
Budapest – Citadel Bunker
Citadella, Budimpešta, Madžarska
Citadel Bunker, war museum is located in the old town, which is actually on a top of the hill in the middle of Budapest, with a great view on the rest of the city. Bunker, that was first used by the Luftwaffe during the II. World War, was after the war transformed into the museum. This is a place where we can see, documents the progress of the Second World War in Budapest, with particular focus on the siege of Budapest at the end of II. World War when the Russian forces forced the German army out.
Budapest – Hospital in the Rock
Hospital in the Rock - Bunker, Budapest, Lovas út, Madžarska
The Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum was a hospital created in the caverns under Buda Castle in Budapest in the 1930s. In the 1930s, the hospital system was connected to the main tunnel system with manual labor. The main system had been in use by various inhabitants of the castle for many years. The hospital saw its heaviest use during the 1944–45 Siege of Budapest, where it processed the wounded and the dead. The dead were sent out of the hospital at night and buried in bomb craters. The hospital was without food or medicine for some points during the siege, with hospital staff having to recycle supplies by taking them from corpses and sterilizing them before reuse. Eventually, horses were brought in and killed at the facility for food. The facility was designed to treat 60–70 patients, but at one point it was being used to treat 600 wounded soldiers.
Stolzembourg, Luksemburg
This monument is dedicated to the American forces that crossed the river Our, and crossed the German border for the first time after a long five years of war. On the 11. September 1944 Allies soldiers of the 5th American armoured division, crossed the river. This was also the first advance through the enemy lines in Germany in II. World War.
Luxembourg National Museum of Military History
Musée National d'Histoire Militaire (MNHM) Asbl, Bamertal, Diekirch, Luksemburg
The National Museum of Military History originally developed out of the Diekirch Historical Museum, which was primarily dedicated to the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg in winter 1944–45. The museum is located in the complex of the Diekirch 'old brewery'. The main topic of the museum remains the balanced and objective historical representation of the military operations in the Ardennes from the American, German, and civilian points of view.
General Patton Memorial Museum Ettelbruck
General Patton Museum, Ettelbruck, Luksemburg
The museum is a memorial to the American General Patton, the commander of the 3th Army, that liberated the city of Ettelbruck, Luxemburg, 25. December 1944. In the museum, you find more than 1000 photographs, which will tell you the story about the German occupation in 1940 until the American liberation in 1944. There are also a weapon and aircraft exhibition.
Battle of the Bulge Museum Wiltz
27 Rue Grande-Duchesse Charlotte, Wiltz, Luksemburg
The museum is dedicated to the Battle of the Bulge and it is located in Wiltz, in Luxembourg. The battle took place in the II. World War in Luxembourg, in European theatre. At the same time this battle was the last German offensive campaign. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes. the surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war.
Museum of the Battle of the Bulge
Musée de la Bataille des Ardennes Clervaux (MBAC), Clervaux, Luksemburg
The castle of Clervaux holds the museum of the Battle of the Bulge, that took place in the II. World War in Luxembourg, in European theatre. At the same time this battle was the last German offensive campaign. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes. the surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war.
Luxembourg American Cemetery
Lux American Cemetary, Luxembourg, Luksemburg
The American cemetery, which is 50.5 acres (20.4 ha) in extent contains the remains of 5,076 American service members. On 22 occasions two brothers rest side-by-side in adjacent graves. Most of the interred died during the Battle of the Bulge, which was fought nearby in winter 1944/1945. Not far from the cemetery entrance stands the white stone chapel, set on a wide circular platform surrounded by woods.
Cassino Historical Museum
Museo Historiale, Via San Marco, Cassino, Frosinone, Italija
The Historical of Cassino has been created to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the battle of Montecassino. Historical museum was born to honour all victims of all nationalities that lost their lives for peace and freedom.
Beach Head War Cemetery
Beach Head War Cemetery, Via Nettunense, Anzio, Rim, Italija
The cemetery contains 2,313 graves, 291 of them unknown and most of them from the United Kingdom, followed by Canada. The majority of these war dead fell between January-June 1944. There are 69 Canadian graves, including one unknown and four members of the United Kingdom. Most (62) of the Canadian soldiers were members of the 1st Special Service Force.
Anzio War Cemetery
Cimitero di Anzio, Via del Cimitero, Anzio, Rim, Italija
Anzio War Cemetery contains 1,056 graves resulting from Operation Shingle in 1944 as part of II. World War. Having seen the make up of the 1st Canadian Division, which was sent there in 1944 it is clear from the graves that those who rest there were from the units of the 1st Division. There were 1,037 identified casualties.
Nettuno War Museum
Museo Dello Sbarco Alleato, Via Antonio Gramsci, Nettuno, Rim, Italija
The museum includes a collection of old photographs, displayed in chronological order. This shines a light into the events in the battle to free Anazio and Nettuno, from 22. January 1944 to the fall of Rome.
Alfonsine War Museum
Piazza della Resistenza, 2, Alfonsine, Ravenna, Italija
The museum was established in 1981 by a commune Alfrod, near Ravenna. The war museum contains documentation regarding the last phase of the attack on the Gothic Line.
Montese Historical Museum
Museo storico, Montese, Modena, Italija
Housed in the seventeenth-century rectory next to the church of St. Mary Magdalene, is an affluent museum of 600 square meters divided into 16 themed rooms which lead you into the ancient culture of the mountain way of life through the reconstruction of domestic scenes and crafts. Objects, documents and testimonies tell about the area and its history over the centuries up to the II. World War, to which an ample section has been dedicated, distributed in 4 rooms that display a number of war artifacts and military memorabilia relating to the passage of the front along the Gothic Line in these areas.
The Winter Line Museum
Via della Chiesa, 4, Livergnano, Bologna, Italija
This private museum is located in a city of Livergnano and it includes few authentic artifacts, which were found in this area from the war era.
Museum of the Gothic-Line Montegridolfo
Museo della Linea dei Goti, Montegridolfo, Italija
The war museum contains artifacts, journals and posters related to the Gothic line. At the entrance, there are exhibited some artifacts from II. World War.
Felonica Museum of the Second World War
Museo della Seconda Guerra Mondiale del fiume Po, Piazza Municipio, Felonica, MN, Italija
The Museum of the Second Word War along the river Po is a theme park devoted to war events, which took place in the areas along the river during II. World War. The museum collections include photographs, documents and historical artifacts from the war area and the victorious crossing of the river Po in April 1945.
War Museum-Gothic Line
Palazzo degli Alidosi, Castel del Rio, Bologna, Italija
During the II. World War the area of Castel del Rio was destroyed by the allies bombings and German occupation. At the time of civil war and resistance movement in September 1944, there was a huge amount of civilian losses. The War Museum is dedicated to Gothic Line. In the museum there are many information about the battles, persecutions and deportations of civilians in the region.
Gonars Concentration Camp
Gonars, Videm, Italija
The Gonars concentration camp was one of the several Italian concentration camps and it was established in 23. February, 1942, near Gonars, Italy. Many internees were transferred to this camp from the other Italian concentration camp, Rab concentration camp, which served as the equivalent of the final solution in Mario Roatta's ethnic cleansing policy against ethnic Slovenes from the Italian-occupied Province of Ljubljana and Croats from Gorski Kotar, in accord with the racist 1920s speech by Benito Mussolini, along with other Italian war crimes committed on the Italian-occupied territories of Yugoslavia. The camp was disbanded on September 8, 1943, immediately after the Italian armistice. Every effort was made to erase any evidence of this black spot of Italian history. The camp's buildings were destroyed, the materials were used to build a nearby kindergarten and the site was turned into a meadow.
Sicily Pillbox
Gela, Caltanissetta, Italija
The bunkers buried in the soil, were normally provided with shooting lines, from which the soldier can shoot the enemy from afar. The forts have served as a cover against the enemy fire.
War Memorial Taormina
Galleria Taormina, Taormina, Messina, Italija
Siluro from the Lent Corsa (Low Speed Torpedo), also known as "maiale", what in Italian means "pig", is located in a town Teormina.
Fossoli Transit Camp
Via Remesina Esterna, Fossoli, Modena, Italija
Fossoli Transi Camp (Campo di Fossoli) was a deportation camp in Italy during II. World War, located in the village Fossoli, Carpi, Italy. It began as a prisoner of war camp, later being a Jewish concentration camp, then a police and transit camp, and finally a labour collection centre for Germany. 2844 Jews passed through this camp, 2802 having been then deported.
Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial
Piazzale Kennedy, Nettuno, Rim, Italija
Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial is a cemetery in Italy for all American victims, who fell in II. world war.
San Pietro Infine
San Pietro Infine, Caserta, Italija
The battle of San Pietro Infine or battle of San Pietro was a main battle between 08. and 17.12.1943 in the Italian campaign during II. world war. The Allies attacked from the south against heavily defended Germans at, so called, "Winter Line" south of Monte Cassino. That is located half way from Napolis to Rome. The victory of the Allies in a battle was a vital importance, so they can later on take Rome. At the same time this battle was the first, when an Italian soldiers were fighting on the side of the Allies, after an armistice with Italy. The city San Pietro Infine was destroyed during the battle, today a new city was built about 100 m (109 yd) away from its original place.
Rome – Ardeatine Massacre
Mausoleo Delle Fosse Ardeatine, Via Ardeatina, Rim, Italija
The term Ardeatine massacre refers to the killings of German occupying forces during the II. world war in Rome, on 24. March 1944. It was a revenge of the German police regiment SS Bozen on the partisan forces, because Allies forces were progressing through the Apennine peninsula. In the massacre 335 Italian political prisoners and Jews were killed.
Rome – Historical Museum of the Liberation
Museo Storico della Liberazione, Via Tasso, Rim, Italija
The Historical Museum of the Liberation was set up in the spaces of the building that, during the months of Nazi occupation of Rome (September 11, 1943 - June 4, 1944), was used as a prison. Nowadays this building is dedicated to all the people that were imprisoned and reminds us to the times of suffering under Nazi Garmany.
Rome – Villa Torlonia, Mussolini's residence
Musei di Villa Torlonia, Via Nomentana, Rim, Italija
Villa Torlonia was built at the beginning of the 20th century, during its existence it was a residence of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini and his family from 1925 to 1943. During the II. world war, probably in 1940, the Italian dictator had turned his wine cellar into an air-raid shelter. The estate was abandoned after Mussolini's arrest, but recent restoration and opening to the public, as a museum, allows tourists to look around.
Rome – Mussolini balcony
Via del Plebiscito, 118, Torrita Tiberina, Rim, Italija
The fascist leader Benito Mussolini used Palazzo Venezia as his residence, during his reign. His office was Sala del Mappamondo and he used its balcony, overlooking the Piazza Venezia to deliver many of his most notable speeches to crowds gathered in the Piazza Venezia below. One of those speeches was a declaration of the Italian Empire, on the 9. May 1936.
Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls / San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
Basilica San Lorenzo al Verano, Piazzale del Verano, Rim, Italija
The Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls (San Lorenzo fuori le Mura) was almost completely destroyed by the blast of a large bomb, which fell just outside the portico. This had happened during the bombing raid on the city's railway yards on 19 July 1943.
Memorial museum of Liberty
Museo Memoriale della Libertà, Bologna, Italija
The memorial was build for recalling the events that took place during the successful attempt to break through the Gothic Line, the German defensive system built to prevent the Allies from entering the Po Plain. Also there is considered how the local population lived through such events, both passively and actively (i.e.The Resistance). There is an exhibition with more than 50 army crafts from the era of II. world war.
Bologna War Cemetery
Via Giuseppe Dozza, 32, Bologna, Italija
After the fall of Rome in June 1944 it was just a matter of time, when the German forces would have to retreat. At that time an order came that German forces had to strengthen a defensive line in the northern Apennines, so called Gothic lines. In winter months 1944 Bologna was in Nazis hands. In spring 1945 the luck changed and Polish 8th Army has free it. The war cemetery has graves of 1.432 Polish soldiers and officers of 2nd corps, who fell in battle between the years of 1944 and 1945.
Historical Museum of Military Motorization
Museo Storico della Motorizzazione Militare, Viale dell'Esercito, Rim, Italija
The Historical Museum of Military Motorization is located in a city of Cecchignola, near Rome, Italy. The museum shows us the history of army crafts that were used in Italian military throughout history. The purpose of the museum is to preserve the historical artifacts about the motorization of the military.
Museum Piana delle Orme
Piana delle Orme, Latina, Italija
The war department shows us few main acts of the II. world war. Photos, movies and army crafts as well as many artifacts and documents, which helps the visitor to place all events in a time and place. Also, there are some famous ancient vehicles, for example the tank from R. Benigni movie "Life is Beautiful". There is a special place in the exhibition dedicated to the landings of Allies forces on the Apennines peninsula in early morning on 22. January 1944. On that day, thousands of landing crafts on a coast of Anzio and Nettuno. There landed around 55.000 soldiers and more than 18.000 army crafts. Even though the German forces were able to organize themselves in a strong defensive line.
Centre of Documentation and Historical Research by Gotica Toscana
Centro Documentazione e Ricerche Storiche di Gotica Toscana Onlus, Località Ponzalla, Scarperia e San Piero, Firence, Italija
The Centre of Documentation and Historical Research by Gotica Toscana NPA preserves the memory of the passage of World War 2 in Tuscany. A special attention is given to the events which took place on the Apennines Mountains between the Futa Pass and the Giogo Pass (North of Florence) as this was the theater of large operations in September 1944 against the Gothic Line, the last German fortified line of defense in Italy.
Carpi Museum of Deportation
Castello dei Pio, Carpi, Modena, Italija
Beachhead Museum
Anzio BeachHead Museum, Via di Villa Adele, Anzio, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy
The museum complements photo, journal, library, flags, photo collections, motorbikes and documents connected with the landings of the Allies on a coast of Anzia. The museum also wants to increase the collection with the donations from the other museums and veterans.
The Aviation Museum
Via Santa Aquilina, 58, Rimini, Italija
The Aviation Museum is situated inside the theme park. The pavilion that houses the museum's rooms has a modern design and was built using technologically advanced materials. The museum is set out on several different floors and in many cases, the exhibits on display are unique and cannot be found in any other museum in Italy or overseas.
The Battle for Primosole Bridge
Str. Primosole, Catania, Italija
Operation Fustian was an airborne forces operation undertaken during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 in the Second World War. The operation was carried out by Brigadier Gerald Lathbury's 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the British 1st Airborne Division. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the Simeto River. The intention was for the brigade, with glider-borne forces in support, to land on both sides of the river. They would then capture the bridge and secure the surrounding area until relieved by the advance of British XIII Corps, which had landed on the south eastern coast three days previously. Because the bridge was the only crossing on the river and would give the British 8th Army access to the Catania plain, its capture was expected to speed the advance and lead to the defeat of the Axis forces in Sicily. The capture of Primosole Bridge did not lead to the expected rapid advance, as by this time the Germans had gathered their forces and established a defensive line. It was not until early the following month that the Eighth Army captured Catania. By this time the 1st Parachute Brigade had been withdrawn to Malta and took no further part in the conquest of Sicily. Lessons were learned from the operation and were put into practice in Allied airborne operations.
Monte Cassino
Abbazia di Montecassino, Via Montecassino, Cassino, Frosinone, Italija
Monte Cassino is a rocky mountain heigh 520 m (1,706.04 ft) altitude and about 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of Rome, Italy, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the town of Cassino. Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is best known for abbey. Saint Benedict of Nursia establishes his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. The sanctuary was the site of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, where the building was destroyed by Allied bombing and rebuilt after the war. The Battle of Monte Cassino is also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The intention was a breakthrough to Rome. At the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these features formed the Gustav Line. Between 17 January and 18 May, Monte Cassino and the Gustav defences were assaulted four times by Allied troops, the last involving twenty divisions attacking along a twenty-mile front. The German defenders were finally driven from their positions, but at a high cost.
Palace of Caserta
Royal Palace of Caserta, Viale Douhet, Caserta, Italija
The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. From December 1943 until September 1945 served as a headquarters for the Allies forces in Italy. Here they constructed most of the plans for amphibious operations. The Palace also served as an army hospital. Later on, it became a venue, where German forces signed unconditional capitulation in Italy. The surrender agreement covered the handover between 600.000 and 900.000 troops along Italian front.
Museum of Landings in Sicily
Museo Dello Sbarco In Sicilia 1943, Rocco Chinnici, Viale Africa, Catania, Province of Catania, Italy
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. It was a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign and was the beginning of the Italian Campaign. Husky began on the night of 9 and 10 July 1943, and ended on 17 August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners; the Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island and the Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. The Italian fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, was toppled from power in Italy and the way was opened for the invasion of Italy. Hitler "canceled a major offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy," resulting in a reduction of German strength on the Eastern Front. The museum of the landing in Sicily is a didactic museum that throughout the reproduction of frameworks like a little quarter of the epoch and of environments destroyed by the bombing, lead the visitor towards the awareness and knowledge of the history.
Foiba of Basovizza
Foiba of Basovizza, Trst, Italija
Originally, foibe in Basovizza was a deep mine shaft in the municipality of Trieste. In the early 20th century, it was used for the extraction of coal and later abandoned because of its unproductive. The most famous foibe is in Basovizza, it has begun as told by the local operate in 1944 the first victims were the Slovenian anti-fascists. After the war in May 1945 the victims were killed German and Italian soldiers. In October 1945 after the departure of the Jugoslavian Army of Trieste and the arrival of allied forces, the English Engineers pull out the German and Italian soldiers and were actually looking for New Zealand soldiers. On 11 September 1992 has been declared a national monument.
Anzio, Rim, Italija
Anzio and Nettun were two most important ports for Allies to land in Italy (operation Shingle). Later on, the battle between German and American soldiers begun. The Battle of Anzio began on January 22, 1944 and concluded with the fall of Rome on June 5. The campaign was part of the Italian Theater of World War II.
Florence American Cemetery and Memorial
Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, Via Cassia, San Casciano in Val di pesa, Firence, Italija
American Cemetery and Memorial in Florence, south the city of Florence, Italy. Most of the victims were a part of the 5th USA army. They died in a battle in Rome in June 1944. The rest of the buried victims were a part of Allies soldiers, who fell during an invasion in Italy during June 1944 and 2. May 1945.
Dubrovnik Museum of Contemporary History
Dubrovački muzeji / Dubrovnik Museums, Ulica Pred Dvorom, Dubrovnik, Hrvaška
The collections gather, study and present material from the period of time from World War I, from the labour movement between the two wars up to World War II, the anti-fascist struggle, and the post-war period. The museum is located in Sponza Palace.
Jesenovac Concentration Camp and Memorial Site
44324, Jasenovac, Hrvaška
The Independent State of Croatia was founded on 10 April 1941, with the full support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. During the four years of its existence, the Independent State of Croatia was ruled by the Ustasha movement and its leader, Ante Pavelić, who had made plans for the extermination of the Serbs. The concentration camp Jesenovac was a concentration camp during the II. World War in a town called Jasenovac, which was a part of an Independent State of Croatia. The camp was established in August 1941, when the first prisoners from Sarajevo were captured. The camp was disbanded in April 1945. It was meant to resolve the question of Serbs. But the Independent State of Croatia also executed many Croatians, Gypsies, Jews and Slovens.
Historical Museum of Crete
Historical Museum of Crete, Leoforos Sofokli Venizelou, Iraklio, Grčija
The involvement of Greece, and more particularly that of Crete in World War II, is presented in an uneasy exhibition befitting a turbulent period in modern history. The Italian offensive against Greece (October 1940); the Battle of Crete, as the German invasion of the island in May 1941 was named; the occupation; the resistance; acts of sabotage; war crimes; everyday life, make up the main sections of the presentation. This makes use of objects, images and various audiovisual documents, featuring personal accounts by people active on Crete at the time.
The War Shelter of Platanias
Platanias, Chania, Grčija
The war shelter was constructed by the German troops in 1942 on Platanias hill, below the Church of St Dimitrios. It consists of an underground complex of booths and tunnels that was used to store ammunition and military materiel during the World War II.In recent years the Shelter is preserved as a monument in memory of the Cretan Resistance the Nazi Occupation.
War Museum Tunnel
War museum Tunnel, Agia Marina, Grčija
The Battle of Leros was the central event of the Dodecanese Campaign of the II. World War, and is widely used as an alternate name for the whole campaign. The Italian garrison in Leros was strengthened by British forces in 15. September 1943. The battle began with German air attacks on 26. September, continued with the landings on 12. November, and ended with the capitulation of the Allied forces four days later. The battle of Leros took almost 50 days. This great battle was an inspiration for a novel The Guns of Navarone, written in 1957 by Alistair MacLean, later in 1961 it became same named movie.
Athens War Museum
Polemiko Mousio, Atene, Grčija
The War Museum was established by the Hellenic State in 1964 in order to honor all those who fought for the country's freedom.The Museum's mission, as this was determined by its Establishing Act, is to collect, preserve and exhibit military artifacts and memorabilia, and to study, document and project the sacred struggles of the Greek nation from antiquity to the present day, in order to preserve the national memory and promote the historic continuity of Hellenism.
Thessaloniki Holocaust Memorial
Holocaust Memorial, Leoforos Nikis, Thessaloniki, Grčija
Preveli Monastery
Preveli Monastery, Πίσω Μόνη Πρέβελη, Ελλάδα
In the Battle of Crete in 1941, Agathangelos Lagouvardos (the leader of the resistence) helped supply Commonwelth troops on the island, and provided shelter for them. A group of Australian soldiers protected by the monastery managed to secure their rescue by submarine from the island at Preveli Beach. After this was discovered, the Lower Monastery was destroyed by German forces.
Suda Bay War Cemetery
Souda Bay Allied War Cemetery, Hania, Grčija
German War Cemetery in Maleme
Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Maleme, Maleme, Chania, Grčija
Meteora, Kalampaka, Grčija
The name Meteora literally means "in the heavens above" or also "middle of the sky". The Meteora is a formation of immense monolithic pillars and hills like huge rounded boulders. This formation creates a beautiful passage of rocks with a monastery on top of the boulders. The six monasteries are built on natural conglomerate pillars, on the edge of the Plain of Thessaly, in central Greece. It is also associated with one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece. In one of this monastery, called Great Meteora, there is a war museum dedicated to II. World War, corroborated by photographs, uniforms and different documents. Occupation of Greece started on April 1941, when the Nazis attacked her to help the Fascist Italy, who had already been at war with Greece.
Razing of Kanfanos
Kandanos, Chania, Grčija
The Razing of Kandanos or the Holocaust of Kandanos refers to the complete destruction of the village of Kandanos in Western Crete and the killing of about 180 of its inhabitants on 3 June 1941 by German occupying forces. It was ordered by Generalobrest Kurt Student in reprisal of the participation of the local population in the Battle of Crete that had held advancing German soldiers for two days. This represents one of the most atrocious war crimes committed during the II. World War in Crete.
Chora Sfakion Monument
Epar.Od. Vrison-Sfakion 6, Chora Sfakion 730 11, Grčija
A monument to those who were executed by the Nazis, because they helpped the Allied, to evacuat from the port of Chora Sfakion.
War Memorial Chora Sfakion
Chora Sfakion, Chania, Grčija
A memorial to those who were executed by the Nazis, because they helpped the Allied, to evacuat from the port of Chora Sfakion.
Hellenic Air Force Museum
Mesogion 227, Cholargos, Grčija
The Hellenic Air Force Museum was founded in 1986 and since 1992 has been located on Dekelia Air Base in Acharnes north of Athens. In opposition to the War Museum of Athens it displays air force history and is active in restoring and presenting old aircraft. Most aircraft in the collection come from the Hellenic Air Force; some were exchanged with other European aircraft museums.
Nautical Museum of Crete
Nautical Museum of Crete, Chania, Grčija
The Nautical Museum of Crete is located at the entrance of the historical fortress "Firka". It was founded in 1973 in order to promote the nautical traditions and history of the island. The Museum cooperates and interacts with other Nautical Museums in Greece and abroad. The permanent exhibition includes 2.500 items, such as relics, objects found in the bottom of the sea, paintings, maps, photographs, models of ships, nautical equipment etc. The exhibits are organized in units, in chronological order from the Copper Age until today. There is also a special exhibition of sea environment, with a rich collection of shells from different places of the world.
Askifou, Ασκύφου, Chania, Grčija
The Battle of Crete was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete. Greek forces and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation and German offensive operations, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions in the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. Over half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy; the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. The museum is a private collection of Mr. George Hatzidakis. The museum is rich in military equipment and weapons from the II. World War, during the German occupation of Crete.
Anogia, Rethimno, Grčija
One of the villages of Crete, which paid a high price for the help it offered to the abductors of General Kreipe was Anogia. The village was emptied of its inhabitants, who were driven from their homes and moved to other villages, and then razed to the ground. When the "punishment" of Anogia was complete, not one brick was left on another. But however hard the invaders tried to erase historic Anogia from the map. After the war, the inhabitants returned, rebuilt their homes and today Anogia lives again as a reminder of the struggles of the Cretans against all the invaders of the tragic island, their determination and their love of their homeland.
Rock of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a small country, part of the British Overseas Territory, which defended herself during a II. World War with long tunnels underneath the natural feature of Gibraltar Rock. Inside, there was whole "city", which had electricity, water and hospital for all Allied armies, which was situated in Gibraltar. Two troops of Canadian and five of British engineers, they succeeded in constructing 48 kilometers of underground tunnels, what was enough to accommodate 30.000 soldiers. For comparison, that is more tunnels that there is the roads in all Gibraltar.
Cap Blanc Nez
Cap Blanc Nez, Sangatte, Francija
Cap Blanc Nez is a cape on the Côte d'Opale, in the Pas-de-Calais. The cliffs of chalk are very similar to the white cliffs of Dover on the other side of the Channel in England. On the cliff, there are bunkers which are a part of a Hitler's Atlantic Wall. The Atlantic Wall (German: Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from Great Britain during World War II.
Le Forteresse de Mimoyecques
La Forteresse de Mimoyecques, Leubringhen, Francija
La Coupole
La Coupole Centre d'Histoire, Wizernes, Francija
La Coupole (Eng.: The Dome), also known as the Coupole d'Helfaut-Wizernes and originally code named Bauvorhaben 21 (Building Project 21) or Schotterwerk Nordwest (Northwest Gravel Works), is a II. World War bunker complex. It was built by the organization TODT between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets directed against London and southern England, and is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence. The Allies bombed La Coupole in the year 1944, later on the German forces left this location because the Operation Overlord had begun.
The bunker of Eperlecques
Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, Rue des Sarts, Éperlecques, Francija
The bunker of Eperlecques is the biggest bunker in the north of France, region Nord-Pas-Calais, near Saint-Omer. The bunker, built by Nazi Germany between March 1943 and July 1944, was originally intended to be a launching facility for V-2 ballistic missile. The bunker was never completed as a result of the repeated bombing by the British and United States air forces as a part of the Operation Crossbow against the German V-weapons programme. Part of the bunker was subsequently completed for use as a liquid oxygen factory. It was captured by Allied forces at the start of September 1944, though its true purpose was not discovered by the Allies until after the war.
Fort des Dunes
Fort des Dunes, Chemin du Fort, Leffrinckoucke, Francija
The "Fort des Dunes", also known as "Fort Leffrinckoucke" and sometimes "Fort de l'Est", is located in the commune of Leffrinckoucke, region Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Dunkerque. This 19th century fort still bears the scars of the battle of 1940 and the German occupation. Built from 1878 to 1880, it is part of the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications that France built following the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War. Although it played no part in I. World War, it had a significant role in both the beginning and end of II. World War. The Séré de Rivières system of fortifications is covering more grounds around Dunkerque. In a battle for France in a year 1940 many of French and British soldiers arrived to this place, where they settled in the Fort des Dunes. General Gorges Blanchard, whose First French Army had effectively ceased to exist, arrived at the fort on 30 May. The fort became headquarters of French 12th Motorized Infantry Division on 1 June.
Fort de la Crêche
Fort de la Crêche, Wimereux, Francija
"Fort de la Crêche" is a coastal battery, built upstream from the cape "la Crèche". Its mission was to defend the port of Boulogne: it supervised the English Channel to the Pas-de-Calais and the coast from cape Gris-Nez to the cape d'Alprech. But his cannon couldn't reach English coast, even though it can be seen from here when the visibility is good.
Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum
RAF Manston Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum, Manston Road, Ramsgate, Združeno kraljestvo
This museum is also dedicated to Royal Air Force (RAF), which fought for United Kingdom in 1940 and it was also a turning point for Germany in II. World War, because Luftwaffe was not capable to bring the United Kingdom to its knees. In the museum you can see war aircrafts from the time of II. World War. The two crafts you can see are the Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI and the Hawker Hurricane IIC. The crafts are located under the rooftop of an airport in Manston, Kent.
Kent Battle of Britain Museum
Kent Battle of Britain Musuem, Aerodrome Road, Folkestone, Združeno kraljestvo
Kingdom and after that he wanted to invade them in an Operation Sea Lion. In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign. The Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). It describes an the first major campaign fought by air forces. It officially took place between 1st July and 31st October in 1940. The primary objective of the Nazi German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. It was a significant turning point of World War II., the Battle of Britain ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain ait superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain's air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. War Museum has a rich collection of different exhibits connected with the Battle of Britain. It is located at the former RAF airport Hawking and it's open to the public from the year 1971. The museum got the support of the RAF pilots veterans, many of them donated personal items to the museum.
Battle of Britain Memorial
Battle of Britain Memorial, New Dover Road, Folkestone, Združeno kraljestvo
The Memorial to The Few or the Battle of Britain Memorial is a memorial dedicated to the heroic and selfless deeds of the men who fought for United Kingdom in 1940. It is located on the White Cliffs in Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone. The memorial was open for the 9. July 1993, by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The central figure sits on a propeller boss surrounded by the badges of all the Allied squadrons and other units that took part in the Battle.The blades of the propeller are set into the ground, making the memorial as striking from the air as it is for the visitor on the ground. On the location, there are also replicas of the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. Also, you can see the memorial wall, where you can find almost 3000 names that fought in the air force in the battle for Britain.
Dover Castle
Secret War Time Tunnels, Harold's Road, Dover, Združeno kraljestvo
Underneath Dover castle, under the white cliffs of Dover, there are wartime tunnels. that served as a shelter against German bombings during the II. world war. Later on they served as an army headquarters and underground hospital. They had an important role in may 1940, when admiral Sir Bertman Ramsy led the evacuation of French and British soldiers from Dunkirk in operation Dynamo, from his headquarters in Dover.
Great Patriotic War Museum
praspiekt Pieramožcaŭ 8, Minsk, Belorusija
The Great Patriotic War Museum is a museum in Minsk in Belarus. The design of the museum in memory of the German-Soviet war of the meeting came even before the end of the Second World War the Nazi occupation. The museum was first opened on 25 October 1944, the first World War, the museum is open during the war. In 1966 the museum moved to its present location. The museum has 24 exhibition halls, a total of 142,000 exhibits in its collection. A special segment of the museum is dedicated to the Belarusian Red Army, local anti-fascist activities and partisan activities and the history of the death camps in Auschwitz.
The 5th Fort Museum
Brest Fortress Hero complex, Brest, Belorusija
Brest Fortress from the late 19th century is the fourth in Brest, Belarus, and represents one of the most i important Soviet war memorial of II. World War. The fortress is a moment of Soviet resistance against the German offensive in the operation Barbarossa (22nd June 1941). After the war, 1965, the fortress got the name The fortress of heroes in the memory for those who fought in the first weeks after the German invasion.
National Museum of Military History
National Museum of Military History, ulitsa "Cherkovna", Sofija, Bolgarija
The National Military History Museum is a museum dedicated to military history in Sofia, Bulgaria. A structure of the Ministry of Defense, it has existed under various names and subordinate to various institutions since 1 August 1914. In the museum you can find a lot of German tanks from II. World War. Also, the museum represents whole Bulgarian history.
Musée mémoire 1939-1945
Musée de la Guerre de Calais, Calais, Francija
The construction of the building began at the beginning of 1941, less than a year after the beginning of the German occupation. When it was completed, the site was home to the various German commanders of the port, who succeeded each other from 1941 to 1944. Telephone, telegraph and radio station for the German navy for the coasts of the Bay of Somme at the mouth of the port The Scheldt department, he made the link between the command posts of the Kriegsmarine located at Boulogne sur Mer in Dunkerque. The site was therefore in constant contact with the main heavy batteries, such as the Todt battery in Audinghen, Lindemann in Sangatte or Oldenburg in Calais. In the museum you can find different exhibitions, uniforms from the II. World War, arms and army gear. Also, it has photos, documents and seals from that time.
Dunkirk War Museum
Musée Dunkerque 1940 Opération Dynamo, Rue des Chantiers de France, Dunkerque, Francija
The Dunkirk War Museum or "Memorial du Souvenir" tells the story of the famous World War II allied evacuation of Dunkirk. The Dunkirk evacuation took place between 26 May and 4 June 1940 and was an operation - codenamed Dynamo - to rescue hundreds of thousands of British, French, Canadian, and Belgian soldiers cut off by advancing German forces. This operation was a turning point, because the phony war was now over. The Allies fought back, but the new German tactics surprised them and suddenly the Allies soldiers were surrounded by enemies. Dunkirk harbour was the only possible solution to save the surrounded soldiers. They fought their way back to Dunkirk, where they were saved by Allies battleships. The soldiers were taken to England. They saved around 330.000 English and French soldiers.
The Armistice Museum
Clairière de l'Armistice, Compiègne, Francija
In the Oise department, France, discover the "Armistice Clearing", where the 1918 and 1940 armistices were signed in the Compiègne Forest inside the historical wagon. On 11 November 1918 after the I. World War, the armistice was signed between Marshall Ferdinand Foch, supreme commander of the Allied forces, and the German delegation. On 22 June 1940, this symbol of victory and peace would be chosen by Hitler for the signing, in this very same carriage, of France's surrender under the Pétain government. Soon thereafter, Hitler ordered the site destroyed. Germans wanted to humiliate France that is why they forced them to sign in the very same spot, where the Germans were defeted 2 decateds before. Signator for Germany included millitary officer Wilhelm Keitel, for the French the signator wa General Charles Huntziger. The armistice established a German occupation zone in Northern and Western France that encompassed all Englifh Channel and Atlantic Ocean ports and left the remainder "free" to be governed by the French.
At the Port Museum
Musée Portuaire de Dunkerque, Quai de la Citadelle, Dunkerque, Francija
The exhibition at the war museum highlights two main episodes of the II World War: the defense of Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo and occupation of the city after the fall of France. The exhibition focuses on the fate of civilians during the II World War, visible through the urban landscape and everyday life.
Ambleteuse World War II Museum
Historique de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, Rue des Garennes, Ambleteuse, Francija
The museum Ambleteuse is a homage to all the veterans of the second World War. In the museum you can see the chronological history freom the invasion of Polan in 1939 to the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan 1945. You will be shown, in a clear and educational way, the soldiers of different armies who fought in different theatres of war. More than 120 dolls shows diffrent campaigns and important events of the war. The museum contains hundreds of original documents - posers, flyrs, newspapers, labels, uniforms and various military equipment. Also you can see a film dedicated to the battle of Normandy.
Dunkirk Memorial
1874 Rue des Chantiers de France, 59140 Dunkerque, Francija
The battle of Dunkirk, code-named operation Dynamo, was a battle during the II. World War between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was defence and evacuation of British and Allied forces in Europe from 26 May - 4 June 1940. This operation was a turning point, because the phony war was now over. The Allies fought back, but the new German tactics surprised them and suddenly the Allies soldiers were surrounded by enemies. Dunkirk harbour was the only possible solution to save the surrounded soldiers. They fought their way back to Dunkirk, where they were saved by Allies battleships. The soldiers were taken to England. They saved around 330.000 English and French soldiers.
The Battleship of Princess Elizabeth
2502 Route de l'Écluse Trystram, 59140 Dunkerque, Francija
The Battleships of Pricess Elizabeth were used for Dunkirk evacuation also known as Miracle of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo. This was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, between 26th May ans 4th June during World War II. The battleship presented here has done 4 saillings between Dunkirk and Dover. They saves almost 1800 soldiers.
Todt Battery
5298A La Sence, 62179 Audinghen, Francija
Battery Todt is a battery of coastal artillery built by the Germans in World War II, as a part of Great Atlantic Wall. Located in the hamlet of Haringzelle, Audinghen, near Pas-de-Calais, France. The battery was finshed on 20th January 1942, it became one of most important coastal fortifications after the 6th of June 1944. It consisted of four 380 millimetres (15in) calibre Krupp guns with a range up to 55,7 kilometres (34,6 mi), cpable of reaching the British coast and each protected by a bunker of reinforced concrete. The 242th Coastal Artillery Battalion commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Kurt Schilling was responsible for the offensive batteries of the Pas-de-Calais.
Normandy – Tiger tank
Char Tigre, La Butte du Sap, 61120 Vimoutiers, Francija
Tiger tank in Vimoutiers is a German tank of the World War II, exposed on the outskirts of the city of Vimoutiers in the Orne district in Normandy.
Deportation Memorial in Paris / Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation
Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, Paris, Francija
Memorial is a monument to the deportation of 200,000 people who were deported from Vichy France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. It is located in Paris, France on the site of a former morgue. It was designed by French modernist architect Georges-Henri Pingusson and was inaugurated by Charles de Gaulle in 1962.
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower, Avenue Anatole France, Pariz, Francija
During the German occupation, the French resistance fighters deliberately disabled the elevators of the Eiffel Tower, which meant that if Hitler were to display a Nazi German flag, soldiers would have to climb approximately 1710 stairs to the top of the platform. When the Allies approached Paris in August 1944, Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, Military Governor of Paris, to destroy the city to ruins - including the Eiffel Tower. General von Choltitz did not carry out the command.
Museum of Aviation
Air and Space Museum, Paris Metropolitan Area, Le Bourget, Francija
Museum of Aviation and space is an attractive museum, which attracts aircraft enthusiasts. It is located at the former World War II airport, occupying 150,000 m2, and features 30,000 exhibits and more than 150 aircraft.
Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe, Pariz, Francija
The Arc de Triomphe has become a meeting place for the French soldiers who paraded after successful military campaigns and annually for the holiday parade to commemorate Bastille. The famous winning parades around or under the Arc de Triomphe included German soldiers in 1871, French in 1919, German troops in 1940 and Allied soldiers in 1944 and 1945.
British-American cemetery
La Guinchere, 50240 Montjoie-Saint-Martin, Francija
British-American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Saint-James, Normandy, France. There are 4410 US soldiers buried here, who mostly lost their lives in the campaigns of Normandy and Brittany in 1944.
Museum Ordre de la Libération
Chancellerie de l'Ordre de la Libération, Paris, Francija
Musée de l'Ordre de la Liberation is a war museum located in the 7th arrondissement at 51 bis boulevard de La Tour-Maubourg, Paris. Museum is dedicated to Ordre de la Libération unit. It was founded in 1940 by Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free French Forces. Museum consists of three galleries and six rooms (total of 1,000 m²) depicting the history of the Ordre de la Libération unit, General de Gaulle's manuscripts, activities of the resistance movement and the history of concentration camps. Showcases contain more than 4000 items, including uniforms, weapons, clandestine press and leaflets, transmitters, flags and relics from the camps. The hall of honor is dedicated to General de Gaulle.
Bourges Center of Resistance and Deportation
Rue Jean Marie Heurtault de Lamerville, Bourges, Francija
Museum of the Resistance and Deportations contributes to the history and memory of WWII in France. A visit to the museum gives one a reflection on the meaning of the definition of life and commitment to values of the Resistance.
General Leclerc Museum
Général Leclerc, Boulogne-Billancourt, Francija
The museum is merged from two museums, with two complementary collections - the resistance movement in France during World War II and the liberation of France. It is dedicated to two very important personalities of the time, Jean Moulin, leader of the resistance and General Leclerc, who had an important role in the liberation of Paris. The museum holds a collection of Allied propaganda and Vichy posters, sketches with coded messages, underground newspapers and communications from Jean Moulin, which allow one to better understand the course of the war. The museum consists of fifteen screens that take you through the events of the liberation of Paris - from the time of the occupation to the operation of the resistance movement and liberation of Paris.
Center for the History of the Resistance and Deportation
Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, Avenue Berthelot, Lyon, Francija
"Centre d'histoire de la résistance et de la deportation" is a museum in Lyon, France, located on the site of the former French military medical school (Ecole de Santé Militaire). Museum chronologically displays the French resistance movement as well as the Jewish deportations during World War II. The school was occupied by the Germans in the spring of 1943, where it was used by Gestapo to torture members of the Resistance, including Jean Moulin, leader of the resistance movement. The building was destroyed during Allied bombings on May 26, 1944.
The Natzweiler-Struthof camp
Natzweiler-Struthof, Natzwiller, Francija
Natzweiler-Struthof was a German-run concentration camp, located in the Vosges Mountains close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (ger. Natzweiler) in France, about 50 km south-west of Strasbourg. Natzweiler-Struthof was the only Nazi concentration camp established in today's France. Notable writer Boris Pahor was interned in a concentration camp, and wrote his memories and experiences in his novel entitled Necropolis. Natzweiler-Struthof operated between May 21, 1941 and the beginning of September 1944, when the SS unit evacuated the camp and sent prisoners to Dachau. This was the first concentration camp in western Europe, which was discovered and freed by the American allies. Total number of detainees is estimated to have reached 52,000 in more than three years of its operation. Prisoners have originated from different countries, including Poland, Soviet Union, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Slovenia and Norway. The camp was specially set up for "Nacht und Nebel" prisoners, in most cases people of the resistance movements.
Museum of the liberation of Le Muy
Musée de la Libération, Cherbourg-Octeville, Francija
Musée de la Liberation is a unique museum dedicated to young heroes who freed Provence during Operation Dragoon on August 15, 1944. Museum is set in former oil mill and covers a parachute exhibition, military vehicles and other equipment, maps, photographs and cabin of one of the 500 gliders, which have been used on the 'D-Day' in southern France.
Normandy – Rangers museum
Musée des Rangers, Grandcamp-Maisy, Francija
Museum des Rangers (Rangers Museum) tells the story of the American Rangers who had to conquer Point du Hoc on June 6, 1944. Objects and uniforms by American soldiers used during this military campaign are on display in the museum.
Rhone American Memorial
Rhône American Cemetery, Boulevard John Kennedy, Draguignan, France
Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial is an American war cemetery in southern France. The monument was erected in honor of the heroism of American soldiers and sailors (861) who have died in military operations of World War II in the area. The cemetery covers 5,1 acres in the town of Draguignan. Most soldiers died in the summer of 1944 during "Operation Dragoon" - Allied invasion of southern France from the Mediterranean, which followed the Allied invasion of Normandy. Operation was designed with the intention to open another battlefield in France to accelerate the progression of allies in Western Europe.
Normandy – Memorial of the US National Guard
Vierville-sur-Mer, Francija
Located in Vierville-sur-Mer in France at the Omaha Beach, Monument stands on the original bunker, where 29th American National Guard penetrated through the German defense on June 6, 1944. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" was based on actual events that took place here.
Provence Landing Museum
Musée Mémorial du Débarquement, Voie Communale Sommet du Faron, Toulon, Francija
Museum of landing in Provence ("Memorial du débarquement de Provence") is located on top of Mount Faron. President Charles De Gaulle opened it in 1964 with a plaque to the Allied landing in Provence of 1944. Museum is enriched with photographs, weapons and models.
Normandy – Omaha Beach Memorial
Omaha Beach D-Day Monument, Avenue de la Libération, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Francija
Monument indicates the place where 29th and the 1st US Division (Big Red One) first landed on D-Day and underwent the German massacre with the MG-42 machineguns.
Normandy – Memorial of US 1st Division
Colleville sur Mer, Colleville-sur-Mer, France
Memorial was erected in honor and memory of the victims of the US 1st Division (Big Red One).
Normandy – Memorial Montormel
Mémorial de Coudehard-Montormel, Les Hayettes, Coudehard, Francija
At the place where Montormel Memorial stands today, last and the most bitter battle in Normandy was fought from 18th to 22nd August, 1944. Montgomery called it 'the beginning of the end of the war'. Museum with the statue is placed on top of Hill 262, where the battle officially ended on August 22, 1944.
Normandy – Patton Memorial
Place Patton, Avranches, Francija
July 25, 1944 - "Operation Cobra" - American military surrounded the German army and created a void, which resulted in capture of the city of Avranches on July 31, 1944. From here, General Patton strolled in his famous breakthrough to the west into Brittany, through the Loire river valley towards Paris, which enabled the liberation of France.
Normandy – Overlord Museum
Overlord Museum, Colleville-sur-Mer, Francija
Museum shows the period from D-Day to the liberation of Paris and the final reconstruction of Europe after the war. Museum displays reconstructions of major operations in Normandy by using models, vehicles and other military equipment.
Normandy – Hill 314
La Petite Chapelle, Mortain, Francija
Hill 314 was defended by US 2nd Battalion of 120th Infantry Division from the German counter-offensive 2nd SS-Panzer Division in "Operation Lüttich". Attack ended on the night of August 12, 1944. Of the 700 American soldiers who defended their positions, 300 were killed. There are still many bomb craters and "fox holes" on the hill.
Normandy – Museum of Liberation
Mémorial de la Liberté Retrouvée, Avenue de la Plage, Quinéville, Francija
"Memorial de la Liberté Retrouvée" with its 1000m² presents a chronological journey through the World War II in Normandy. It shows everyday life in occupied France, vivid and realistic scenes that will take you to a period of war.
Maginot Simserhof
Simserhof, Rue André Maginot, Siersthal, Francija
Fort Simserhof is part of the Maginot Line, located near the town of Siersthal, France, right next to the German border. During the Battle of France in 1940, Simserhof together with the neighboring forts achieved a partial success. After the capitulation of France, Germans occupied it and use it for the storage of torpedoes. Later in 1944, Germans use it actively to halt the progress of the US forces. After it was briefly in the hands of the US Army, Germans re-occupied it during "Operation Nordwind". After the war, the fort was restored by the French army for possible reuse. In 1960 location was proposed as a museum of Maginot Line. Simserhof now operates as a museum and has the most extensive infrastructure for visitors amongst all preserved forts on the Maginot Line.
Normandy – Museum of tanks
Normandy Tank Museum, La Fourchette, Catz, Francija
Normandy Tank Museum is a historical-technical center, with focus on discovering the history of the World War II, technical improvements in weapons, as well as the human and social aspects of the conflict. This allows one to understand the battles and paths towards the liberation of Europe. Museum contains a large collection of US military vehicles from World War II.
Normandy – Dead Man's Corner Museum
Dead Man's Corner Museum, Saint-Côme-du-Mont, Francija
"Dead Man's Corner" is one of those places where many memorable battles took place. At this crossroad, stands a bourgeois villa, which served as German paratroopers' headquarters of emergency department and later as US paratroopers' command post. Museum holds a collection of objects and equipment of paratroopers. The most interesting is the original "Easy Company" equipment from "Band of Brothers".
Maginot Fermont
Fort de Fermont, D174, Viviers-sur-Chiers, Francija
"Ouvrage Fermont" is a big fortress on Maginot Line in north-eastern France, near the community of Montigny-sur-Chiers. Located between the smaller "Ferme Chappy" fort and bigger "Latiremont" fort. Fort Fermont has been very important in the final stages of the battle for France. On May 11, 1940, the Fermont soldiers opened fire on German troops which responded with shots from the 88mm cannons. Fort Fermont surrendered to Germans only after two months, on June 27. Following the surrender, the French prisoners of war were used for de-mining around the fort which resulted in many casualties due to explosions. Today, fortress is a tourist destination with a wide range of museums.
Paris Military Museum
Musée de l'Armée, Rue de Grenelle, Pariz, Francija
"Musée de l'Armée" (War Museum) is the national military museum in France, which is located at Les Invalides in the 7th district of Paris. It was established in 1905 by the merger of the "Musée d'Artillería" and the "Musée historique de l'Armée". The War Museum is proud to host 500,000 different items, including weapons, uniforms, symbols and images displayed on 12,000m². Permanent collections are organized in chronological historical order from ancient times to the end of the World War II.
Maginot Esche
Rue de la Gare (D28) 67690 Hatten
Casemate is part of the Maginot line and was built in 1930 with capacity for 220 soldiers. From the beginning to the end of the war battles were held here. Casemate Esche was a fortified position close to the German border in the far north-eastern France before World War II. It was a part of the extension of the Maginot Line on the border between France and Germany. In 1945 the area was the scene of intense fighting between the German and the US forces. Today, Casemate Esche is a museum, located on the southeastern edge of the town called Hatten.
Maginot Hackenberg
Ouvrage du Hackenberg, France
Fort Hackenberg is one of the largest forts on the Maginot line. It lies 20 kilometers east of Thionville near the village of Veckring. The fort stands on the Hackenberg ridge. Before the World War II, the fort was proud result of the French technology. Hackenberg was never directly attacked in 1940, and its crew was one of the last French units to surrender in June 1940. In 1944, under the German occupation, fort survived the American artillery bombardment, which forced the Germans to evacuate. Today, Hackenberg is excellently preserved and operates as a museum.
Normandy – Caen
Mémorial de Caen, Esplanade Général Eisenhower, Caen, Francija
"Mémorial de Caen" is a museum and a war memorial dedicated to all the fallen soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle for Caen and World War ll. Museum is dedicated to the history of violence and the unsettled conflicts of the 20th century, especially World War II.
Maginot Abri
Hatten, France
Fort Abri is located 35 km north of Strasbourg and 40 km west of Karlsruhe. Abri (or shelter) underground barracks, were built in 1930, and served as the tight defense with all the necessary facilities for soldiers in case of war (military bedrooms, toilets, offices, gas bunkers, ...). The construction of 19 bunkers on the Maginot Line was launched in 1930 on the territory of Hatten. The complex comprises of a number of smaller bunkers, a large observatory and of course the biggest of them all - Abri fortress, with 28 rooms, which are now turned into museum's exhibition halls.
Normandy – Omaha Beach museum
Musee D-Day Omaha
D-Day Omaha Beach Museum (Musée D Day Omaha) is located on the main road between Vierville-sur-Mer and the Pointe du Hoc. A large part of the museum is inside an old hangar, and displays a lot of weapons, vehicles, uniforms and other equipment that was used by German and American forces fighting on D-Day - June 6, 1944.
Normandy – Arromanches
Arromanches, Francija
The city of Arromanches lies alongside the Gold Beach, one of the beaches that were used by British troops to unload. Arromanches was selected as one of the two sites for Mulberry ports built on the coast of Normandy, the second location was at the west end of Omaha Beach. Large concrete blocks now remain visible on the coast as remains of the Mulberry harbors. Today, Arromanches is primarily a tourist town, located near all the important areas of combat and war cemeteries to visit. City also has a museum with information about "Operation Overlord" and Mulberry harbors especially.
Normandy – Museum of Liberation
Mémorial de la Liberté Retrouvée 18 Avenue de la Plage, 50310 Quinéville, Francija
Museum is located on the "Fort du Roule" fortress and shows the history of German occupation in France and the liberation of the Cotentin peninsula. The role of the Cherbourg port in Allied operations in the 1944 is also shown. "Fort du Roule" fortress was captured in 1940 by Erwin Rommel, however today it is a museum with unique exhibits of weapons, uniforms and documents.
Normandy – Bayeux Museum
Museum of the Battle of Normandy, Boulevard Fabian Ware, Bayeux, Normandy, Francija
Musée - Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie is a museum worth seeing, since it covers the history of the strategic position of the Allies before landing in Normandy. It furthermore shows the story of the battle that spanned from June 7 to August 29, 1944. Museum holds maps, images and models, heavy equipment, weapons and uniforms. It also covers five thematic areas: General de Gaulle 1935-1946, Mulberry harbors, Cherbourg, The role of aviation in the battle, and the battle for hedges. American M4 Sherman and a British Churchill tanks are both on display outside of the museum.
Normandy – Gold Beach Museum
Normandy - Gold Beach Museum
Gold Beach Museum is located in the center of Ver-sur-Mer next to the town hall. On June 6, 1944, British 50th Infantry Division landed here as part of "Operation Overlord", on the beach known as Gold Beach. The museum contains documents, models, and maps that describe the dramatic scenes on the day of disembarkation.
Normandy – Eisenhower statue
Rond-Point Eisenhower, Bayeux, Francija
General Dwight Eisenhower was in charge of planning and carrying out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy in June 1944 under the code name "Operation Overlord", with the aim of liberation of Western Europe and invasion of Nazi Germany.
Normandy – Museum Mulberry
1 Cale Maréchal Montgomery, 14117 Arromanches-les-Bains, Francija
Museum is located on the site where one of the Mulberry harbors once stood and where today, one can still see its remains a few hundred meters off the coast.
Normandy – Museum of war wrecks
Museum of war wrecks port en bessin
More than 25 years of research of the seabed off the coast of Normandy has led to the preservation of military debris, which were drawn from the seabed. The museum houses the stunning American tanks, raised from the seabed at Omaha Beach sector - Sherman DD tanks that were sunk in the rough sea on D-Day, M7 Priests and Sherman dozers which sunk together with transport LST boat off the coast of Normandy. In addition, the museum displays a lot of personal documents, mechanics, mines and heavy weapons.
Normandy – Juno Beach Centre
Juno Beach Memorial Center
Juno Beach Memorial Center is a military museum, which is located in Courseulles-sur-Mer in Normandy, France. It is located just behind the Juno sandy beach, which was part of the Allied landing where 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed on June 6, 1944. The scope of the museum covers not only the D-Day with its detailed and interactive exhibition, but also tells a story of life in Canada before the outbreak of the war, civil and military contribution of Canada to the outcome of the World War II, and displays contemporary Canadian society in the decades after World War II.
Normandy – Museum radar
museum radar normandy
During World War II, Douvres was an important location of German air radar systems as part of the strategic defense within the Atlantic Wall. It was completed in autumn 1943 and strongly fortified with bunkers, machine gun nests and minefields. Today, together with two bunkers, the radar is rearranged into a museum where one can see the development and application of radar. The museum also holds a rare preserved example of a "Würzburg" radar antenna.
Normandy – Utah Beach Museum
Normandy - Utah Beach Museum
Utah Beach Museum was founded in 1962 by Michel de Vallavieille, Mayor of Sainte Marie du Mont, who has spent much of his time to creating and maintaining the memory of those who landed on Utah beach. Museum is built inside an old German bunker, known under the code of WN5. Museum contains a number of rare vehicles, weapons, photographs and other documents from the period of World War II. It also displays a good 1/35 scale model of an Allied landing in Normandy.
Normandy – Sword Beach Memorial
Monument Français Libres - Monument Kieffer 14150 Ouistreham, Francija
Sword Beach is the easternmost of the five landing beaches of the D-Day and the nearest to the Caen (15km), the place where all the local roads combine. French monument to freedom - Kieffer monument, is an enormous flame, which pays a tribute to French soldiers who participated in the D-day.
Normandy – American Cemetery
Normandy American Cemetery Visitor Center, Colleville-sur-Mer, Francija
The American Cemetery and Memorial to Allied landing is located in Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy. It is built in honor and memory of American soldiers who died in Europe during World War II.
Normandy – Sword beach Hermanville
Avenue Madame Coty, Hermanville-sur-Mer, Francija
On June 6, 1944, specially designed Churchill tanks, equipped with flame throwers, bangalore torpedoes and bridges cleared Sword beach sector with the aim to help soldiers safely progress of the boat across the beach in to the mainland. Today, Churchill Avre MK III stands as a memorial to all those who have served their country and died on these shores.
Normandy – Airborne Museum
Airborne Museum, Rue Eisenhower, Sainte-Mère-Église, France
Airborne museum was founded in 1964 in the heart of the village of Sainte-Mère-Eglise in Normandy. In the fifty years of its existence, the Airborne museum became the largest museum in Europe dedicated to the American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division who fought in ""Operation Overlord"" on June 1944.
Normandy – Iron Mike Memorial
10 La Fière, 50480 Sainte-Mère-Église, Francija
Replica of Iron Mike monument of Fort Benning was built on June 7, 1997 in Sainte Mère Église in Normandy as a tribute to the American paratroopers who fought on D-day.
Normandy – Battery Crisbecq
Normandy - Battery Crisbecq
"Museum de la batterie de Crisbecq" is located near the Route des Manoirs Saint-Marcouf-de-l'Isle. Batterie de Crisbecq is the largest coastal battery on the shores of Utah with its 21 bunkers connected by over a kilometer long trenches, covering a total area of 4 hectares.
Normandy – Azeville Battery
Azeville Battery
Azeville Battery was built between 1941 and 1944 in northern France, near Sainte-Mere-Eglise. As part of the Atlantic Wall it was designed to protect the beaches along the east coast of the Cotentin peninsula. It is equipped with the integrated defense system and impressive underground complex. Battery was occupied after three days of intense fighting and bombardments, on June 9, 1944. Battery Azeville is now an open museum that offers tours of trenches with 621 bunkers.
Normandy – La Cambe German Cemetery
La Cambe German war cemetery, La Cambe, Normandy, Francija
La Cambe is a military cemetery, which is located near Bayeux, France. The cemetery is a memorial site with over 21,000 graves of German soldiers from World War II. Most of the graves date to the period from June 1944 to the end of the same year - and a lot of graves are from the period after the D-day.
Normandy – Leclerc Memorial
D421, 50480 Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, Francija
Utah Beach French Memorial is located right at the heart of Utah Beach D-Day landing zone near Utah Beach D-Day Museum. The monument is dedicated to the French soldiers who landed here on June 6, 1944. Next to the monument, a few military vehicles are on display which were used during disembarkation.
Normandy – Grand Bunker Museum
Grand Bunker Museum
Museum is located at Sword Beach and tells the story of the Atlantic Wall along the Normandy coast. Bunker was also a control center for all the batteries protecting the Orne river area. After disembarking on the coast, Allies managed to defuse the cannons protecting the bunkers, but the crew inside the bunker didn't surrender until June 9. Museum has the original equipment with a huge militaria, many photos and maps, the upper floor also has the large original rangefinder. From here you can enjoy splendid views of Sword beach and the area to the mouth of the Orne river.
Normandy – Longues sur Mer Battery
Longues sur Mer Battery
Longues sur Mer Battery was German artillery battery, placed near the French village of same name in Normandy. It was a part of the Atlantic Wall, the German coastal fortifications. Battery which was completed in April 1944, comprised of four 152 mm cannons, which were protected by a lot of concrete (casemates), bridge, shelters for troops and ammunition, and several defensive machine gun nests.
Normandy – Sainte Mere Eglise
Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, Francija
Sainte Mere Eglise village played an important role in World War II during the landing in Normandy, as this village stood in the middle of the N13 railway line, which would in all likelihood be used by Germans for all major counterattacks after landing on Utah and Omaha Beach. In the early morning of June 6, 1944, American troops of 82th and 101st Division occupied the village in "Operation Boston", which meant that the village was first liberated village after disembarkation of Allied forces. The most famous incident occurred when US soldier John Steele got stuck to the bell tower of the central church after failed landing attempt. Soldier helplessly watched the fights, which took place underneath. He hung on the bell tower for two hours, pretending to be dead, and then got captured by Germans. He later successfully fled from captivity and returned to his unit, which later liberated the village.
Normandy – Pegasus Bridge
Mémorial Pégasus, Ranville, Francija
Pegasus Bridge is a movable type of bridge built in 1934. It crosses over the Caen canal, connecting Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. Taking the bridge was an important task of the "Deadstick operation", which was part of "Operation Tonga" in first minutes after the invasion of Normandy. The unit of the British 6th Airborne Division, under Major John Howard's command, had the task to keep the bridge intact. The successful taking of the bridges played an important role in limiting the effectiveness of the German counterattacks in the coming days and weeks after the invasion. In 1944, the bridge was renamed to Pegasus Bridge. The name comes from the flying horse Pegasus worn by the British Airborne Forces on their shoulder emblem.
Cote d'Azur
Côte d'Azur, Saint-Raphaël, Francija
On August 15, 1944, 60,000 US troops disembarked on the coast of southern France between Cavalaire and Agay east of Saint-Raphaël, and crushed the resistance of German army a few days later.
Normandy – Point du Hoc
Pointe du Hoc, Francija
Pointe du Hoc is a cliff on the coast of Normandy in northern France, located 6.4 km west of Omaha Beach, and stands on a 30 m high cliff overlooking the sea. The cliff was a point of attack by the US elite Ranger forces during Operation Overlord in World War II. Germans built a defensive position with 6 casemates mounted with captured 155mm French guns that threatened the Allied landing between Omaha and Utah beach. The forts were heavily bombed by air and sea, but nevertheless the elite Ranger unit was tasked to destroy these strongholds early in the morning on the day of disembarkation.
Normandy – Merville Gun Battery
Musée et site de la Batterie de Merville
Merville battery consists of four 1.8 m thick steel-reinforced concrete gun casemates, built by the German Wehrmacht. Each was designed to protect the First World War Tschechisch 14/19 100 mm guns. The battery was defended by 20 mm anti-aircraft gun and a couple of machine guns placed in 15 different places, all enclosed in an area of 640 by 460 meters surrounded by two barbed wires (4.6 m wide and 1.5 m high). Around the wires was a minefield, another obstacle was the anti-tank trench that served to protect any attack from the shore.
Rabstein – a complex of underground factories
Podzemní továrna Rabštejn Janská, Janská, Usteški okraj, Češka
In 1944, Nazi leaders of Germany were hoping for a miracle weapon that would change the course of World War II in their favor. Underground armament factories were built on the whole area of the Third Reich, including Rabstein - Janské. In August 1944 the WFG company decided to build an underground space to produce weapons. To carry out this plan, it was necessary to provide sufficient manpower for which the first prisoners were transported from Flosenburg concentration camp. Prisoners began to build an underground factory in the newly established concentration camp in Rabstein. From August 1944 to April 1945 prisoners excavated about 17,500m² of underground space in the rock massif valley of the Kamenice river. According to the records, the project took the lives of 80 prisoners.
Rokycany Museum
KLUB VOJENSKÉHO MUZEA v Rokycanech, z. s., Šťáhlavská, Rokycany, Češka
Rokycany Demarcation Line Museum (also known as the Green Line Museum) contains a large collection of tanks from the First and Second World War as well as other modern tanks and armored vehicles. Museum also includes some fakes like Tiger tank, which is based on the T-34 chassis. The museum is located on the western border of Czechoslovakia from 1938, where one can also observe fortified area from the time of the "Iron Curtain". The outer part of the museum consists of more than 150 different pieces of military vehicles, most of which are still fully mobile. It also shows the engineering, communications and anti-aircraft equipment.
Silesian Museum – Hrabyně War Museum
Silesian Museum - Hrabyně War Museum
Memorial in the Hrabyně village is one of six locations of Silesian Museum. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the location where one of the most intense battles on the Czech Republic during the II. World War. The museum aims to illustrate the historical period of World War II, display theme-related exhibits and gather information of members of the Czechoslovak resistance movement and deportation victims of the Nazi regime. It also focuses on the study and exploration of interwar period.
Cyril and Methodius Cathedral
Cyril and Methodius Cathedral prague
In 1942 the cathedral was the scene of the last stand of a number of Czech and Slovak patriots who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi SS Obergruppenführer in operation Anthropoid. Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld was the commander of troops who attacked the church on June 18, 1942. After a severe battle the assassins committed suicide to avoid its capture. Currently, museum in church's tomb is dedicated to them as national heroes.
Prague – Gestapo HQ
Politických vězňů 931/20, 110 00 Praha 1-Nové Město, Czech Republic
Gloomy black building is now the seat of the Office of Trade of the Czech Republic, however between 1939 and 1945, it was the most frightening building in the city. In one single incident on November 24, 1939, the Gestapo executed 120 students accused of anti-Nazi propaganda. In their memory, a small statue is placed in the corner of the building.
Army Park Brno
Army Park, Ořechov, Brno-venkov, Češka
Orechov War Museum is a huge museum (5 hectares) with underground hangars and several buildings. Major part is devoted to exhibition of documents of military history (1945-1989), military equipment and other exhibits of the Czech military history.
Silesian Museum – Museum of fortifications
Darkovičky, 748 01 Hlučín, Tjekkiet
Hlučín-Darkovičky Czechoslovak defense line is a unique artifact, which has immense value in the European context. The complex of fortifications is the result of military technology, which gives the visitor the opportunity to become acquainted with military history in the first half of the 20th century. A complex of fortifications located in the countryside is part of Silesian Museum and includes a group of bunkers and fortified structures, which were built as part of the defense system of the Czechoslovak borders. These structures and are one of the best preserved in Europe. The complex consists of five buildings, which are very well preserved and includes equipment used during World War II. Fortification line had a symbolic role in key events in the history of Czechoslovakia, linked with an agreement in Munich, and the loss of the Sudetenland, and is therefore one of the most dramatic moments in the history of Silesia.
Jan Kubiš Memorial
Dolní Vilémovice, Češka
Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík were key players in the assassination of one of the most important Nazis, Reinhard Heydrich. Assassination took place in Prague on May 27, 1942 as part of the operation Anthropoid. Memorial Hall, which depicts the life and struggle of the local hero Jan Kubiš, is located in the building of the local municipality of Dolní Vilémovice, Třebíč in the Czech-Moravian. The Nazis took vengeance after assassination by raising Lidice village to the ground and killing all men older than 15.
The Lešany Military Technical Museum
The Lešany Military Technical Museum
Military Technical Museum Lešany is a museum of military vehicles located about 20 kilometers south of Prague. It contains more than 700 historic tanks, cannons, motorcycles, armored vehicles, commercial vehicles, military vehicles, small missile systems and other military equipment manufactured in the period from 1890 until present day.
Kbely Museum
Kbely Museum
The museum was founded in 1968 at the area of the old military airport in Prague - Kbely, which was the first air base built after the constitution of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Due to the quantity and quality of its collections, museum is considered as one of the largest outdoor museums in Europe. Current collection includes 275 aircrafts, 85 of which are exhibited in four indoor halls, 25 are displayed in the open, while the rest (155) are stored in the registers. Many aircrafts are unique in the world (Me 262 Schwalbe). The museum also displays many aircraft engines and other aircraft parts, weapons, uniforms, banners, decorations and other exhibits related to the history of Czechoslovak and Czech aviation.
Army Museum Žižkov
Army Museum Žižkov prague
The Army Museum is located in Prague - Žižkov, in the historical building. The first section of the museum is dedicated to the period after the World War l (1914-1918), the involvement of Czech and Slovak people in the war and the political and military events that led to the creation of an independent Czechoslovak Republic. The second section is dedicated to the Czechoslovak Republic and its armed forces between the two world wars. Third section shows the period of World War ll, the various military operations, domestic resistance movement and other events. In addition to weapons, the exhibition shows many unique uniforms, banners, honorary distinctions and personal memorabilia of the Czechoslovak presidents and senior military representatives.
Lidice Memorial
Lidice Memorial
Lidice (ger.: Liditz) is a village in Bohemia, northwest of Prague. Built in the vicinity of the previous village of the same name, it was used as part of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia by order of Adolf Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. It was completely destroyed by German forces in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in operation Anthropoid in the late spring of 1942. On June 10, 1942, all men older than 15 years (173 of them) were shot. 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps, mainly Chelmno, where they were killed in the gas chambers. Some children who were racially fit for Germanization, were handed over to SS families. After the war, only 153 women and 17 children returned home.
Patton Museum
Patton Museum Plzen
Patton Memorial of Plzen is the only museum in the Czech Republic dedicated to the US Army. The exhibits display the historical progression and settlement of the US Army in former Czechoslovakia in 1945. The largest exhibition space of the museum shows equipment and ammunition of the US soldiers as well as many other everyday objects that were used by them.
The Jewish Museum in Prague
The Jewish Museum in Prague
The Jewish Museum has one of the most extensive collections of Judaic art in the world, including 40,000 items and 100,000 books. It shows a comprehensive picture of the life and history of Jews in the region. The museum includes the following sites: Maisel Synagogue, Pinkas Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, Klausen Synagogue, Ceremonial Hall (Prague Burial Society Building), Spanish Synagogue, Robert Guttmann Gallery and the Education and Cultural Centre.
Terezin concentration camp
Terezin concentration camp
During World War II, the Gestapo used Terezin, better known as Theresienstadt after its German name, as a ghetto for Jews who were mainly from Czechoslovakia, but also from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. More than 150,000 Jews were sent there and although there were no extermination camps, around 33,000 died mainly due to terrible conditions that had prevailed in the ghetto. 88,000 ghetto residents were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. At the end of the war there were 17,247 survivors.
Tjentište – Battle of the Sutjeska
Sutjeska, Republika srbska, Bosna in Hercegovina
Battle of the Sutjeska, which lasted from May 15 to June 16 1943, was a joint attack by the Axis, who have decided to destroy the main Yugoslav Partisan force near the Sutjeska river in south-eastern Bosnia. The failure of this offensive was a turning point for Yugoslavia in World War II. Operation Schwarz, as it was called by Germans, meant to be the continuation of operation Fall Weiss, who failed to reach goal of breaking the Partisan army and arresting their leader Josip Broz Tito. The operation is known as the Fifth Enemy Offensive.
Prijedor, Republika srbska, Bosna in Hercegovina
Offensive on Kozara was held in 1942 around Kozara mountains in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was an important battle of the Yugoslav Partisan movement during the World War II. The German army and the Ustashi realized that the city of Banja Luka and the iron mine in Ljubija were in danger thus they prepared an offensive to destroy the movement. Germans with 15,000 soldiers, Independent State of Croatia (Ustasha) with 22,000 soldiers, Chetniks with 2,000 soldiers and Hungarians were fighting against Partisan group, which had about 3,000 soldiers, but had mobilized additional 60,000 civilians from surrounding areas. Around 900 partisan soldiers survived and formed the 5th Krajina Brigade.
Jablanica – Case White
Jablanica, Federacija Bosne in Hercegovine, Bosna in Hercegovina
Case white, also known as Fall Weiss or Fourth Enemy Offensive was part of the German strategic plan for a joint axis attack in early 1943 against the partisans on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Offensive lasted from January to April 1943. The Germans wanted to destroy the central command of the Partisans, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the main partisan hospital. More than 150,000 axis soldiers participated in battles against substantially less equipped Partisans who numbered in 20,000. Case white is one of the famous battles of the World War ll on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Partisans rescued a large number of wounded against the Germans and the Chetniks, so this battle was also called the Battle for the wounded. Units of the Partisan army tried to save the wounded with a tactical deception. Tito gave an order to destroy all the bridges over the Neretva River, and then on March 3, 1943, Partisans broke through the ring with the passage of emergency bridge over the Neretva River, built next to the demolished one.
Jajce, Federacija Bosne in Hercegovine, Bosna in Hercegovina
AVNOJ (Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation) was a political body that has represented the national liberation struggle of the Yugoslav peoples and ethnic minorities. Great victories of national liberation struggle after capitulation of Italy (the destruction of Chetnik army) and recognition by Allies in the summer and autumn of 1943 enabled the II. AVNOJ in Jajce on November 29-30, 1943 which brought together all the nations of Yugoslavia (later, November 29 was celebrated as a national holiday, a Day of the Republic). Based on Tito's proposal, AVNOJ was proclaimed as a legislative body, King Peter and his government were denied the right to represent Yugoslav peoples and he was banned from returning to his homeland. They established the new government (the National Committee of Liberation of Yugoslavia, NKOJ), and Josip Broz was given a title of Marshal, after Moša Pijade's proposal.
National Resistance Memorial
Boulevard d'Avroy 4000 Liège, Belgija
The National Memorial was erected in memory of the fallen in the resistance movement during World War II.
The Elsenborn Camp and Museum
Lagerstraße 1 4750 Bütgenbach, Belgija
Museum informs about a long history of the camp. Diorama and various documents showing the offensive in the Ardennes. Location is now occupied by the Belgian army.
US Halftrack
Quai des Neuf Moulins, 4970 Stavelot, Belgija
American pickup truck is located in the Stavelot next to the famous Amelbrücke, where 1st SS Panzer division had to cross the bridge during the offensive in the Ardennes. The bridge was later destroyed by American forces on December 18, 1944.
Fort "Aubin-Neufchâteau"
Fort d'Aubin-Neufchâteau, Rue du Colonel d'Ardenne, Dalhem, Belgium
"Aubin-Neufchâteau" is a Belgian fortress located in the vicinity of Neufchâteau. Fort was built in 1930 as part of the fortified defensive line, which connected twelve original forts built to defend the city of Liège with four additional fortifications close to the border with Germany. The fort was captured by German troops at the outbreak of the World War II on Belgian soil, after a dramatic attack on a near-by "Eben-Emael" fort. Aubin-Neufchâteau is now preserved for public viewing.
The "Henry-Chappelle" American Cemetery
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial, Rue du Mémorial Américain, Plombières, Belgija
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial consist of 7992 graves of members of the US military, who lost their lives in the World War II. This is one of fourteen American World War II cemeteries abroad, and one of three American war cemeteries in Belgium. The Cemetery and the Memorial are located three kilometers northwest of the Henri-Chapelle village, which lies approximately 30 kilometers east of the city of Liège. German border is only 16 miles east of Henri-Chapelle on the N3 highway.
Fort Eben-Emael
Fort Eben-Emael, Rue du Fort, Eben-Emael, Belgija
Fort Eben-Emael is a Belgian fortress located between Liège and Maastricht on the Belgian-Dutch border. It was designed to defend Belgium against German attack through the narrow Dutch regional zone. It was built between 1931 and 1935 and was than the largest fortress in the world. On May 10, 1940, the fort was occupied by German troops dropping-off with gliders. Capturing fortress gave German ground forces unhindered access to Belgium territory.
Ardennes American Cemetery
Ardennes American Cemetery And Memorial, Belgium (recgovnpsdata), Neupré, Belgija
Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial is home to the 5,329 graves of American soldiers who died in World War II. Cemetery and Monument are located in Neuville-en-Condroz at the southeastern edge of Neupré, in Wallonia, Belgium. This is one of three American war cemeteries in Belgium.
Lommel German Cemetery
Dodenveldstraat Dodenveldstraat, Belgija
War cemetery in Lommel is the largest cemetery of German soldiers outside Germany. More than 39,000 soldiers who lost their lives in the German invasion of the Benelux countries (the battles of Remagne and Aachen, and the Battle of the Bulge) are buried here.
Leopoldsburg Military Museum
Hechtelsesteenweg 7, 3970 Leopoldsburg, Belgija
Military Museum displays a lot of photographs and documents. Furthermore, it holds lots of historic military vehicles.
Open Air Atlantic Wall museum
Open Air Atlantic Wall museum, Oostende
Open Air Atlantic Wall is a military museum near Oostende in Belgium, which maintains strongholds of the Atlantic Wall, dating back to the First and Second World War. It consists of more than 60 bunkers and two kilometers of trenches. It is among the best preserved parts of defensive lines in Europe. Today, the fort serves as a national monument.
Ardennen Poteau Museum
Ardennen Poteau Museum Sankt Vith Belgium
Poteau '44 Ardennes museum is located at the intersection that was the scene of the 1944 ambush of US unit by the German SS Panzer unit. Some of the most famous photos of German World War II were filmed in this location. The museum holds a nice collection of vehicles, uniforms, weapons and other military equipment that was used in this battle.
Malmedy Memorial
Malmedy Memorial Baugnez Belgium
Malmedy Massacre of 1944 was a war crime in which 84 American prisoners of war were murdered near Malmedy, Belgium, during World War II. The massacre was carried out by members of Kampfgruppe Peiper (part of 1st SS Panzer Division) on December 17, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. In memory of the American soldiers who sacrificed their lives for freedom, a war monument was erected 4 km from the city center of Baugnez.
Fort Liezele
Fort van Liezele, Fortbaan, Puurs, Antwerpen, Belgija
Fort Liezele is without a doubt one of the best preserved fortifications in the region of Antwerp. It was built in 1914 and has withstand two World Wars. Today, the historical jewel is located in the middle of the natural park. A visit to Fort Liezele travel brings you back in time to the period from August 1914 until May 1940. Inside the fort, which is covered with a thick layer of earth and concrete, one can visit the former ammunition depot, which is now a museum and displays a multimedia presentation and original uniforms, weapons, photographs.
"Battle of the Bulge" Museum
Musée de la Bataille des Ardennes, Rue Chamont, La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgija
On almost 1.500m² one can admire the American, English, German and even Scottish military equipment and weapons, as well as uniforms donated by veterans who participated in the Battle of Bastogne. Museum holds a large collection of heavy and light weapons, photographs and other documents, personal items, as well as twenty military vehicles. Museum shows the role of the British during the Allied counter-offensive between 3rd and 16th of January, 1945 and the liberation of the village of La Roche on the left bank of the Ourthe.
Museum "December 1944"
Museum "December 1944" La Gleize Belgium
Museum is located in the area where American and German soldiers fought in the "Battle of the Bulge" in 1944. Outside the museum one of the few remaining German King Tiger tanks is exhibited. Museum also includes an excellent collection of uniforms, weapons and other military equipment that was used in this battle. Museum is one of the great "Battle of the Bulge" museums.
Baugnez Museum
Baugnez Museum Malmedy Belgium
"Baugnez 44 Historical Center" takes you through the major military operations and battles that took place during the counter-offensive "Operation Wacht am Rhein". Museum opened in memory of the massacre of Baugnez / Malmedy, in which 84 American prisoners were killed. Authentic exhibits, vehicles, emotional photographs and films take you back to the heart of the Battle of the Bulge.
Remember 44
Remember Museum 39-45 Asbl, Les Béolles, Clermont, Liège, Belgija
The museum is set in the old barn, where soldiers from 110th division rested. Artefacts are in fact the objects that were left by soldiers as a sign of gratitude, while other items were donated by veterans of the World War ll.
Bastogne, Belgija
The siege of Bastogne was an engagement between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The objective of German offensive was occupation of the Antwerp harbor. In order to reach it before the Allied forces could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German forces had to seize the roadways throughout eastern Belgium. Control over the crossing of the main seven roads in the Ardennes highlands was crucial. The siege in the town of Bastogne and its surroundings lasted from December 20-27, 1944, when American forces were rescued by General Patton's Third Army.
Sonntagberg Military Museum
Militärmuseum mit Motoradsammlung, Aichöd, Rosenau am Sonntagberg, Sonntagberg, Avstrija
Sonntagberg Military Museum is a private museum spanning the area of about 1500m². Museum contains exhibits from the World War l, the period between the two world wars, invasion and annexation of Austria to the German Reich, collection from the World War II, and the period after the war.
Hitler's birthplace
Salzburger Vorstadt 15, Braunau am Inn, Avstrija
Adolf Hitler was born in April 20, 1889 in the village of Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria. To commemorate the victims of Nazism, the memorial stone is placed in front of the house where Hitler was born.
Anschluss Crossing
Zollhäuslstraße 11, Freilassing, Nemčija
On the morning of March 12, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The army was welcomed with shouts, Nazi flags and flowers by the German-Austrian population. For this reason, the Nazi annexation is also known as Blumenkrieg (War of Flowers), its officially name however was Unternehmen Otto. Wehrmacht's invasion was the first big test for its military machinery and vehicles. Although German soldiers were poorly organized and coordination between the units was far from good, this was irrelevant at the time, because the conflict never occurred. In the afternoon, Hitler's car crossed the border at Braunau, his birthplace. In the evening of the same day he arrived to Linz where he was welcomed with ovation.
Ebensee Concentration Camp
Ebensee Concentration Camp
Inhumane working and living conditions resulted in high mortality among prisoners, making Ebensee one of the worst concentration camps. SS used several names to disguise the true nature of camps, such as Kalk (eng.: limestone) Kalksteinbergwerk (eng.: limestone mine), Solvay and Zement (eng.: cement). Construction of Ebensee camp began in late 1943. The main purpose of Ebensee was to provide slave labor for the construction of the enormous underground tunnels which were designed for development of V-2 rockets (relocating from Peenemünde). In July 1944 however, Hitler ordered the complex to be converted into a factory for tank parts and other equipment. Approximately 20,000 prisoners lost their lives during construction due to exhaustion.
Vienna – Flakturm
Flakturm Augarten, Dunaj, Avstrija
There are six anti-aircraft towers with protective structure made of reinforced concrete in Vienna. They were built from 1942 to 1945 as a protection against airstrikes and were equipped with anti-aircraft guns.
Seegrotte Hinterbrühl, Grutschgasse, Hinterbrühl, Avstrija
During World War II Nazis seized the "lake cave" because the underground complex offered maximum protection against bombardment. Heinkel, the state-owned manufacturer, started with factory production of aircrafts there. They employed 2000 workers who produced the first fighter jet (model of the aircraft and parts of aircraft "HE 162" are exhibited in the "lake cave").
Schloss Hartheim
Hartheim Castle Memorial Site, Schloßstraße, Alkoven, Avstrija
Schloss Hartheim, located in Upper Austria about 14 km from Linz, became known as one of the Nazi euthanasia killing centers, which implemented Action T4 program. According to Hitler's decree in 1939, Hartheim was selected as one of six Euthanasia centers in the Reich. Between May 1940 and December 1944, about 18,000 physically and mentally handicapped people were killed there. Schloss Hartheim was known for testing the use of CO2 and lethal injection as part of the T4 euthanasia program (named after the famous title Berlin Tiergartenstrasse 4). Around 12,000 prisoners from the concentration camps Dachau and Mauthausen were sent there to be poisoned with gas from truck exhaust pipes.
Vienna – Arsenal
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Dunaj, Avstrija
Historical War Museum (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) is set in former military complex completed in 1856, based on idea of Theophile Hansen. Museum documents the Austrian military forces from the 16th century until today. The premises of the museum are located in fortress-like military complex building called the Arsenal. The museum spreads over two floors, with collections dedicated to the period from the time of Turkish siege in 1683 until today. Museum also keeps the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered on June 28, 1914, as well as his uniform. It also contains vivid and diverse collection of weapons and equipment from World War II, including the famous 8.8 cm Flak 36 anti-aircraft cannon.
Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Mauthausen Memorial, Mauthausen, Avstrija
Mauthausen Concentration Camp (from summer of 1940 known as Concentration Camp Mauthausen-Gusen) was built around the village of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz. Mauthausen-Gusen had become one of the largest labor camp complexes in the Reich. The complex included four main camps in or near Mauthausen and Gusen and more than 50 sub-camps, which were located in Austria and southern Germany. Mauthausen inmate had to work in the quarries, weapons factories, mines and aircraft factories.
Royal Engineers Museum
Royal Engineers Museum, Kent, Gillingham, Združeno kraljestvo
Royal Engineers Museum displays military engineering activities from 1787 to the present day. Permanent exhibitions show engineering roles in the construction, electrical services, forestry, postal services, port and rail operations and tunneling. New exhibitions were added, including air engineering, mines and their removal, armored techniques. One of the galleries shows various activities during World War II. Also interesting is the exhibition about the contributions of engineers spanning from the operation Overlord (D-Day) to the war in the Far East.
Home of Winston Churchill
Chartwell, Mapleton Road, Westerham, Kent, Združeno kraljestvo
Chartwell has been a long-time home of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill and his wife Clementine bought the property, which is located two miles south of Westerham in Kent and has been their family home from 1924 until Churchill's death. After his death the rooms where left intact as they were when he lived there, with photographs, books and personal memories of the great statesman, writer, artist and family man. In addition, each winter, temporary exhibition is set, using archaic elements from the warehouse.
Tower of London
Tower of London, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Rudolf Hess (April 26, 1894 - August 17, 1987) was an important politician in Nazi Germany, appointed deputy of Adolf Hitler in 1933. He stayed in this position until 1941, when he flew to Scotland with aim to negotiate peace with United Kingdom. Hess held the status of war prisoner in London's Tower.
London – Whitehall
Whitehall, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, central London. It is the main thoroughfare that runs south from the original Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. Whitehall was administrative and military center during World War II, from where Winston Churchill led the Allied war against Nazi Germany. Today the area is adorned with many monuments of the World War II.
London – St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Združeno kraljestvo
St Paul`s Cathedral survived the Blitz of World War II. In early morning of December 30 the photographer Herbert Mason photographed an image of the St Paul`s Cathedral surrounded by smoke from burning buildings. Photography has become a symbol of British resistance and courage and is considered one of the most iconic images of the Blitz.
London – Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Museum keeps a large exhibit with some of the most important weapons and vehicles from the 20th century. This includes a Spitfire plane which was crucial in the Battle of Britain during World War II.
London – Roosevelt Memorial
Roosevelt Memorial, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Opposite the statue is a monument in memory of 244 American pilots who participated in the Battle of Britain before United States of America officially entered the war.
London – Science Museum
Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London, Združeno kraljestvo
The museum has a rich collection of aviation from World War II, including the Hurricane aircraft that participated in the evacuation of Dunkirk, Spitfire planes and V-1 rockets.
London – Uxbridge Bunker
Battle of Britain Bunker, Uxbridge, Greater London, Združeno kraljestvo
Battle of Britain Bunker houses the No. 11 Group Fighter Command operating room, from which all movement of the RAF were carefully coordinated during WWll. Key decisions (that eventually decided the fate of the nation) have been taken in the bunker in 1940, where supervisors were steering RAF airplanes to strategic points that defended the Channel against Luftwaffe attacks.
The Tank Museum, Linsay Road, Bovington Camp, Združeno kraljestvo
Bovington Tank Museum is a collection of armored vehicles located in Bovington, South West England. The collection features almost 300 vehicles from 26 countries and is the largest collection of tanks and the second largest collection of armored vehicles in the world. It also houses a functioning German Tiger I tank and Mark I, British World War l tank, the world's oldest surviving combat tank.
London – Hendon RAF Museum
Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Royal Air Force Museum is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It consists of five major buildings and hangars dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. The museum boasts more than 100 aircraft, including one of the two surviving Vickers Wellingtons and Avro Lancaster S. London Royal Air Force Museum consists of five exhibition halls: Milestones of Flight The Bomber Hall Historical Hangars The Battle of Britain Hall The Grahame - White Factory
London – HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast, London, Združeno kraljestvo
HMS Belfast is a Royal Navy light cruiser turned into a museum, permanently moored on the river Thames in London. It is operated by the Imperial War Museum. The ship was launched on March 17, 1938, initially as part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939 Belfast struck the German sea mine but returned to action in November 1942 with improved firepower, radar equipment and armor. It participated in Operation Overlord in support of the Allied landings in June, 1944.
London – Churchill rooms
Churchill War Rooms, King Charles Street, London, Združeno kraljestvo
Deep below the bustle of London lies the original War Cabinet room - today known as Churchill War Rooms, which protect the British Government during the London bombings of World War II. In 1940, Prime Minister Churchill stood in the War Cabinet room and said: "This is the room from which I will direct the war". Today we can observe where Churchill and his staff changed the course of the history.