History

During a 1938 vacation to his hometown, Glenn Kurtz's grandfather filmed the townspeople of Nasielsk, a Jewish community in Poland, just before World War II.

Books
Arts

Family Film Offers Glimpse Of 'Three Minutes In Poland' Before Holocaust

12:25pm November 16, 2014

by NPR Staff

In 1938, Glenn Kurtz's grandfather went on vacation and filmed a few minutes of footage of his Polish hometown. Seventy years later, his grandson set out to find the people who appeared in that film.

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8 Epic Eating Contests In American History

2:51pm November 13, 2014

by Linton Weeks

In the Land of Plenty, Americans put the eat in compete.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, is opening up about its founder's polygamous practices.

Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives

8:30pm November 11, 2014

by Sam Sanders

The Church of Latter-day Saints never denied polygamy was part of its history. But in a series of new essays, it describes the now-banned practice in detail.

Video footage of passport control — staffed by the notorious East German Stasi — when the Palace of Tears was a functioning border crossing between East and East.

World News

Berlin's 'Palace Of Tears,' A Reminder Of Divided Families, Despair

12:12pm November 10, 2014

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

The Berlin Wall separated many German families, and their anguish was visible at the former Berlin railway station — now a museum — that was the main crossing between East and West.

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Va. Couple Discovers Civil War Graffiti In Their Home

8:34am November 10, 2014

A couple in Berryville, Va., removed paint from a stairwell in their house. They found graffiti from the 1860s that Confederate soldiers had drawn of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

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World News

25 Years Later: Looking Back On The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

6:21pm November 09, 2014

NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates talks to Berlin correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson about the festivities marking 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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World News

Art Installation Commemorates 25 Years Since Berlin Wall Lost Its Power

8:11pm November 07, 2014

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall stopped being a barrier between East and West Germany, ushering in the end of communist rule across the Soviet bloc.

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Scene still from Bert Williams Lime Kiln Field Day Project. Bert Williams, Walker Thompson (standing center), John Wesley Jenkins (seated right). In a concession to white audiences, Williams, the lead, wore blackface, but the other black characters did no

Arts

Rare Silent Film With Black Cast Makes A Century-Late Debut

11:17am November 07, 2014

by Walter Ray Watson

A 1913 romantic comedy starring black actors is finally hitting the big screen, after decades in the Museum of Modern Art archives. It's paired with an exhibit called 100 Years in Post-Production.

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The Strange Dating Games Of 1914

11:14am November 06, 2014

by Linton Weeks

Courting-and-sparking practices in America have been very weird for a very long time.

Books
Arts

How Thousands Of Nazis Were 'Rewarded' With Life In The U.S.

7:27pm November 05, 2014

After World War II, thousands of Nazis became informants in the Cold War against the Soviet Union — and then got entry into the U.S. Eric Lichtblau's new book, The Nazi Next Door, tells the story.

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