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The article delves into the complex dynamics surrounding museums, particularly in the context of demands for the restitution of cultural artifacts seized during the era of colonialism. It discusses the origins of museums, which were often driven by Western curiosity about other cultures and were organized in a way that reflected Eurocentric views of cultural progress.

In 1923, Adolf Hitler attempted to seize power in Germany through a failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler stormed into a beer hall in Munich, fired his gun, and declared the formation of a provisional national government. However, his plan quickly unraveled when his right-wing allies withdrew their support and the coup turned violent. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison, where he wrote Mein Kampf. The failed putsch taught Hitler the importance of mass support and violence, which he later used to successfully rise to power in 1933. The events of 1923 serve as a cautionary tale about the dangers of undermining democracy. [Extracted from the article]

In ''Jews in the Garden,'' the journalist Judy Rakowsky helps a relative uncover the truth of what happened to their family during World War II. JEWS IN THE GARDEN: A [...]

Almost as soon as Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine, political pundits began comparing him to Hitler. Both men had imposed dictatorial rule over their respective countries, both men suppressed dissent [...]

On 2 June 1953, everyone who lived in our small block of flats crowded into our neighbours' sitting room across the first-floor landing. They were the only ones who had [...]

Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain Hannah Rose Woods WH Allen, 394pp, 20[pounds sterling] In 2016, the Washington Post declared that the vote for Brexit showed that Britain was [...]

On 29 August 2020, German demonstrators protesting against Covid restrictions tried to storm the Reichstag building in Berlin. Unlike their counterparts in Washington, DC on 6 January, they did not [...]

Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II Robert Hardman Macmillan, 704pp, 20 [pounds sterling] The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor Tina Brown Cornerstone, 592pp, 20 [pounds [...]

Humankind has always been at the mercy of pandemic outbreaks of infectious disease. Historians have recorded them in detail, from the plague that devastated Athens in 430 BCE, causing the [...]

As we approach Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January--the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945--we might spare a thought for the unsung David Morgan. [...]

A number of prominent commentators, including the historians Timothy Snyder and Sarah Churchwell, the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and the Berkeley public policy professor Robert Reich have [...]

The Munich Agreement of 1938 failed to prevent war with Hitler. A new Netflix film, based on Robert Harris's novel, attempts to rehabilitate Neville Chamberlain. But the former prime minister [...]

The statues erected at the height of imperial power and prejudice do not belong in 21st-century Britain. But toppling monuments will not help us properly understand our past or resolve [...]

Many years ago, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who served in MI5 during the war, penned a biting critique of the Security Service. MI5 agents recorded everything, including the entirely inconsequential: A report on Spender dated September 27, 1951, for example, noted that the agents had seen "an odd creature" leaving his basement apartment in London between 1 and 2 am, dressed in white overalls. As for the intellectuals, MI5's suspicions on the whole did little to damage their careers, except perhaps for limiting their ability to broadcast on the BBC, an institution over which, this book shows, MI5 had a surprising degree of influence. [Extracted from the article]

Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe Niall Ferguson Allen Lane, 496pp. [pounds sterling]25 You can't predict disasters, the historian Niall Ferguson rightly says. They're too diverse to prepare for, and 'we [...]

This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe Robert Tombs Allen Lane, 224pp. 16.99[pounds sterling] L'Angleterre', the great French political scientist Andre Siegfried was wont to say in beginning [...]

The idea that Hitler did not die in 1945, as commonly believed, but survived long afterwards and lived peacefully into old age has become more widespread in the past few [...]