The History Express

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, striking a responsive chord with the American people. The Apollo program was created to meet this goal, and on July 20, 1969, astronauts of the Apollo 11 Mission became the first humans to land and set foot on the Moon. 

Apollo 11 Mission image – Astronaut Edwin Aldrin walks near the Lunar Module. National Archives Identifier 16685140

The Moon landing was a stunning achievement that commanded world attention, and thanks to newly discovered film holdings at the National Archives and a digitization partnership with filmmakers, an enriched perspective of the Apollo 11 mission is shown in the recently released documentary, Apollo 11.

The documentary features previously unseen large format film footage and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings from the National Archives, allowing viewers to experience the perspectives of the astronauts, the Mission Control team, and the millions of spectators on the ground. The film showcases the days and hours in 1969 when American astronauts took “a giant leap for mankind” into the future.

Adele's Wish is the controversial story behind the world's most valuable painting, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt. The film recounts the struggle of 92 year old Los Angeles resident Maria Altmann, who sued Austria to recover five Klimt paintings stolen from her family in Vienna by the Nazi's in 1938. The paintings were considered national treasures by Austria and were proudly displayed in Vienna's Belvedere Museum for over sixty years. Although it began as a legal dispute, it evolved into a political, cultural and ethical confrontation. In the process, Austria was forced to re-examine not only its role in Nazi art thefts, but also its anti-Semitic past.

The mysterious island of Crete has always loomed large in imagination, as the home of the Minotaur -- that monstrous creature, half-man half-bull -- imprisoned in Daedalus' labyrinth. Before Crete collapsed in fire and violence, it gave birth to Europe's first civilization nearly 5,000 years ago, and boasted an advanced, prosperous Mediterranean civilization with hinged doors, flush toilets, and magnificent palaces.

According to the Bible, The Ark of the Covenant was a box which housed the two tablets of stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments. It was constructed by a man called Belazeel on Mount Sinai in Ancient Egypt to the instructions given to Moses by God. An object of immense power - capable of laying waste armies, of killing those who dared touch it in a flash of sparks, and guaranteed victory to those who carried it before them into battle. Over the centuries it has remained an object of great mystery, inspiring books, feature films and infinite questions. But can modern science shed new light on what the Ark really was?

 

This compelling and controversial film aims to shed new light on the Ark of the Covenant and perhaps finally unravel the truth behind one of the greatest biblical mysteries of all.

Armistice: The End Game of WWI. This film chronicles the events and personalities that brought and end to the First World War in 1918. It's a story of wounded egos, political scheming and brinkmanship as statesmen and generals haggled over the terms of peace while, at the front, the loss of human life escalated. World War I

Armistice: The End Game of WWI. This film chronicles the events and personalities that brought and end to the First World War in 1918. It's a story of wounded egos, political scheming and brinkmanship as statesmen and generals haggled over the terms of peace while, at the front, the loss of human life escalated.

Normandy. Anzio. Guadalcanal. Okinawa. Those are some of the historic landing sites for World War II invasions, legendary names that should never be forgotten. But there were lesser landings, as well, such as at Amagansett, New York, and Ponte Verdra Beach, Florida. That’s right. There were at least two mini-landings in America, engineered by Germans, of course, not Allies.

In the midst of World War II, two German submarines actually put men ashore at both of those locations. The invaders did not arrive with the intent of seizing and occupying territory, however. Their mission was sabotage. Their targets were some of the crown jewels of America’s industrial might: major hydroelectric plants, important aluminum factories, critical railroad tracks, bridges and canals–and the water supply system of New York City.

Well-trained and well-supplied, the saboteurs had good reason to be confident, but in the end they failed utterly. How and why that happened is a fascinating tale, partly because of what it reveals about the character of the two warring nations.

The story begins shortly after Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States, just four days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Eager to prove to the United States that it was vulnerable despite its distance from Europe, Hitler ordered a sabotage operation to be mounted against targets inside America. The task fell to the Abwehr (defense) section of the German Military Intelligence Corps.

The job was right up the Abwehr’s alley. It already had conducted extensive sabotage operations against the Reich‘s European enemies, developing all the necessary tools and techniques and establishing an elaborate sabotage school in the wooded German countryside near Brandenburg.

Lieutenant Walter Kappe, 37, a pudgy, bull-necked man, was given command of the mission against America, which he dubbed Operation Pastorius, after an early German settler in America. Kappe was a longtime member of the Nazi party, and he also knew the United States very well, having lived there for 12 years.

To find men suitable for his enterprise, Lieutenant Kappe scoured the records of the Ausland Institute, which had financed thousands of German expatriates’ return from America. Kappe selected 12 whom he thought were energetic, capable and loyal to the German cause. Most were blue-collar workers, and all but two had long been members of the party. Four dropped out of the team almost immediately; the rest were organized into two teams of four.

George John Dasch, the eldest at 39, was chosen to lead the first team. He was a glib talker with what Kappe thought were American mannerisms. Dasch had served in the German army during World War I, then emigrated to America, where he had worked as a waiter. When war broke out in September 1939, he impulsively went home.

The second man in the first team was Ernest Peter Burger, a stocky, intelligent man with slick black hair. Burger had been a Nazi almost as long as Hitler himself, playing an active role in the 1923 Munich Beer Hall Putsch–Hitler’s abortive initial attempt to gain power. In 1927, Burger fled Germany for the United States to escape criminal charges for brawling. He stayed until 1933, working as a machinist in Detroit and Milwaukee, joining the National Guard, studying English and even becoming an American citizen.

When Hitler came to power, however, Burger headed home, rejoined the Nazi Party and became aide-de-camp to Ernst Röhm, chief of the Nazi storm troopers. He escaped Hitler’s bloody purge of that organization and went to college, but he soon got into trouble by writing a report critical of the Gestapo. He was arrested, jailed for 17 months, then released into the infantry.

Heinrich Heinck and Richard Quirin were the other members of Dasch’s team. Machinists by trade, they had gone to America in 1927, eventually joining different chapters of the German-American Bund. In 1939 both accepted Germany’s offer to pay return passage for emigrants.

Time Team investigate Oakham Castle in the tiny county of Rutland. It's Britain's best preserved 12th-century building but its grounds are full of mysterious lumps and bumps crying out to be investigated.

Andy and Lisa Wyrick are concerned, their four year old daughter Heidi has two imaginary playmates; "Mr. Gordy," an elderly man who pushes her on the swing, and "Con," a younger man Heidi describes as "missing an arm and covered with blood." When Lisa tells a neighbour of Mr. Gordy and Con, she is astonished to learn that the two men once lived in the area and they are both deceased.

Andrew Lancaster uncovers a fascinating tale of high adventures, obsession, a love triangle and a sensational murder trial involving his great uncle.