Witness History: Witness Archive 2015

On 3 December 1967, two brothers carried out the world's first heart transplant operation. Christiaan and Marius Barnard were both working as surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa. Christiaan Barnard led the team which carried out the transplant. In 2009 Marius Barnard spoke to Witness about the operation, and about his relationship with his older brother.

(Photo: Leader of the heart transplant team Christiaan Barnard. Credit: Press Association)

On 7 December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Thousands of American servicemen died in a raid which brought their country into World War Two. Former Navy mechanic, Adolph Kuhn, tells Witness how he survived.

(Photo: The USS Arizona sinking at Pearl Harbor. Credit: Getty Images)

How a devastating air raid on the Italian port of Bari during World War Two led to the deadly release of mustard gas. Winston Churchill ordered the incident to be kept secret for years. We hear from Peter Bickmore BEM, who was injured during the raid.

(Photo: Seventeen Allied ships go up in flames in Bari, Italy, after a raid by German bombers on 2 December 1943. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In 1984 General Muhammadu Buhari's military regime launched an unusual campaign to clean up Nigeria. Under the policy, Nigerians were forced to queue, be punctual and obey traffic laws. The punishments for infractions could be brutal. Veteran Nigerian journalist Sola Odunfa recalls the reaction in Lagos to the War Against Indiscipline.

In November 1938, the SS commander Heinrich Himmler ordered the construction in Nazi Germany of the only concentration camp built specifically for women. It would be called Ravensbruck. Selma van der Perre tells Witness about the horrors of life in Ravensbruck, including experiments on women and children, and how she survived.

Photograph: women at Ravensbruck concentration camp (Credit: Das Bundesarchiv)

In the 1940s the Royal Navy intercepted dozens of Jewish refugee ships trying to reach British-controlled Palestine. It was part of British government policy to limit Jewish immigration to Palestine. Witness hears from Alan Tyler who served as an officer onboard HMS Chevron, patrolling the Mediterranean sea.

(Photo: The ship 'Jewish State' docking at Haifa in October 1947. The Jewish refugees on board were sent to Cyprus by the British authorities. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In the 1990s the Cuban economy came close to collapse after the fall of the Soviet Union. The end of the millions of dollars in Soviet aid meant power cuts and severe food shortages on the Caribbean island. Some of the first private businesses started up under communism. We hear from Juan Carlos Montes, who opened a small restaurant at home to make ends meet, but was arrested by the communist authorities.

(Photo: Due to severe fuel shortages in the 1990s, a Cuban peasant is forced to use oxen instead of a tractor to plow a cane field (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In November 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a plane flying from the US city of Portland to nearby Seattle. He demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. ‘Cooper’ later jumped from the aircraft and has never been seen again. The case remains one of America's biggest criminal mysteries. We hear from the co-pilot on the flight, Bill Rataczak.

(Photo: Artist sketches of D.B. Cooper. Credit: FBI)

In late November 1979, a mob inspired by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini set fire to the US Embassy in Islamabad. Those inside fled to the steel lined safe-room to await rescue, which took several hours to come. We hear from Marcia Gauger, an American reporter who was trapped inside.

Photo: Pakistani troops resting outside the burnt out US Embassy in Islamabad 1979 (BBC)

In autumn 1953, a new literary magazine was launched in London that would become the magazine of choice of the English-speaking liberal intelligentsia. The magazine was called Encounter. And fourteen years later, it would emerge, it had been funded by the CIA as part of a cultural Cold War.

Photograph: British poet Sir Stephen Spender, co-editor of Encounter, a year after he resigned when it became clear the magazine had received CIA funding (credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)