“World War II Today presents what happened on the day, seventy years ago. It focuses on individual incidents and experiences, rather than attempting a complete narrative history. So the history of the Second World War emerges with the progress of time.”

(HT to apatientboy, as usual.)

Via futurisms:

Red army at Brandenburg Gate

Via futurisms:

German school teachers and children wear gas masks as they are drilled in how to conduct themselves in the event of a war in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 31, 1939. (AP Photo)

Soviet schoolboy Alexey Kutskov, Moscow, 1958. Background at English Russia.

My mistress and friend:  I and my heart put ourselves in your hands, begging you to have them suitors for your good favour, and that your affection for them should not grow less through absence.  For it would be a great pity to increase their sorrow since absence does it sufficiently, and more than ever I could have thought possible reminding us of a point in astronomy, which is, that the longer the days are the farther off is the sun, and yet the more fierce.  So it is with our love, for by absence we are parted, yet nevertheless it keeps its fervour, at least on my side, and I hope on yours also:  assuring you that on my side the ennui of absence is already too much for me:  and when I think of the increase of what I must needs suffer it would be well nigh unbearable for me were it not for the firm hope I have and as I cannot be with you in person, I am sending you the nearest possible thing to that, namely, my picture set in a bracelet, with the whole device which you already know.  Wishing myself in their place when it shall please you.  This by the hand of

Your loyal servant and friend

H. Rex

_____________

More here: “These famous love letters from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn are undated.  They were found in the Vatican Library, possibly stolen from Anne and sent to the papacy during Henry VIII’s struggle for an annulment of his marriage to Katharine of Aragon.  Though Henry argued for an annulment on the basis of his conscience (he stated that the marriage was in direct contradiction to the Bible), most people believed he simply wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.

“Anne’s replies to these letters are lost.

“The letters were written in French.”

Via

Via uncertaintimes, via yamswool:

Lee Miller sneaks a bath in Hitler’s apartment after the fall of Berlin, 1945. She later explained blithely, “I had his address in my pocket for years.” [Photo by David E. Scherman; source NYT]

From Micklos, The Science of Eugenics, pg 116 (1930), via Bioephemera.

Still from Die Brücke, via vintagephoto

Nineteenth-century map of London, via Ubersuper

Larger

Loving this rendering of the Mad Monk’s image. By Mark Weaver, via Street Anatomy.

Via capriquarius, via abirdfriend

Via thedailywhat:

Acid Trip of the Day: Nine drawings by an unknown artist taking part in a government-sponsored LSD experiment in the late 1950s.

The subject was asked to draw a portrait of his attending doctor at various intervals throughout the experiment.

The fifth drawing, completed two-and-a-half hours after the initial dose of LSD 25 was administered, was accompanied by the following observation:

Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.

Compare with his final statement, five-and-a-half hours later, following portrait #9:

I have nothing to say about this last drawing, it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home now.

[via.]

Architectural Tetris! Copy below from Flavorwire:

“Designer-in-training Sergej Hein animated this entertaining parody of Soviet Bloc architecture, filtered through the early ’90s pop culture touchstone Tetris. Hein, who grew up in Riga and later East Berlin, explains, ‘They used to build cheap housing for workers…. These “blocks” were so similar that in Soviet times, you could easily wake up at a friend’s place in another city and still feel like you are in your flat. Even the furniture was the same.’”

Via FFFFOUND!