British Girls Loved 'The New Look' (See Magazine, 1948)"Weary of restraints imposed by more than a decade of war followed by the austerity program...British women have now cast aside the old look, are stampeding West End shops for the built-in New Look."
''How Close are We to War with Russia?'' (See Magazine, 1948) The article is illustrated with five black and white photos and answers thirty-four questions as to whether or not a war with the Soviet Union can be avoided.
When these columns first appeared on the newsstands Berlin was undergoing it's third month of hardships as a result of a Soviet blockade (you can read about the Berlin Blockade here).
The Cold War began in 1945...
Berlin Becomes the Center of Global Espionage (See Magazine, 1948)"ESPIONAGE is big business in Berlin and has it's painstaking, pecuniary bureaucracy. It is practiced by small fry (who is willing to procure for you anything from the latest deployment plan of the Red Army to a lock of Hitler's hair) and by big-time operators who deal nonchalantly and lucratively in international secrets." Katherine Dunham (See Magazine, 1945)Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006) was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, anthropologist, author and Civil Rights activist - enjoying throughout the decades one of the most successful dance careers a dancer could ever hope for. Attached is a profusely illustrated review of her 1945 production, Tropical Revue. It implies that much of the audience came away recognizing her originality and genius - while others simply thought she was a burlesque artist. Jihad Against 'The New Look' (See Magazine, 1948)A former fashion model, Bobbie Woodward, was outraged when she awoke that morning in 1947 to find that the hidden hairy hand that decides which direction the fashion winds will blow had given the nod to some snail-eating Frenchman who stood athwart fashion's unspoken promise to continue the skirt hem's march ever-upward. Wasting no time, she quickly marshaled other equally inclined women and formed The Little Below the Knee Clubs, which spread to forty-eight states (as well as Canada) in order to let the fashion establishment know that they would not be forced into wearing this fashion juggernaut known as "The New Look".
The attached SEE MAGAZINE article serves as a photo-essay documenting the collective outrage of these women and their doomed crusade against Christian Dior. One 1947 fashion critic believed that the New Look suffered from "a split personality". Click here to read her review. 'Slaughter of the Innocents' (See Magazine, 1943)Terrible accounts of the Nazi murders that took place in the occupied nations in Europe between 1939 through 1943. The journalist pointed out that these massacres were not the work of the SS or the Gestapo, but of the Wehrmacht. The Victory Corps (See Magazine, 1944)The Victory Corps was a voluntary program open to American high school
and college students during the Second World War. It was established in September of 1942 with an eye toward preparing teenagers for military service. Although its primary concern involved weapons training, physical fitness and mathematics, it also had a "farm volunteer" arm, as this article about one branch of the Sacramento Victory Corps makes clear.
More about youth and the war effort can be read here... ''Is America Going Fascist?'' (See Magazine, 1946)German-born reporter Johannes Steel (1908 – 1988) was not an amateur when it came to identifying Fascists, he could spot them a mile away. In 1946, with Asian and European Fascism soundly defeated, he turned his attention to his adopted homeland and wrote this article concerning his disturbing observations.
Click here to read about Christian Nationalism.
The Foundation Garments that Were Needed for ''The New Look'' (See Magazine, 1948)Since The New Look sought to overhaul the fashion silhouette of the female form it was quickly understood that women would need different foundation garments to complete this look. Fashion's cry has always been: "When nature doth deny, let art supply" - and the rocket scientists of the ladies underwear subculture did just that. The attached photo-essay from See Magazine shows three pictures of the new under-lovelies.
Click here to learn about the lingerie and pajamas that had to be hand-crafted on the W.W. II American home front...
Hermann Goering's Car Finds a New Owner (See Magazine, 1948)A remarkable 1948 photo essay from the pages of the defunct weekly See Magazine illustrating the bullet-proof, 2-door, 4 passenger, Mercedes convertible roadster that was previously owned by Nazi Field Marshal Hermann Göering (1893 – 1946). The car was purchased by the Danish industrialist Svend Vestergaard: "Vestergaard purchased the 8-cylinder, 240 h.p., under-slung speedster from British occupation authorities...The car was especially built according to the ostentatious Number 2 Nazi's exacting specifications, the German-made product of Stuttgart's famed Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft is 11 feet long, weighs three truck-like tons,[and] has six forward speeds."
Click here to read about the dating history of Adolf Hitler. The Deserters from the U.S. Army (See Magazine, 1948)Illustrated with seven photographs, article was written some three years after the close of the war and reported on the efforts of the Allied Armies and local police authorities globally to track-down some 10,000 deserters from the U.S. Army. In the mid-fifties the Department of the Army had estimated that the total number of deserters from all branches of the American military added up to 21,000, but in 1948 the army was happy just to find these 10,000 men: the numeric equivalent of an entire division.
The article is composed of short, choppy paragraphs that present for the reader some of the more interesting stories of World War II desertion. A good read. Germany, The Unrepentant (See Magazine, 1950)Filed from Berlin by the respected American journalist William Shirer (1904 – 1993), he read the findings of a German opinion poll revealing that
• A majority of Germans tended to hold that Nazism was good, when properly administered.
• Antisemitism was rapidly assuming its customary spot within German society.
• War guilt was largely non-existent and Nazi publications were rolling off the smaller presses with predictable regularity.
Shirer also reported that unrepentant, senior Nazis like Max Amann were getting out of prison, expecting to wield the power they once enjoyed as as one of Hitler's yes-men.
The Fuehrer Schule at Vogelsang (See Magazine, 1946)"In 1934, Adolf Hitler boasted: 'In my Ordensburgen a virile youth will be developed from whom the world will recoil in terror - a violent, dominating, intrepid, brutal youth indifferent to pain and knowing no tenderness or weakness.'"
Nice. Examining Axis War Material (See Magazine, 1944)This article tells of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps and how they go about turning enemy weaponry inside-out in order to gain a full understanding of Axis capabilities:
"Every gun, from the smallest side-arm to largest howitzer, every tank, truck or other conveyance, every airplane and item of equipment abandoned by the retreating enemy, whether it be emergency ration or new type haversack falling into Allied hands, is carefully scrutinized for tell-tale clues to [the] foe's tactics and resources." | 
