Everyday Life & Culture — WW2 Trivia

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Everyday Life & Culture

The German Submarine That Sank the Most Ships in WWII -- and Its Captain's Moral Crisis

Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze commanded U-48, the most successful submarine in WWII history, sinking 225,000 tons of Allied shipping. He refused to continue after his 16th patrol. He was not a Nazi. He was a professional officer who came to believe he was committing murder.

📍 North Atlantic 📅 1939-1941

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Everyday Life & Culture

The Polish Post Office Workers Who Fought a Three-Day Battle Against the Wehrmacht

On September 1, 1939 -- the very first morning of World War II -- the workers of the Polish Post Office in Danzig did not just wait for the invasion. They fought. For three days. Against the entire German Wehrmacht.

📍 Danzig (Gdansk), Free City of Danzig 📅 September 1-3, 1939

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Everyday Life & Culture

The Jewish Baker Who Fed Gestapo Prisoners with Bread -- and His Family with Secrets

In the basement of a Strasbourg police station, a Jewish baker named Sylvain Bloch fed Gestapo prisoners fresh bread and smuggled escape plans in the dough. He was eventually arrested by his own customers.

📍 Strasbourg, Alsace, France 📅 1942-1944

Facts

Adolf Hitler Was Named TIME Magazine's Man of the Year in 1938 -- Before the Full Scale of the Holocaust Was Known

TIME Magazine named Adolf Hitler its Man of the Year in 1938, describing him as 'perhaps the greatest force for order -- and for destruction -- in Europe.' The designation, which TIME uses to identify the most influential person of the year regardless of whether that influence is positive or negative, reflected Hitler's central role in the events of 1938: the Anschluss with Austria, the Munich Agreement, and the Kristallnacht pogrom. Hitler was the first person to be named Man of the Year twice.

Source: TIME Magazine archives, 1938-1945

Three Men Escaped from Alcatraz in 1945 -- and May Have Survived

On June 10, 1945 -- four days after V-E Day -- three prisoners escaped from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay using an inflatable rubber raft made from 50 raincoats. The raft was found on Angel Island with detailed instructions written on the rubber. The fate of the three men -- Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin -- was never determined. The FBI officially closed the case in 1979. New evidence discovered in 2023 suggests they may have made it to the mainland.

Source: WW2 Trivia Research