Ukraine’s Holocaust survivors relive WWII trauma

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By Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer In 1941, when Nazi forces invaded Ukraine, the country was home to Europe’s largest Jewish population; by the time the Holocaust ended, some 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews had been killed. Today, among Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens are some 10,000 Holocaust survivors. This week, I spoke to humanitarian relief organizations about the aid efforts geared towards this population, many of whom require home care. “Most of them do not want to leave, they’re not requesting evacuation,” Deborah Joselow, chief planning officer for UJA, which funds social services for survivors, said. “They said they lived through a war, and they would rather die in their own beds.” Click here to read the full story. Find all of TIME’s coverage of the war at time.com/ukraine. Here’s more history to know:

HISTORY ON TIME.COM The History Behind the First Black Woman Supreme Court Justice Nominee By Olivia B. Waxman Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court marks the latest milestone in a history of trailblazing Black women lawyers Read More » What to Know About the Meaning of Sunflowers in Ukraine By Olivia B. Waxman Throughout Ukraine's history, the flower has been used as a symbol of peace Read More » The 250th Birthday of the U.S. Is Just a Few Years Away. Get Ready for Controversy By John Garrison Marks The Semiquincentennial stands to have a profound effect on the way many Americans understand our shared national past for decades to come Read More » The Tormented Rise of Abolition in 1830's America By J. D. Dickey Reviled in the national press, denounced by demagogues, and attacked by mobs, abolitionists faced unprecedented hostility Read More » The Bible Created a Blueprint for Vilifying Powerful Women Leaders By Shelley Puhak "Jezebel" became a convenient shorthand for how to talk about, and disparage, powerful women, including medieval Queens Brunhild and Fredegund Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1959: Japan's Royal Wedding “Demure, with downcast eyes, displaying a modesty beneath which lies tempered steel, 24-year-old Michiko Shoda last week crossed the blue moat surrounding the Imperial Palace. Behind her lay the roaring, garish city of Tokyo, with huge advertising balloons adrift above the rooftops. Ahead stretched the quiet greenery of the palace grounds, where unpaid volunteers tended the gardens. As her chauffeur-driven car passed through the tall gateway, guarded by policemen with gold chrysanthemums on their collars, Michiko was carried into the secluded ‘world within the moat’ that will be hers next month on her marriage to Crown Prince Akihito, 25. Slim, curly-haired Michiko Shoda is the first commoner in 2,600 years to marry an heir to the imperial throne.” (Mar. 23, 1959) Read More » This week in 1974: The President's Lawyer “[W]hen White House Chief of Staff Alexander M. Haig began looking late last year for a trial lawyer to represent the President, he found that ‘Jim was high on everybody's list.’ On Dec. 31 St. Clair resigned the private practice that earned him about $300,000 a year in order to take the $42,500 federally paid job as Nixon's chief Watergate counsel…In St. Clair's judgment, there was an overriding reason for accepting the job of attorney for Nixon: ‘How many times is a lawyer asked to represent the President of the U.S. in a matter of this importance? I felt that I could make a contribution, and I believed it was an appropriate matter for a lawyer to be involved in.’” (Mar. 25, 1974) Read More » This week in 1984: Cholesterol “Cholesterol is proved deadly, and our diet may never be the same. This year began with the announcement by the Federal Government of the results of the broadest and most expensive research project in medical history. Its subject was cholesterol, the vital yet dangerous yellowish substance whose level in the bloodstream is directly affected by the richness of the diet. Anybody who takes the results seriously may never be able to look at an egg or a steak the same way again.” (Mar. 26, 1984) Read More »

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB War in Ukraine: Writing for Foreign Policy, historian Robert Zaretsky sees similarities between the foreigners volunteering to fight with Ukraine and foreigners who fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Presidential history: For National Review magazine, historian Allen Guelzo reviews a new book on the Black visitors who Abraham Lincoln received at the White House and how those visits represented an evolution of Lincoln’s policy views. Women’s history: Mariel Padilla, reporter for the news website The 19th, digs into the history of the only all-Black female unit to serve in World War II; on March 14, President Biden signed a bill awarding the battalion a Congressional Gold Medal. Real estate: In light of the HBO show The Gilded Age, the Wall Street Journal’s Candace Taylor looks back at the history of Manhattan’s mansions from that era. Tune in: On Salon.com, writers Steven Gimbel and Gwydion Suilebhan profile the real female comedians who inspired the Amazon Prime show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

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