8. Majestic Cathedral
This photo takes you inside France’s largest cathedral – the Amiens Cathedral – during World War II. It stood stolidly against the devastation brought by the war. It is, today, a World Heritage Site, its medieval interior being the largest in Western Europe.
9. Last Public Execution
The year was 1936 and Rainey Bethea was led to the gallows to be publicly hanged in front of an estimated 15,000-20,000 people. The case drew a lot of attention mainly because the sheriff involved was a woman. As the hanging didn’t exactly go smoothly and in light of previous botched executions, it was the last public execution in the United States.
10. Military Fireworks
Military fireworks lit up the sky during World War I. Awe-inspiring and frightening in equal measure, the bright lights from trench warfare would have deterred anyone but a brave British photographer. Little did he know at the time that his amazing photograph of mortar rounds would be one of the most captivating photographic records of the war.
11. Meeting Hitler
Adolf was a monster, but even monsters have their tender moments. This photo from the early 1940s shows a frostbitten German soldier trying to lift his arm and salute Hitler. Der Fuhrer, however, would have none of it, as suggested in the photograph (we don’t actually know for sure – maybe he was helping the man raise his arm? This was Hitler, after all).
