Berlin Opens Hitler's 'Future City' Tunnels

Father's shadow hasn't kept Albert Speer from worldwide impact

(NEWSER) - It’s hard to make a name for yourself when you share a name with your father, harder when the father was a famous Nazi architect and friend of Hitler. Urban planner Albert Speer constantly battles the association, keeping a low profile, and, though he has made his mark worldwide, avoiding Berlin. Now, he has his sights on bringing the 2018 Winter Olympics to Munich. More»

(NEWSER) - Hitler's autobiography-manifesto Mein Kampf has been strictly banned in Germany since the end of World War II, but a proposal to reprint it has the endorsement of the country's leading Jewish organization, among other groups, reports the Independent. "A historically critical edition needs to be prepared today to prevent neo-Nazis profiting from it," said the head of the Central Council of Jews. But politicians and many academics oppose the effort. More»

Berlin police investigate a totaled truck for defects on the set of "Valkyrie"

(NEWSER) - Eleven extras were injured on the Berlin set of Tom Cruise's latest film, "Valkyrie," when the side of a truck—decked out to look like a Nazi military transport—blew open as it took a corner. One man was seriously injured in the crash. Local authorities reported "no findings to suggest anyone famous was involved," the BBC says. More»

Berlin does an about-face on anti-Hitler movie

(NEWSER) - Tom Cruise will be allowed to shoot his new movie, about a German military officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, on German soil. Earlier reports said the megastar would be banned because of his ties to Scientology, which Germany regards as a threat to democracy and keeps under "official observation," as it does neo-Nazi groups, reports Yahoo News. More»

Hitler ordered Porsche to replicated Josef Ganz's prototype

(NEWSER) - Adolf Hitler took the original design for the Volkswagen Beetle from the brainchild of a Jewish engineer, the Jerusalem Post reports. Historian Paul Schilperoord claims in his forthcoming book The True History of the Beetle that a prototype Josef Ganz designed in the late '20s had many of the Beetle’s distinctive features, such as a rear-mounted engine. He even called the completed prototype, constructed in 1931, the Maikäfer, or "May-Beetle." More»