Codex Rotundus: A 15-century Pocketbook

In the 15th century, Flemish craftsmen created the first pocketbook in history, the Codex Rotundus, a unique late-medieval manuscript comprised of 266 pages containing a lavishly illuminated Book of Hours written in Latin and French.

Götz of the Iron Hand: The German Robin Hood (1480 – 1562)

Romanticized in legend as the “German Robin Hood” and remembered as a hero, Gottfried “Götz” von Berlichingen, better known as “Götz of the Iron Hand”, was a German Imperial Knight (Reichsritter), a mercenary, and a poet.

Hanns Scharff: The Luftwaffe Nicest “Master Interrogator” 1942-45

Hanns Scharff was a Master Interrogator working for The Luftwaffe at Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

The Iron Maiden Torture Device: an 18th-Century Hoax

The Iron Maiden was a torture device believed to have originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. It was said to have been invented by a German executioner named Johannes Eckhardt.

The Reichstag Fire – 1933

On Monday 27 February 1933, after dictator Adolf Hitler was inaugurated as Chancellor of Germany, there was an attempt on the Reichstag German parliament known as the Reichstag Fire (Reichstagsbrand, in German).