24 Incredible And Powerful Pics From History Vault

1. KGB agent Vladimir Putin in disguise as family member meeting Ronald Reagan during his 1988 trip to Russia

2. Two Korean men defending a grocery store during the L.A Riots April 30, 1992

3. Two business owners preparing to defend their property, L.A Riots, 1992

4. Breaker boys working in Ewen Breaker of Pennsylvania Coal Co. January, 1911. A breaker boy was a coal-mining worker in the United States and United Kingdom whose job was to separate impurities from coal by hand in a coal breaker.

5. Richard Nixon’s resignation lunch: pineapple slices, cottage cheese, and a glass of milk. August 8, 1974

6. German soldiers cutting the beard of an old Jewish man, Ukraine, July 1941

7. Signalling the coming change in warfare, French Cavalry observe an Army airplane fly past – 1916

8. Commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration cam, Josef Kramer known as the “Beast of Belsen” paraded in irons before being sent to a POW camp to await trial. Belsen, April 1945. He was detained by the British army after the Second World War, convicted of war crimes and hanged on the gallows in Hamelin prison

9. Japanese soldier played dead for almost two days half buried in a shell hole holding a live grenade. Promising no resistance, he was given a cigarette before being removed. Iwo Jima, 16 March 1945

10. Eduard Bloch, the Jewish physician of the Hitler family in his office c. 1938. Bloch was later called a ‘noble Jew’ by Hitler and stood under his personal protection. This was his family physician growing up. Hitler had siblings, and parents. This doctor did all he could while they were poor, and when Hitler’s mother had cancer. He kindly gave them discounts on medicine, and apparently didn’t charge them when they really needed it. He was supposedly quite fond of the family in general, and when the Holocaust and Nazi rise occurred, Dr Bloch and his wife were protected, and admitted to leave the country without harassment, even allowed to sell their home at a normal price. Dr Bloch really tried to help Hitler’s mother during her illness, and Hitler really appreciated it, even sent the guy flowers at Christmas. When Dr Bloch wrote to Hitler during the Anschluss, Hitler immediately responded by sending the Gestapo to make sure no harm came to the Blochs.

11. Kansas homesteaders, family of seven, in front of their log cabin. 1878

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13. German commandos captured in American uniform are prepared for execution, 1944

14. Two women collect the remains of a dead horse for food, Siege of Leningrad, 1941. The 872-day Siege of Leningrad, Russia, resulted from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad in the Eastern Front of World War II. The siege lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 and was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, causing considerable devastation to the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). The total number of human losses during the 29 months of the siege of Leningrad is estimated as 1.5 million, both civilian and military. Only 700,000 people were left alive of a 3.5 million pre-war population. Among them were soldiers, workers, surviving children and women. Of the 700,000 survivors, about 300,000 were soldiers who came from other parts of the country to help in the besieged city.

15. Saigon execution: Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief, 1968. After Nguyen Ngoc Loan raised his sidearm and shot Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem in the head he walked over to the reporters and told them that: “These guys kill a lot of our people, and I think Buddha will forgive me”. Captured on NBC TV cameras and by AP photographer Eddie Adams, the picture and film footage flashed around the world and quickly became a symbol of the Vietnam War’s brutality. Eddie Adams’ picture was especially striking, as the moment frozen is one almost at the instant of death. For all the image’s political impact, though, the situation wasn’t as black-and-white as it’s rendered. What Adams’ photograph doesn’t reveal is that the man being shot (named Nguyen Van Lem) was the captain of a Vietcong “revenge squad” that had executed dozens of unarmed civilians earlier the same day.

16. Joseph Stalin, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill at the Potsdam Conference, 1945

17. Marilyn Monroe tries to go shopping while fans and media watch, 1957

18. 101st Airborne paratroopers signaling a helicopter to evacuate their wounded, 1968

19. World Head of States in 1889. From left to right: Yohannes IV (Emperor of Ethiopia), Tewfik Pasha (Khedive of Egypt), Abdülhamit II (Sultan of the Ottoman Empire), Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (Shah of Persia), Christian IX (King of Denmark), Dom Luís I (King of Portugal), Willem III (King of the Netherlands), Dom Pedro II (Emperor of Brazil), Milan I (King of Serbia), Leopold II (King of the Belgians), Aleksandr III (Emperor of Russia), Wilhelm I (German Emperor & King of Prussia), Franz Joseph I (Emperor of Austria & King of Hungary), Victoria (Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland & Empress of India), Jules Grévy (President of the French Republic), Leo XIII (Pope), Meiji (Emperor of Japan), Guangxu (Emperor of China), Umberto I (King of Italy), Don Alfonso XII (King of Spain), Oscar II (King of Sweden and Norway) and Chester A. Arthur (President of the United States).

20. 45,000 ton pipe over the Hoover Dam.

21. America G.I.s give Hilter a little Easter present.

22. Men celebrating the end of prohibition.

23. John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.

24. The original Woodstock music gathering.