My Peace Study

A Road Map to General Knowledge

For people who have come to want to study the war directly.

About This Page

This site is a summary of what came out of my peace studies. I pat myself on the back that it offers study of a decent quality, but you won't learn much general knowledge from it.

Maybe my peace studies have made someone want to know the general knowledge — "what actually happened," "how have perpetration and colonial responsibility been talked about." But I'm just a person who likes looking into the culture of the past, so being asked that puts me in a bind. Fortunately, there are a great many excellent museums, archives, and books. Pulling them together is a hassle, but, again fortunately, these days we have AI.

So I had an AI (Opus 5) build a link collection. It says: "In selecting entries I focused on public institutions, universities, and the work of well-regarded researchers, and excluded historical-revisionist and xenophobic material. Facilities and materials that deal head-on with perpetration, colonial responsibility, and forced mobilization are given particular weight and placed prominently, as a path by which readers can themselves fill in the 'gap' this site has found. The links were confirmed reachable at the time of posting, but institutions may relocate or shut them down."

I've checked the contents myself. Seems sound to me. There are a few of the "you don't really need to introduce that book at this late date…" variety, but since the point is general knowledge, I left them as they were. If I revised it all over the place, it would very likely turn into a strange list and stop being "general knowledge."

Still, leaving it purely as the AI wrote it felt like too little, so let me add these two books as my own recommendations.

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, expanded edition, vol. 1

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, expanded edition, vol. 2

I haven't actually read them, but they're probably pretty interesting? I intend to get to them eventually.

For a digital archive, this one is a huge recommendation.

*Tokyo, Autumn 1945* (Tokyo, Ichikyūyongonen Aki), Bunkasha, Bunkasha, 1946

A photo collection, and the writing is interesting too.

1. Public Institutions, Museums, and Archives

The Atomic Bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki)

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Hiroshima City / operated by the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation)
Besides a permanent exhibition built around materials, personal effects, and photographs of the bombing, you can check the exhibition layout and information on survivor testimony talks before visiting. The Peace Database (A-bomb materials, photographs, drawings by survivors), which digitizes the holdings, can be browsed online for free, so you can reach primary visual material without going there. On the atomic bomb it is thick on the reality of the damage, while the context of perpetration and colonialism leading up to the drop is best supplemented from other sources. Free (site and database) / the permanent exhibition is paid and on-site.
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum (Nagasaki City / operated under a designated management scheme)
In addition to the horror of the bombing, it presents as a narrative exhibition the course of events leading to the drop and the history of nuclear weapons development. Nagasaki City's peace portal Nagasaki Peace also provides videos and materials for peace studies. It suits the route of grasping the outline online and then visiting in person. Free (site) / the exhibition is paid and on-site.
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims (national / under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
A national facility known for registering and publishing the names and portraits of the dead, and for collecting a large number of survivor accounts and video testimonies. Part of the accounts and testimonies it holds can be searched and read online through the Peace Information Network, shared by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki halls. In that you can reach "the words of each single person," it stands closest to this site's vocabulary analysis. Free online / free admission, on-site.

The Three National Facilities (Kudan and Shinjuku)

Showakan (national / entrusted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Kudanminami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
A facility that conveys the hardships of everyday civilian life during and after the war through actual objects, photographs, and film. In the audiovisual room and library on the fourth and fifth floors you can view period film and magazines in a digital archive. For those who want to grasp the war from the "daily life" of the home front. Site free / admission is paid and on-site.
Shokeikan (the Japanese Center for Historical Material on Wounded and Sick Retired Soldiers) (national / entrusted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Kudanminami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
A national facility dealing with the hardships experienced during and after the war by wounded and sick servicemen and their families. The direct URL of the official site has not been confirmed for this piece, so we recommend checking via the related-facilities page of Showakan. Free admission, on-site.
Peace Memorial Museum for Soldiers, Detainees in Siberia, and Postwar Repatriates (Museum of the Memories of Returnees) (entrusted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications / 33rd floor, Shinjuku Sumitomo Building)
Specialized in the hardships of soldiers, postwar forced internees (the Siberian internment), and overseas repatriates. Useful as an entry point for anyone who wants a general grounding in the Siberian internment and repatriation. Free admission, on-site.

Air Raids and Local Peace Museums

Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage (attached to the Research Institute for Politics and Economy / Koto-ku, Tokyo)
Its foundation is the material of the "Society to Record the Tokyo Air Raids," formed in 1970 around the writer Saotome Katsumoto. When the Tokyo Metropolitan Government froze its plan to build a "Peace Memorial Hall (tentative name)" in 1999 for lack of funds, the Research Institute for Politics and Economy and that society called for private donations, gained the cooperation of more than 4,000 people, and opened the center in March 2002, with Saotome as its first director (fully renewed in 2020). Alongside damaged objects, maps, and testimonies, it runs a continuing series of public lectures (recordings streamed online) and programs that take up war experiences from a variety of positions, such as people of Korean origin and people with disabilities. The very history of having carried compensation for the victims and the transmission of memory as a citizens' movement is itself something to learn from. Paid and on-site / lectures can be viewed online.
Peace Osaka (Osaka International Peace Center) (Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City / operated by a public interest foundation)
Exhibits the war experiences of the people of Osaka, centered on the Osaka air raids. It has a library, a video corner, and programs for school trips. The direct URL of the official site has not been confirmed for this piece, so the link given is the facility page of the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau. Paid and on-site.
Peace Aichi, the Museum of War and Peace (private / Nagoya City)
A private museum conveying the air raids and the war experience of the Tokai region. The direct URL of the official site has not been confirmed for this piece, so the link given is the introduction page of Nagoya's tourist information. Paid and on-site.

The Battle of Okinawa

Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum (Okinawa Prefecture / Mabuni, Itoman City)
Its exhibition principle is "the Battle of Okinawa seen from the residents' point of view," and it holds the written testimony of 145 people who lived through it and video testimony from about 500. As a prefectural facility it takes on the ground battle and the harm to residents head-on. Paid and on-site.
Himeyuri Peace Museum (public interest foundation / Itoman City)
A private museum founded in 1989 by survivors and alumnae of the Himeyuri Student Corps. Through personal effects and testimony it conveys the experience of the mobilized girls. Paid and on-site.

Repatriation and the Manchuria-Mongolia Settlement Program (the Colonial and Emigration Side)

Manmo Kaitaku Peace Memorial Museum (private / Achi Village, Nagano Prefecture, opened April 2013)
The only private facility in Japan dealing with the "Manchuria-Mongolia settlement groups," the agricultural emigration to former Manchuria. The museum records that the settlers who crossed over numbered more than 270,000 nationwide, of whom about 33,000 came from Nagano Prefecture, the most of any prefecture (about 8,400 from Iida and Shimoina County alone). The museum's own words state plainly that the emigration "was, from the standpoint of the local residents, an invasion," and it presents the history including the viewpoints of atonement and perpetration. A facility that can concretely fill in the "missing colonial responsibility" this site points to, from the angle of emigration. Paid and on-site / site free.
Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum (city of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture)
Exhibits the history of Maizuru, the repatriation port that over the thirteen years from October 1945 to September 1958 received a cumulative 346 repatriation ships and about 660,000 repatriates (of whom about 460,000 came from Soviet territory), together with material on the Siberian internment. Of its roughly 16,000 held items, 526 records comprising 570 pieces were inscribed on UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register on October 10, 2015, as "Return to Maizuru Port 1945-1956." Paid and on-site.

Facilities That Deal with Perpetration, Colonial Rule, and Wartime Sexual Violence (the Center of This Site's Concern)

Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (wam) (NPO Women's Fund for Peace and Human Rights / Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)
The first facility in Japan specialized in the Japanese military "comfort women" system and wartime sexual violence (opened August 2005, carrying on the will of the late Matsui Yayori). It sets out five basic principles, including "(1) to focus on wartime sexual violence from the standpoint of gender justice" and "(2) to make responsibility for perpetration clear alongside the harm," and it received the Pax Christi International Peace Award in 2007 and the Peace Studies Association of Japan's Peace Award in 2013. A museum that answers head-on the "unspokenness of perpetration and colonial responsibility" this site has found. Paid and on-site / site free.
Korea Museum (NPO / Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)
A museum where citizens themselves exhibit the history of relations between Japan and the Korean peninsula, colonial rule included. Its stance of sharing the history of perpetration with visitors is clear, and it makes an entry point to the theme of colonial responsibility. Paid and on-site / site free.

2. Digital Archives and Primary-Source Databases

These are entry points for readers to go at the primary sources themselves, on the same ground as this site's exhaustive survey. All can be completed online (some include materials restricted to the reading room, or paid databases).

National Diet Library Digital Collections (the National Diet Library)
An enormous collection of digitized books, magazines, newspapers, and rare classical works, including out-of-print and hard-to-obtain material. Start with a keyword full-text search. Many items can also be read from home through the transmission service for digitized materials to individuals (user registration required). The place where readers can touch the very object of this site's survey, the prefaces and afterwords of postwar publications.
Next Digital Library (the National Diet Library, experimental service)
An experimental service offering full-text and image search across some 350,000 books and classical works whose copyright term has expired. Because search results have individual URLs and the full text can be downloaded, it suits surveys that track the appearance of words across many titles. For beginners, the entry point is to put a single word into "search the full text."
National Diet Library Search (NDL Search) (the National Diet Library)
A general gateway for cross-searching the holdings of libraries and archives across the country. The first step in confirming "where" a given book or document is.
Japan Search (national / digital archive federation)
The national integrated portal for searching Japan's digital archives all at once across fields — books, cultural properties, public records, media arts. Since you can follow themes or people, it suits the stage where you don't know what to search for first.
National Archives of Japan Digital Archive (the National Archives of Japan)
Search and view catalogs and images of historical public records and the like. You can go at administrative documents from the war and occupation periods. The "Outline Maps of War Damage in Japan's Major Cities," in which the First Demobilization Ministry drew the overall picture of the war damage, can also be viewed here.
Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) (the National Archives of Japan)
A "digital archive" (established 2001) that publishes as digital images the modern and contemporary public records on Asia held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the National Archives of Japan. It can be viewed free of charge around the clock, and it provides thematic introductory content and special internet exhibitions for beginners. What matters is that you can go at primary documents concerning colonial rule and military government as records from the perpetrating side.
The Prange Collection (search and copy-request guide) (the National Diet Library, Research Navi)
The most comprehensive collection of publications from 1945 to 1949 that passed through GHQ/SCAP censorship during the occupation (held by the University of Maryland Libraries). The National Diet Library holds reproductions: 63,023 microfiche of magazines and 3,826 reels of newspaper microfilm. It includes publications that were banned, and it shows what censorship actually did. It overlaps completely with this site's period, and lets you confirm from the other side "what could be written and what was erased." For searching the tables of contents of magazine and newspaper articles there is the "20th Century Media Information Database" of the NPO Intelligence Research Institute (Institute of 20th Century Media), which holds over 3.2 million records of newspapers and magazines combined, though use is in principle paid (the subscription URL has not been confirmed for this piece).
Everyone's War Testimony Archives (a project by television production staff)
A project that removes the constraints of broadcast programs and publishes the words of the witnesses as uncut as possible. Free, completed online. NHK also publishes the "NHK War Testimonies Archive," but since the official URL has not been confirmed for this piece, we recommend checking from the NHK Archives site (the NHK URL is unconfirmed).
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Memorial for Civilian War Dead" (the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
A public site collecting the nationwide survey reports on the facts of war damage, the state of war damage in cities across the country, and a list of memorial facilities. You can confirm the outline of air-raid damage region by region in primary official description. Free, completed online.

3. Books for General History and Basic Knowledge

General History (Start with One)

Yoshida Yutaka, *The Asia-Pacific War* (Ajia Taiheiyō Sensō) (Iwanami Shinsho, Series: Japanese Modern and Contemporary History 6 / 2007 / ISBN 978-4-00-431047-1)
The standard general history, describing total war as it was lived by soldiers, by the home front, and by the peoples of Asia. Stock is low but new copies are still available, and there is an e-book edition. → Amazon
Katō Yōko, *From the Manchurian Incident to the Sino-Japanese War* (Manshū Jihen kara Nitchū Sensō e) (Iwanami Shinsho, Series: Japanese Modern and Contemporary History 5 / 2007 / ISBN 978-4-00-431046-4)
The preceding volume in the same series, asking why the country moved toward war. New copies available, e-book edition available. → Amazon
Katō Yōko, *And Still, the Japanese Chose "War"* (Soredemo, Nihonjin wa "Sensō" o Eranda) (Shinchō Bunko / paperback edition 2016 / ISBN 978-4-10-120496-3)
Modern and contemporary history based on five days of intensive lectures given to middle and high school students. Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Prize. Easy to obtain in paperback or e-book. → Amazon
Handō Kazutoshi, *A History of Shōwa, 1926-1945* (Shōwa Shi 1926-1945) (Heibonsha Library 671 / 2009)
A plainly told, dictated general history (not an academic work but well regarded as reading; winner of the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award). A new edition with an index and commentary, *A History of Shōwa, New Edition: The Prewar Volume, 1926-1945* (Shinpan Shōwa Shi Senzen-hen 1926-1945), was published in 2025. → Amazon

The Reality for Soldiers and the Home Front

Yoshida Yutaka, *Soldiers of the Japanese Army: The Reality of the Asia-Pacific War* (Nihongun Heishi: Ajia Taiheiyō Sensō no Genjitsu) (Chūkō Shinsho 2465 / 2017 / ISBN 978-4-12-102465-7)
Estimates the Japanese war dead at 2.3 million military personnel and civilian employees of the military plus 800,000 civilians, 3.1 million in all, of whom 2.81 million (91%) died from 1944 onward, in the closing stage of the war. Describes the reality of that final stage: death by starvation, death at sea, the suicide attacks. Winner of the Shinsho Grand Prize and a Special Prize of the Asia-Pacific Award. → Amazon
Yoshimi Yoshiaki, *Grassroots Fascism* (Kusa no Ne no Fashizumu) (Iwanami Gendai Bunko / paperback edition 2022 / ISBN 978-4-00-600452-1)
The paperback edition of a classic study (original edition 1987) that draws on primary sources to show how ordinary people supported the war. Commentary by Katō Yōko. → Amazon

Colonial Rule, Korea/Taiwan, and War Responsibility (the Center of This Site's Concern)

Chō Keitatsu, *Colonial Korea and Japan* (Shokuminchi Chōsen to Nihon) (Iwanami Shinsho / 2013 / ISBN 978-4-00-431463-9)
An overview of society and rule in colonial Korea. Out of print at the publisher; available as an e-book. → Amazon
Kibata Yōichi, *A History of the Twentieth Century* (Nijusseiki no Rekishi) (Iwanami Shinsho / 2014 / ISBN 978-4-00-431499-8)
Rethinks the twentieth century around empire and colonialism. For anyone who wants to place Japan's colonial rule within world history. New copies available, e-book edition available. → Amazon
Utsumi Aiko, *A Record of the Korean B/C-Class War Criminals* (Chōsenjin BC-kyū Senpan no Kiroku) (Iwanami Gendai Bunko / paperback edition 2015 / ISBN 978-4-00-600329-6)
A foundational book pursuing the contradiction by which people from the colonies were tried as "perpetrators" (original edition, Keisō Shobō, 1982). New copies available in paperback. → Amazon
Yoshimi Yoshiaki, *Comfort Women* (Jūgun Ianfu) (Iwanami Shinsho / 1995 / ISBN 978-4-00-430384-8)
The classic foundational book of comfort women research. Out of print at the publisher; circulates secondhand. Since it was published in 1995, supplementing it with later research (such as the same author's Iwanami Booklet *What Was the Japanese Military "Comfort Women" System?*) is recommended. → Amazon
Hatano Sumio, *Japan's History Problems: From Liquidating the "Empire" to Yasukuni and the Comfort Women Issue* (Nihon no Rekishi Mondai) (Chūkō Shinsho / ISBN 978-4-12-102733-7)
Sorts out the problems of historical understanding from the standpoint of diplomatic history. This is a fully rewritten and retitled new edition of *The State and History: Postwar Japan's History Problems* (Kokka to Rekishi, Chūkō Shinsho 2137 / 2011), and is the latest version. The ASIN could not be confirmed, so the ISBN is given here (the ASIN of the old edition's Kindle version is B00LMB2QIA).

The Occupation, GHQ, and Censorship (the Period This Site Covers)

Yamamoto Taketoshi, *GHQ's Censorship, Intelligence, and Propaganda Operations* (GHQ no Ken'etsu, Chōhō, Senden Kōsaku) (Iwanami Gendai Zensho 007 / 2013 / ISBN 978-4-00-029107-1)
An empirical study of censorship and propaganda based on primary materials such as the Prange Collection. Out of print at the publisher; circulates secondhand. The one book for grasping the "censorship" of this site's period academically. → Amazon
Etō Jun, *The Closed Linguistic Space: The Occupation Forces' Censorship and Postwar Japan* (Tozasareta Gengo Kūkan) (Bunshun Bunko / paperback edition 1994 / ISBN 978-4-16-736608-7)
A long-selling book on censorship during the Occupation (hardcover 1989). Note, however, that in recent years it has been cited politically as the origin of the so-called "WGIP" thesis, and its interpretation is disputed among historians. A critical reading grounded in the sources is a prerequisite, and reading it alongside Yamamoto Taketoshi's research is recommended on the empirical side. → Amazon

Individual Topics (Okinawa, the Atomic Bombs, Air Raids, Internment, Repatriation)

Hayashi Hirofumi, *The Battle of Okinawa: The Coerced "Mass Suicides"* (Okinawa Sen: Kyōsei sareta "Shūdan Jiketsu") (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, Rekishi Bunka Library 275 / 2009 / ISBN 978-4-642-05675-5)
An empirical study prompted by the 2007 textbook screening controversy. Available in a print-on-demand edition. For an overview, the same author's *The Battle of Okinawa: Why Did 200,000 People Die?* (Okinawa Sen: Naze Nijūman-nin ga Gisei ni Natta no ka, Shūeisha Shinsho) is also worth reading. → Amazon
Hasegawa Tsuyoshi, *Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan* (Antō) (Chūkō Bunko, 2 vols. / paperback edition 2011 / vol. 1 ISBN 978-4-12-205512-4)
An internationally acclaimed study (and a contested one) that finds the decisive factor in Japan's surrender in the Soviet entry into the war rather than in the atomic bombs. Winner of the Yomiuri-Yoshino Sakuzō Prize and the Shiba Ryōtarō Prize. → Amazon (vol. 1)
Kurihara Toshio, *The Siberian Internment: An Unfinished Tragedy* (Shiberia Yokuryū: Mikan no Higeki) (Iwanami Shinsho / 2009 / ISBN 978-4-00-431207-9)
Deals with the internment and with postwar compensation. Out of print at the publisher; circulates secondhand. → Amazon
Katō Kiyofumi, *The Collapse of the "Empire of Japan": East Asia in 1945* (Dai Nippon Teikoku Hōkai: Higashi Ajia no 1945-nen) (Chūkō Shinsho 2015 / 2009 / ISBN 978-4-12-102015-4)
Grasps the collapse of the empire and the repatriation across East Asia as a whole. New copies available, e-book edition available. To go deeper into repatriation, see the same author's *The Manchuria-Mongolia Settler Corps: Prisoners of National Policy* (Manmō Kaitakudan: Kokusaku no Ryoshū, Iwanami Gendai Bunko). → Amazon
Arai Shin'ichi, *A History of Aerial Bombing: The Massacre That Never Ends* (Kūbaku no Rekishi: Owaranai Taryō Gyakusatsu) (Iwanami Shinsho / 2008 / ISBN 978-4-00-431144-7)
Places air raids within the history of humanity. It also covers air raids carried out by Japan (and its military). The title uses "aerial bombing" (kūbaku), not "air raid" (kūshū). → Amazon

Historical Method and How to Read Sources

History Section, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, ed., *An Introduction to the Study of Historical Sources* (Shiryōgaku Nyūmon) (Iwanami Textbooks / 2006 / ISBN 978-4-00-028043-3)
An introduction to the kinds of historical sources and how to handle them. → Amazon
Fukui Norihiko, *An Introduction to Historical Studies (New Edition)* (Rekishigaku Nyūmon [Shinpan]) (Iwanami Textbooks α / new edition 2019 / ISBN 978-4-00-028921-4)
A fully revised edition with chapters on "religion" and "gender" added. → Amazon
History Section, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, ed., *The University of Tokyo Lecture Series: How Historians Think* (Tōdai Renzoku Kōgi: Rekishigaku no Shikōhō) (Iwanami Shoten / 2020 / ISBN 978-4-00-061406-1)
Well received as the most recent introductory book. → Amazon

Memory of the War and the Politics of Memory (the Field That Resonates Most with This Site)

Narita Ryūichi, *The Postwar History of "War Experience," Expanded Edition: Experience Told / Testimony / Memory* (Zōho "Sensō Keiken" no Sengoshi) (Iwanami Gendai Bunko / 2020 / ISBN 978-4-00-600423-1)
Traces how war experience has been told and retold since the war. Because its subject is "the change in the telling," it connects directly to this site's vocabulary analysis. → Amazon
Tessa Morris-Suzuki, *The Past Within Us: Media, Memory, History* (Kako wa Shinanai) (Iwanami Gendai Bunko / 2014 / ISBN 978-4-00-600312-8)
An important work that thinks about memory and historical understanding through media theory. → Amazon
Fukuma Yoshiaki, *The Postwar History of "War Sites": Contested Remains and Monuments* ("Senseki" no Sengoshi: Semegiau Ikō to Monyumento) (Iwanami Gendai Zensho 072 / 2015)
Deals with the contest over memory surrounding war sites and monuments. The Iwanami Gendai Zensho series tends to be out of stock and circulates mainly secondhand. The ASIN could not be confirmed, so only the bibliographic information is given. A related book is the same author's *The Postwar History of "War Experience"* ("Sensō Taiken" no Sengoshi, Chūkō Shinsho / 2009).

4. Introductory Content and Basic Data You Can Read Online

Introductory content from the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (National Archives of Japan)
Sections such as "Browse by Theme" and "Asian Historical Records Learning" offer free explanatory material to help beginners read official documents. You can start from the terminology and the historical background.
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "The State of War Damage in Cities Across Japan" (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
Official accounts, arranged by region, of the war damage summaries submitted by each city. For anyone who wants to begin their research from the damage in their own area.
Maps of War Damage in Japan's Major Cities (National Archives of Japan Digital Archive) (National Archives of Japan)
War damage maps prepared in December 1945 by the Materials Section of the First Demobilization Ministry for returning demobilized servicemen. They give an overview of the damage as a whole through official material of the time.

5. Practical Resources for Teachers and Learners

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum / Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims (peace education programs)
Applications and information for survivor testimony talks, material loans, study workbooks, and the like. For preparatory study before a school trip.
Peace Osaka: School Trip and Peace Education Programs (Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau)
Here you can check the concrete menu of peace education activities for school trips: film screenings, guided tours of war sites, and so on.
Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage: Public Lecture Series (Research Institute for Politics and Economy)
Public lectures on the history of the air raids and on the movements of those who suffered them, made available including online recordings. Useful as classroom material as well.

6. Resources from Abroad and from Other Angles (Going Further)

Hiroshima Archive (Multiplex Digital Archives)
Testimony, photographs, and maps from 1945 displayed in layers on a digital globe. You can overlay space and time and take in the whole. Free and entirely online.