If it seems like today’s kids have gotten “softer” compared to the kids decades ago, perhaps it’s because playgrounds have gotten softer as well. Thanks to state laws and personal injury lawyers, the landscape of the typical playground has changed a lot over the years, making it a safer and more “educationally interactive” environment. On the other hand, maybe those rough-and-tumble recreation areas of yesteryear served as an early life lesson that the world was a harsh and unforgiving place....

In the spring of 1906 San Francisco was a city boasting 410,000 inhabitants — a world-class metropolis whose citizens, at the dawn of a new century, looked forward with a sense of civic pride and growing confidence. San Francisco’s very existence was the triumph of imagination over reality. In 1846 the site was largely barren sand dunes fringed with wind-stunted oaks and populated mainly by billions of fleas that tormented man and beast alike....

U.S. tanks facing Soviet Union tanks at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, 1961. In October 1961, border disputes led to a standoff and for 16 hours the world was on the brink of war while Soviet and American tanks faced each other just 300 feet (100 meters) apart. In August 1961 Washington and its British and French allies had failed to prevent the Soviets from building the Berlin Wall. On October 27, after several days of escalating U....

Many think that London was the best place in the world in the 1960s. Youth culture flourished and post-war austerity finally gave place to a decade of optimism and exploration. In this decade, the traditional hierarchies begin to dissolve paving the way for the birth of the modern age. During this time, London underwent a “metamorphosis from a gloomy, grimy post-war capital into a bright, shining epicenter of style”....

An RAF airman is buried with full military honors by occupying German soldiers, 1943. Full military honors were granted by the Luftwaffe at the funerals of RAF sergeants Butlin and Holden who were shot down over Jersey, Channel Islands. It is thought this was to try to pacify the local population. The Luftwaffe behaved much differently than the SS or Wehrmacht. Much more chivalry. RAF Sergeants Butlin took off on an operation to Frankfurt at 23....

Long before modern skincare routines and high-tech beauty tools, women in the early 20th century endured procedures that now seem closer to science fiction—or even torture devices—than self-care. From the 1920s to the 1940s, beauty standards were no less demanding than today, but the tools used to meet them were often bulky, bizarre, and uncomfortable. The following photos offer a rare glimpse into the lengths women went to in the pursuit of glamour during an era when beauty was often synonymous with endurance....

The 1990s witnessed a fashion trend that many considered strange, as wide-leg jeans emerged as a bold and unconventional statement. These oversized denim pieces, often referred to as baggy pants, defined a generation that embraced rebellion, individuality, and a departure from the fitted styles of previous decades. From hip-hop to skate culture, wide-leg jeans transcended subcultures, making their mark on youth fashion from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s....

A 17-year-old Pelé in Sweden before the 1958 World Cup. In the picture, right next to him is Zito, one of the best midfielders of all time. He was Pelé´s partner in Santos team and Brazil’s player in this World Cup. Pelé turned 18 during the 1958 World Cup, helped Brazil to reach the finals, and then win 5-2 against Sweden, crowning Brazil as world champions for their first time ever, which turned him overnight into an international sensation....

A Czech survivor liberated by the U.S. Army in Buchenwald camp in Germany identified a former guard who was brutally beating prisoners. April 14, 1945. Colorized version. The picture depicts a liberated Czech political inmate pointing an identifying and accusing finger at a Nazi guard who was especially cruel towards the prisoners in Buchenwald camp. According to the Buchenwald Camp museum site: “Zdének Syrovátka, a Czech political inmate, identifies a member of the SS from Wansleben, a Buchenwald subcamp....

A dog being posed by a German soldier, early 1940′s In the beginning, the war was still fun and the soldiers were not fully engaged in action. So they had some fun with this German Shepherd dog, who has no idea what he’s doing. Still looks classy though. Dressing dogs as humans have always been funny. The Germans viewed canines as being almost as intelligent as humans and attempted to build an army of fearsome ‘speaking’ dogs....

A Mongolian woman reaches out from the porthole of a crate in which she is imprisoned, c. July 1913. Note the swastika on the corner next to the lock. This photo was taken in July 1913 by French photographer Stéphane Passet who was hired by Albert Kahn. Albert Kahn was a millionaire banker who pioneered color photography using the process invented by the Lumière brothers. During his trip through exotic countries, Albert Kahn and Stéphane Passet visited Mongolia where they took this picture of a woman who was condemned to slow and painful starvation by being deposited in a remote desert inside a wooden crate that was to become her tomb....

Ku Klux Klan on a Ferris wheel, 1926. On April 27, 1926, the Cañon City Daily Record ran a surprising bulletin on its front page. Right under a notice that the local junior high school was putting together a variety show, the local newspaper of the small central Colorado town printed the headline “ Klansmen pose for a picture on merry-go-round ”, along with a brief, staid description of a parade of hooded locals that went from the Klan headquarters on Main Street to the traveling amusement park that had been set up a couple of blocks away....

The term “banality of evil,” introduced by political theorist Hannah Arendt, captures the disturbing notion that ordinary people can perpetrate horrific acts. The portraits of the Bergen-Belsen camp guards provide a haunting illustration of this concept. Despite their mundane and unremarkable appearance in photographs, these individuals played key roles in the execution of genocide, highlighting the chilling reality of how ordinary individuals can become instruments of profound evil. View of the camp after liberation....

In the photograph, he can be seen standing on his balcony preparing to shoot prisoners. Amon Leopold Goeth ( German: Amon Göth ) the villain of the movie Schindler’s List, was born in 1908 in Vienna, Austria. At the age of 24, he joined the Nazi party. In 1940, Amon Goeth became a member of the Waffen-SS. He was assigned to the SS headquarters for Operation Reinhard in Lublin in German-occupied Poland in 1942....

Captured Italian soldiers are escorted to the rear by German soldiers during the Battle of Caporetto, 1917. The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo or the Battle of Karfreit as it was known by the Central Powers) took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid (now in Slovenia), on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town of Kobarid (known as Karfreit in German)....

In the history of American education, one subject has played a pivotal role in equipping students with essential skills for the demands of the modern world: typing. The rise of typing classes in US high schools is a captivating chapter in the historical landscape of education, tracing its origins back to an era when manual typewriters and the rhythmic clatter of keys heralded a new age. The introduction of typing instruction can be traced back to the late 19th century when the typewriter emerged as a revolutionary writing tool....

A large crowd of spectators watch Eunice Padfield and her horse dive from a high tower in Pueblo, Colorado on July 4, 1905. Stunt shows featuring diving horses began in the 1880s and were a wildly popular attraction for decades, despite the obvious cruelty to the animals and the danger it posed, ironically, it would seem, more for the riders than the horses’ theme. According to Texas Escapes, horse diving was “invented” by a man named William “Doc” Carver....

A woman being shaved by civilians to publicly mark her as a collaborator, 1944. French women who befriended the Nazis, through coerced, forced, or voluntary relationships, were singled out for shameful retribution following the liberation of France. The woman photographed here, believed to have been a prostitute who serviced German occupiers, is having her head shaved by French civilians to publicly mark her. This picture was taken in Montelimar, France, on August 29, 1944....

German soldiers take aim from the backs of horses, 1935. German cavalry firing from the standing saddle position during maneuvers on the Karshorter Racecourse, Berlin. The cavalry was trained to “fire from the saddle” in this way at that time. It is very doubtful whether this method featured much, once the action started. It did nothing to reduce the vulnerability of the horsemen to counter-fire from opposing infantry and machine-gunners; indeed, it increased such vulnerability....

Moving an apartment building in Communist Romania. 1987. During the Communist Era in Romania, huge massive Soviet-style apartment buildings were built everywhere. In the city of Alba Iulia, they were planning a majestic boulevard but realized one of those ugly monsters got in their way. The solution? They split it in two and moved one of the halves to the other side of the road. They dug under the building, put railways and wheels, and moved it 55 meters away (180 ft)....