Partisans risked everything to free Europe from fascist rule. 

The National WWII Museum’s first International Conference on World War II in 2006 set the precedent for outstanding scholarship and public history on the most pivotal event of the modern era. The Museum will continue this important initiative November 17 through 19 in New Orleans at the 2016 International Conference, titled “1946: Year Zero—Triumph and Tragedy,” and covering the immediate postwar period and the new world left in the wake of the global struggle.

The National WWII Museum, in partnership with the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and 89.9 WWNO-FM, will host a special lecture and book signing for noted writer and historian Robert M. Edsel. The author will discuss the dramatic American effort at the end of World War II to save priceless treasures from the Nazis – the subject of an upcoming major motion picture starring George Clooney and Matt Damon.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime persecuted Roma across Europe, killing over 250,000 Romani people and sterilizing around 2,500.

Visitors often ask, “Why is the Museum in New Orleans?” The answer to this simple question requires an understanding of the city’s involvement in World War II, politics, and American memory.