Mysteries in the Archives

Some 270,000 soldiers, mainly American, British and Canadian, were waiting for the green light from General Eisenhower to attack the Normandy coast and liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny. More than two hundred reporters have been recruited to accompany Operation Overlord. Filmmaker John Ford is among the supervisors. Who does he work for? What happened to the images filmed that day?

On November 2, 1930, at the age of 38, the ras (a title of nobility) Tafari Makonnen became Emperor of Ethiopia under the name of Haile Selassie. The coronation celebrations, held in Addis Ababa, last seven days. Representatives of thirteen foreign powers, including France, Italy and the United Kingdom, are invited, as well as reporting teams from Europe and the United States. How did Selassie gain power? Why did he insist on inviting these foreign emissaries? Were reporters able to work freely?

Cairo, 1970. Nasser's unexpected death at the age of 52 plunged Egyptians into anxiety and pain. On the day of the funeral, millions wanted to get close to the coffin of the man who had become a hero of the Arab world by nationalizing the Suez Canal. How did this funeral go?

In 1979, Karol Wojtyla returned to his country for the first time since he became head of the Vatican State. A crowd of foreign reporters made the trip. At each stage of the pilgrimage, they film the pope, who celebrates masses and delivers sermons in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful. How are Polish reporters covering the event? How did the communist authorities supervise this visit? Can John Paul II move around and express himself freely?

In 1915, Wilbur Durborough and Irving Ries, two American reporters, went to Germany during the war. For six months, they shot a long report, financed by Chicago businessmen. Were they free to move around and capture the images they wanted? What then became of their report, which they found by chance in 2014?