A legacy of submerged munitions remains in European seas decades after the World Wars. This poses significant ecological, security, safety and socio-economic risks to marine biota and humans. This underscores the need for immediate remediation. To synthesize current knowledge, identify gaps and challenges in the risk assessment, and legal frameworks for marine munitions; a stakeholder workshop was held during the Kiel Munition Clearance Week conference (Germany). We used two approaches: the World Café method and Mentimeter - a digital responses tool. Our findings indicate that most stakeholders were concerned about the impacts of marine munitions on the environment, as well as critical infrastructure, security, and safety. Consequently, they indicated that the key criteria for prioritizing remediation should be environmental impacts, presence of critical infrastructure, social well-being, security, and munition casing corrosion. Although the stakeholders indicated that environmental impacts should ideally drive remediation actions, they noted that actions are likely more feasible when justified by the risk to critical infrastructure and security, as these impacts are immediate and visible than ecological impacts. Additionally, the stakeholders identified critical knowledge gaps in national and EU legislative frameworks, environmental impact assessment, and remediation cost. The gaps, knowledge, and stakeholder perspectives synthesized in this study could provide lines of evidence to guide responsible authorities and agencies on what to prioritize and address for effective remediation of munitions in European marine waters. These insights are also relevant to the EU Oceans Pact, 2025, aiming to provide a unified framework for remediating munitions.

We focus on three researchers-Davidson Black, Franz Weidenreich and Ralph von Koenigswald-who have made major contributions to the recovery of the fossil record of the hominin taxon now known as Homo erectus. Black was responsible for the recognition of Sinanthropus pekinensis and for the recovery of the initial hypodigm from Choukoutien*. Almost all of the original S. pekinensis fossils were lost during the Second World War, but the precise documentation and meticulous descriptions prepared by Franz Weidenreich substantially mitigate their loss. An earlier article in this series focused on Eugène Dubois' recovery of the type specimen of Pithecanthropus erectus from Trinil in Java, and while a few additional specimens from Trinil were recognized, the majority of the Javan hypodigm of P. erectus was recovered thanks to initiatives led or encouraged by Ralph von Koenigswald.

The identification of unknown human remains is still dependent on the availability of comparison samples from potential leads and (in routine practice) the use of STR profiling. In cold cases, or cases where remains have been recovered long after death, establishing a list of leads is an added difficulty. The absence of external clues to the identity of the individual, or the initial failure of identification, imply that leads must be established using either the genetic data itself, or contextual clues. Moreover, kinship confirmation further than the 1st degree is unreliable using autosomal STR alone. The Forenseq Kintelligence kit by Qiagen (formerly Verogen) is presented as a solution to both problems, since it allows kinship comparisons of SNP profiles recovered from unknown degraded remains to the GEDmatch database (GEDmatch PRO tools), which can be used for forensic genetic genealogy. We applied the Kintelligence kit to two skeletonised bodies recovered from the battlefield of Verdun and a body that was buried alongside members of the French Résistance, executed by the Nazis in 1944. In all three cases, we obtained usable genotyping data, and the comparison with the GEDmatch database produced between 3 and 2000 + matches with our samples, all around 200 cM in genetic distance. Our efforts to use these matches as leads to identify these remains were limited by the lack of information provided by GEDmatch PRO, with aliases and email addresses (many obsolete) constituting the bulk of data. The few genealogies linked to matches being mostly anonymous for individuals born after 1920, we originally relied on contacting GEDmatch participants and parsing their responses, which we later learned was not an appropriate approach. After consulting with experienced genetic genealogists, we corrected our approach and are able to present the results and propose improvements to both the GEDmatch database and the process of genealogical investigation itself.

The process of grinding bone into fine powder is widely used to improve DNA recovery from skeletal material. However, mechanical and thermal stresses generated during grinding may contribute to DNA degradation. To evaluate the effect of bone grinding on the quality and quantity of DNA obtained from aged skeletal remains, 59 paired trabecular-rich metacarpal epiphyses recovered from the post-Second World War mass grave were processed using two extraction approaches: one employing powdered bone and the other intact bone fragments. DNA quantity and quality were evaluated by qPCR PowerQuant analyses, and autosomal STRs were typed to assess genotyping success. Our results revealed significantly higher DNA yield in bone powder than in bone fragments. The degradation index (Auto/Deg ratio) and allele drop-outs were greater in fragment samples, indicating higher DNA degradation. STR typing confirmed that powdered samples produced more complete profiles compared to fragments. These findings suggest that mechanical grinding, when performed under controlled conditions with liquid nitrogen cooling, does not impair DNA integrity and enhances recovery efficiency for the tested bone type and methods used. Therefore, despite the simplicity of fragment processing, we recommend grinding for optimal DNA recovery and reliable genetic identification from aged bones when trabecular bones are processed.

Innovative coatings for corrosion protection of historical aluminium alloys in aerospace heritage

ABSTRACT This article builds on Juliet Nebolon’s conceptualisation of settler militarism (2024) to argue that settler militarism operates through the process of technification that emerges as a specific mechanism through which settler colonialism and militarisation seek to mutually constitute, legitimise, and conceal each other. By examining the Navajo Code Talkers program during the Second World War, I highlight how technification attempts to systematically transform Indigenous peoples, epistemologies, and sovereignties into technical resources that can then be militarily appropriated, operationally deployed, and rendered obsolete even as it obscures the political violence of this process under the guise of technical necessity. Crucially, through analysis of Navajo oral history interviews I contend that the process of technification must be understood as unstable, contested, and continually perturbed by Indigenous efforts to exceed, resist, and refuse its terms and the broader logics of settler colonial violence.

Orthopedic surgery has advanced through the demands of managing complex musculoskeletal trauma on the battlefield. The purpose of this review was to briefly summarize how successive conflicts have shaped principles and practice of orthopedic surgery-from wound management, fracture stabilization, limb salvage, prosthetics, and trauma systems-and to outline possible orthopedic input in future warfare and human exploration. From early empiricism in the Revolutionary War to organized military hospital systems in the Civil War, to the use of antibiotics and internal fixation in World War II, each armed conflict has introduced core orthopedic tenets and innovations. World War I introduced improvements in wound care and early femoral fracture stabilization (Thomas splint), dramatically reducing mortality. World War II brought on the innovation of Küntscher intramedullary nailing and the birth of hand surgery. The Korean and Vietnam wars accelerated evacuation and echeloned care, laying groundwork for damage control orthopedics. In Iraq and Afghanistan, tiered trauma systems and prospective outcomes data reframed limb salvage vs. amputation; contemporary prosthetics (targeted muscle reinnervation, myoelectric control, osseointegration) further expanded function. Future domains-remote warfare and space medicine-pose distinct challenges and research imperatives. Orthopedic surgery's evolution is inseparable from the history of war. Lessons in physiology-first care, principles of bony fixation, wound care, infection control, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation continue to inform modern civilian practice and will be essential for managing complexing injuries in emerging environments.

ABSTRACT In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that all humans were endowed with conscience. The Declaration then added that freedom of conscience should be protected through the law. This article examines what is at stake in saying that to be human is to have a free conscience and that this should be legally protected? In doing so, it turns to one moment in the history of claims to freedom of conscience: British citizens who refused to fight against Fascism in the Second World. We can understand the UN’s claim that all humans are endowed with a free conscience as a direct response to the horrors of the Second World War. The British citizens who refused to fight Fascism therefore help us confront both the limits and potentials of the legal protection of conscience. The central argument of the essay is that legal processes of protection can turn a form of conscience understood as free and reflective, into something pre-determined and fixed. This is a form of conscience and a vision of humanity that is therefore beyond legal protection.

The first volume of the biographical dictionary Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) was published in 1953; after the end of the Second World War, the publication was considered a national biography and was seen as a contribution to the cultural foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany. The establishment of the NDB was also made possible by the participation of important personalities such as Federal President Theodor Heuss (1884-1963) and Nobel Prize winner in physics Max von Laue (1879-1960). Based on previously unexamined sources from Laue's estate and the Archive of the Historical Commission in Munich, it is shown that Laue not only contributed to the reputation of the NDB, but also used the opportunities available in the early years to help shape the emerging culture of remembrance. An analysis of editorial practices reveals that articles had different contexts of origin. In addition to articles written by the authors who signed them, there were also articles based on a collective authorship and articles in which the signed author and the original author were not identical.

ABSTRACT The article explains how Catalan nationalism and, specifically, separatism, used a patriotic play, Jordi Erín, set in Ireland and focused on Daniel O’Connell, to establish a parallel between the two nationalist movements and promote the demand for autonomy in Catalonia in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The research is a case study of political and cultural transfers between nationalisms. At the same time, it explains how the parallel established with another national movement can be adapted to political convenience. In this sense, Catalan nationalism used Josep Burgas’ play at two different times, before and after the First World War. On the first occasion, nationalists used it to ask for unity within the Catalanist movement and, on the second, to oppose the civil government of Barcelona.

ABSTRACT This article rereads Wittgenstein’s Tractatus as a modernist vehicle of normativity. It reconstructs how the text responds to three intertwined crises: the Great War; the Sprachkrise, or crisis of language; and the collapse of natural law theory in Austria. In Wittgenstein, logical form and ethical silence, it is argued, function as transcendental norms: they cannot be stated, yet they govern the possibilities of meaningful language and of a “happy” life. The article shows that the Tractatus employs a deliberate “self-destruct” mechanism typical of Central European modernism, exposing the limits of discourse in order to cure scientistic hubris.

The article analyzes the position of Jews without citizenship in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1918 to World War II. It examines the European context of statelessness, Yugoslav citizenship laws, and bureaucratic practices, focusing on the tension between proclaimed universalism and practical exclusivity. Special attention is given to the 1928 Citizenship Law, residence permit systems, and the policy of “forced collective internment.” The case studies of Andrija Roman and Samuel Reiss reveal how individuals and families, despite decades of residence, education, and integration, remained without legal protection. Their experiences highlight the limits of Yugoslav universalism and the intersection of bureaucratic nationalism and antisemitism. In comparison with European states such as Poland and Romania, Yugoslavia shared restrictive practices but stood out for the contradiction between supranational ideology and selective exclusion. Stateless Jews thus serve as a paradigmatic example of excluded groups in interwar Yugoslavia, shedding light on broader European mechanisms of exclusion before the Holocaust.

ABSTRACT U.S. Navy ships have not engaged in heavy combat operations since World War II. Although naval warfare and navy ships have advanced technologically since that time, the fundamental violence of combat and resultant human factors of war have not. This article discusses how the Navy is not fully prepared for the expected large number of combat stress casualties likely to occur in any maritime large-scale combat operations (LSCO) such as the threat by China to invade Taiwan by 2027. U.S. Naval Surface Forces began assigning mental health providers to support Navy surface combatant ships in 2019. These mental health professionals provide psychological support to shipboard Sailors but do not deploy with these ships. Rather, Navy surface combatant ships are supported by a single Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC) paraprofessional with limited training in mental health. Therefore, in any LSCO scenario, the acute psychological needs of these shipboard Sailors will be provided by these medical assets. The article discusses how U.S. Naval Surface Forces is preparing shipboard Sailors for combat stress reactions as well as training organic shipboard resources (i.e. IDCs, chaplains) in applying psychological first aid and legacy combat psychiatry principles (i.e. PIES – Proximity to the frontline, Immediacy of treatment, Expectancy of recovery, Simple interventions). The article concludes with a discussion of future directions for closing the current gaps in training needed to enhance psychological support to Naval Surface Forces ships/Sailors in preparation for future LSCO scenarios.

ABSTRACT This article examines the recruitment strategies employed by the British colonial administration to mobilise the Orthodox Greek and Muslim Turkish Cypriot communities for the Macedonian Mule Corps during the First World War. While colonial mobilisation is often associated with imperial patriotism or direct coercion, this study argues that Britain employed a multifaceted, pragmatic consent mechanism in Cyprus to navigate the island’s fragile socio-political landscape. Following the island's annexation in 1914, the British administration had to suppress standard imperial narratives to avoid antagonising a population that had been Ottoman subjects until a few years earlier. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s framework of ‘hegemony’, the article reveals how Britain shifted from ideological persuasion to an economic mobilisation model.

Cristóbal Balenciaga is considered one of the most innovative designers of the twentieth century, with an influence extending well beyond Europe and North America. Within one year of showing his first haute couture collection in Paris, the Australian press reported on Balenciaga and details of his collections were promptly relayed back to receptive audiences in both metropolitan and regional centers. Australian women did not have to wait long before they could see and buy Balenciaga garments for themselves, as original models were imported, reproduced and adapted in Australia by 1939. This article traces the transfer of Balenciaga’s clothing to Australia during the inter-war period and after the Second World War, with a focus on Sydney couture salon Germaine Rocher. In 1934, Vera Fels emigrated from Paris to Sydney, and established couture salon Germaine Rocher, producing authorized reproductions of Paris models. Existing Australian fashion histories have largely overlooked pre-Second World War haute couture in Australia, with more emphasis on the postwar period. Encompassing rich stories of migration and the transfer of haute couture technical knowledge to Australia in the early to mid-twentieth century, this study provides new understandings of the wearing of couture in Australia as well as transcultural relations and Australia’s fashion history.

Abstract What makes a successful military operation? For military planners, this question has been, and still is, one of the most perplexing problems a military organisation can be confronted with. The scientific research groups in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have attempted to construct a model on how to adopt the most optimal approach to command and control in military operations regardless of force composition and mission type. The concept is called Command and Control Agility or C2 Agility for short. The purpose is by using best practices to design a universal effective concept for C2 in military operations. This paper will use 43 case studies from World War II (WWII) selected from a set of criteria that will ensure homogenous case selection, and investigate the significance of C2 Agility for a successful outcome using statistical analysis. WWII is relevant because during the current Russo-Ukrainian war the question of C2 approach in a high-intensity warfare scenario against a near-peer opponent has again become highly relevant for the militaries of NATO.

Volcanogenic Massive Sulfides (VMS) are considered major base (Cu-Zn±Pb) and precious metal (Au and Ag) sources with paramount contribution in the development and evolution of mankind through the ages. They are characterized by variable ore mineralogy and geochemistry, largely attributed to the variety in the geotectonic regime of formation (both divergent and convergent margins) and the variability in the host lithologies. Several VMS types are distinguished depending on the type of volcanism and host-rock lithology. The lens-shaped-to-stratiform bodies composed of fine-grained sulfides, usually accounting for more than 60% of the rock mass, have been exploited since prehistoric times. Recent studies reveal that VMS continue to be formed in deep marine settings and along plate margins on the ocean floor. Besides base and precious metals, nowadays, VMS are considered significant sources of critical and strategic metals, such as Co, Ni, Ga, Ge, In, Bi, As, Sb, Se, Mo, Cd, Sn, Hg, Tl and Bi, particularly after extensive research of the ocean floors in the years following World War II (WWII). Since the late 1970s, the potential of VMS has been further enhanced after the successful deep-sea mining (DSM) pilot tests, with the pipeline-lift mining system considered the most suitable for seabed massive sulfide (SMS) recovery.

This article analyses the trajectory of Cécile Brunschvicg (1877–1946), an activist involved in two major feminist organisations in France during the first half of the twentieth century. Brunschvicg was a representative of reformist feminism, active in middle-class feminist organisations, who engaged in cross-class activism, addressing the working and living conditions of women workers. Brunschvicg’s activism took various forms: although it operated mainly through the organisations in which she participated and held prominent positions, she was also a prolific writer, who published numerous press articles and participated in many feminist congresses. The author argues that Brunschvicg was a significant feminist figure, whose activism extended transnationally and influenced the politics of women’s work in France, Europe and beyond. Her reformist strategy of gradual progress aimed to establish links with MPs and leading social figures in order to achieve feminist demands. In doing so, she consistently defended women workers and their unionisation, particularly during the two world wars when women replaced men sent to the front, and during the attacks on women’s right to work provoked by the economic crisis of 1929. This article contributes to a gendered global labour history through the lens of an intersectional and inclusive biographical perspective.

ABSTRACT Involvement of corporations in international crimes and conflict atrocities, such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, are neither isolated events nor uncommon. Importantly, corporate involvement in atrocity crimes is shaped by conditions in “zones of legal risk” (International Commission of Jurists), where gross human rights violations, atrocity crimes and extreme violence are pervasive. In this context, corporations become complicit in the most serious state crimes. The empirical study of 205 historical and contemporary cases across all global regions in a total of 36 countries explores patterns of involvement starting from the conceptual framework developed by the International Commission of Jurists. We identify six “risk profiles” of involvement defined by industry type, partners in such crimes, and the type of involvement and contribution to the crimes. Our results showcase the relationship between corporate characteristics and risks of involvement in serious violence for different risk profiles across space and time. Starting from a legal conceptual framework, we discuss how these results contribute to criminological theories of corporate crime, as well as to regulation theory and practice.

ABSTRACT Most military organizations require a steady flow of volunteers to remain operationally effective. These volunteers are enticed to serve with advertising in newspapers and magazines, commercials on radio and television, and a plethora of online content. Considerable sums of money are spent on such promotion, but little is known about how it is developed or who develops it, with most existing studies devoted to the recruiting drives of the two world wars or Cold War. In this article, I shift focus to more recent times to show how recruiters use digital media to promote service, how the media industries are implicated in, and in many cases driving forces behind, such promotion, and why their work can be considered a form of strategic communications. The premise, spelled out at the outset, is that recruiters require varying forms of private expertise to operate. The evidence, which takes the form of a comparative case-study analysis of recent recruiting work in Germany, Japan, and Russia, suggests recruiters are “strategic actors” whose role in promoting and justifying service warrants close attention.