New Titanic App for History Buffs

This undated file picture shows the German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun while dining.

A German woman named Margot Woelk was one of 15 young women who sampled Hitler's food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned before it was served to the Nazi leader in his "Wolf's Lair," the heavily guarded command center in what is now Poland, where he spent much of his time in the final years of World War II.

Margot Woelk kept her secret hidden from the world, even from her husband then, a few months after her 95th birthday, she revealed the truth about her wartime role.

The petite widow's story is a tale of the horror, pain and dislocation endured by people of all sides who survived World War II. Read more at http://yhoo.it/17mH7dl.

Today in 1836 - Writer Edgar Allan Poe (26) married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm, although her age was publicly listed as 21. They honeymooned in Petersburg, Virginia.

"It was very likely the happiest time of Poe's life. Yet despite the hundreds of books and articles written about the life of Edgar Allan Poe, few devote little more than a footnote to the honeymoon he enjoyed with his child bride, Virginia Clemm, in Petersburg, Virginia.

They wed in Richmond in 1836 and then proceeded to Petersburg for their honeymoon. Most biographies end there, with Poe heading back to work at the Southern Literary Messenger. It is, for sure, a touchy subject, even today.

Some accounts, in Poe’s defense, claim the marriage was not consummated for years. Witnesses recall Poe and Virginia playing leapfrog in Richmond parks, behaving more like young playmates than husband and wife.

Trying to learn much beyond these accounts online led to an informational vacuum. But the Library of Virginia and the Petersburg Courthouse held clues. Handwritten records including little WPA makework biographies on index cards, Poe’s known correspondence, typewritten personal histories and 1930s journals of the College of William and Mary provided tidbits that collectively completed a historical puzzle..."

-from Jeffrey Abugel, author of "Edgar Allan Poe’s Petersburg: The Untold Story of the Raven in the Cockade City." Read more at http://bit.ly/10TqSEw.