Name: 1939 – Rome-Berlin Axis established
Start: 2026-05-07T00:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-05-07T23:59:59-04:00

1942 – The Battle of Coral Sea begins. The first naval battle fought entirely by planes from opposing carriers.

May 4 1942 – The Battle of Coral Sea begins. The first naval battle fought entirely by planes from opposing carriers.

From Day to Day: One Man’s Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps

“I want to thank Tim Boyce for this . . . . It would be lost to history if people like Tim Boyce did not devote the effort and time and expense–a good part of his life–to preserve the Odd Nansen story. It is a moving and gripping story. . . .”

–U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal

Hailed by The New Yorker as “among the most compelling documents to come out of the war,” From Day to Day is a World War II concentration camp diary—one of only a handful ever translated into English—secretly written by Odd Nansen, a Norwegian political prisoner. Arrested in January 1942, Nansen, son of polar explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen (Nobel Peace Prize 1922) was held captive for the duration of the war in various Nazi camps in Norway and Germany.

Nansen’s diary entries detail his palpable longing for his wife and family, his constantly frustrated hopes for release, the quiet strength and sometimes ugly prejudices of his fellow prisoners, and his horror at the especially barbaric treatment reserved for the Jews. The diary brilliantly illuminates Nansen’s daily struggle, not only to survive, but to preserve his sanity and maintain his humanity in a world engulfed by fear and hate.

First published in English in 1949, From Day to Day had been out of print for almost seventy years. The new edition contains entries and sketches never previously available in English. It also features a new introduction and extensive annotations by Timothy Boyce and a preface by Thomas Buergenthal, whose life (as a ten year-old) Nansen saved while in Sachsenhausen, later recounted in his own memoir A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy.

On this day in history

May 2026

1940 – Prime Minister Chamberlain Announces Britain Will Abandon Norway

1943 – All Jews in Netherlands Over Age 6 Required to Wear Yellow Star

1945 – British forces arrive at Neuengamme Concentration Camp–to find it empty.

1942 – The Battle of Coral Sea begins. The first naval battle fought entirely by planes from opposing carriers.

1626 – Peter Minuit Arrives at Manhattan Island; Will Later Arrange for its Purchase for 60 Dutch Guilders

1941 – Hitler Predicts in Berlin Speech That “The National Socialist State . . . will survive for a thousand years.”

1945 – Mauthausen Concentration Camp liberated by 11th Armored Division, Third United States Army

1961 – Alan Shepard Becomes First American in Space

1942 – General Wainwright surrenders last U.S. forces in the Phillippines

1945 – Germany surrenders to Allies

1915 – Germans Sink Lusitania off Irish Coast; 1,197 Lives Lost

1939 – Rome-Berlin Axis established

Events

May 2026

From Day to Day: One Man’s Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps