Hi, I’m Albert, and I’m the creator of TheWarchive.
After spending more than five years building this project, I’m incredibly proud that it is finally live. I can’t wait to grow a community of people from all over the world who share a passion for World War II history. Before anything else, I want to tell you a little about myself and how this whole idea began.
I grew up watching classic war films like The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far with my dad. Whenever something dramatic happened on screen, he would lean over and say, “This really happened not that long ago.” Those moments stuck with me. They taught me that these were not just movies. They were real stories, lived by real people.
That early spark turned into a lifelong fascination with World War II. I read every book I could find, watched countless documentaries, and explored museum after museum usually with my dad right beside me. History could take me halfway across the world or show up right in the street where I lived.
What surprised me most growing up was how little many people around me knew about the events that had taken place so close to home. In my own town, Jewish families had once hidden just a few streets away, yet almost no one talked about it. That silence always stayed with me.
Years later, after my dad passed away, I took some time off to backpack around the world. I had no real plan except to clear my head. But everywhere I went, I stumbled upon traces of the war in the most unexpected places. And I kept noticing how difficult it was to find the smaller, lesser known sites: the hidden graves, the forgotten bunkers, the crash site memorials, and the secret meeting spots that never appear on regular maps. Often even locals had no idea what had happened right where they lived. Yet these places carried stories that hit harder than anything I had ever read or watched.
That is when the idea for TheWarchive truly came alive. I wanted to create something that made these stories easier to find and impossible to forget. A place where anyone could dive deeper into history and connect with it on a personal level. Almost like a TripAdvisor, but built for remembrance.
Around the same time, I watched many of the websites I had grown up with disappear. They were outdated, broken, or simply gone. That was the moment I realized that this history needs more than preservation. It needs people. It needs participation.
So I decided to build something better a living archive shaped by a community. A place where stories can grow, connect, and be shared with anyone who wants to learn.
The goal was simple help people discover the links between places, people, and events. Visit a monument, and with a few clicks learn about the person it honors, the battle they fought in, or even the films made about them.
What started as just an idea has grown into a global effort a living map of war graves, memorials, battlefields, museums, and so much more built by a growing community of people who care deeply about keeping this history alive. Anyone can join, add stories, and receive credit for what they share.
We started small, but we grow every day. We are adding richer metadata, expanding content types, creating new tools, and dreaming big from detailed maps to immersive VR. This is not just a website. It is something I hope will last for generations.
For me, this project is deeply personal. It is the dream I have carried for most of my life a tribute to the stories that shaped our world and to the person who first shared them with me.
If you feel that same pull toward the past whether through personal family history or simply out of respect for those who lived these events you are welcome here. Take a look at the contribute page to see how you can get involved.
Dedicated to my father my first teacher, and the reason this dream exists.
