Witness: Archive 2011

Solving Fermat's Last Theorem had intrigued mathematicians for centuries.In June 1993 a British academic, Andrew Wiles, thought he'd cracked it. But then someone pointed out a flaw in his calculations and it took him another year to correct it.

A frontline Soviet officer tells of what he saw the night that Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa - Germany's invasion of the USSR.

During World War II, many British children were sent away from the cities to escape German bombs.Most went to the countryside but some went as far away as Australia.Helen Cuthbert (right) and her sister were sent to live with their aunt there.

In 1937, the Japanese army went on the rampage after invading the Chinese city of Nanjing.Hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have died.Witness speaks to a survivor of what became known as the Rape of Nanjing.

On 16 June 1961 the great ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev cut his ties with the Soviet Union.He escaped his KGB minders at an airport in Paris.Nureyev and Fonteyn in 1963.

In June 1953 East German workers went on strike in protest at Soviet rule.Demonstrations spread throughout the country but they were soon crushed by Communist troops.Image: East Germany demonstrators march through Brandenburg Gate into the Western sector of Berlin, Credit: Getty Images

An account of the remarkable life of Rachel Beer, who challenged the prejudices of Victorian England. She reached the top in journalism to become the first ever female editor of a British newspaper, The Sunday Times, only to be engulfed by disaster and lose everything.Picture: Rachel Beer

In June 1994, America watched in disbelief as the police chased the retired sports star OJ Simpson, along the freeways of Los Angeles.LAPD detective Tom Lange contacted OJ Simpson by cell phone and tried to calm him down.

When Italy joined World War II in June 1940, British-Italian men were rounded up and interned.Joe Pieri was just 21 years old and living in Glasgow when he was arrested and sent to a prison camp in Canada.Photo: Joe Pieri today.

It is 30 years since Israeli war planes destroyed a nuclear reactor in Iraq.The pilot who led the raid talks to Witness about the planning, the secrecy, and the day of the attack itself.

As tensions in Syria worsen, we talk to a man who was jailed for opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad.In 2003 it did not take much to attract the attention of the authorities.A former political prisoner tells his story.

The first international conference on the problems of the environment took place in 1972. Hear the story of the man, Maurice Strong, who made this important gathering possible.Photo: Maurice Strong (right) shakes hands with Brazilian Indian Chief Kanhok Caiapo. AFP/Getty.

It's 30 years since the HIV virus was first identified by medical experts.In the early days, carriers of the virus were stigmatised and treatment was in its infancy.Alan Johnston talks to Ugandan-born Winnie Ssanyu Sseruma about her experiences of having HIV back in the 1980s.

A British soldier tells us of one extraordinary day on the beaches of 1940 Dunkirk during World War II. We hear of how he managed to work his way through the chaos and constant danger, and escape to England.Photo: Soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force lie on their backs on the beach at Dunkirk to shoot with their rifles at enemy aircraft, which are bombing the transport ships that have arrived to evacuate them, 20th June 1940:) (Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Eye witness accounts of the killing of hundreds of Jews in the streets of the Iraqi capital, Bagdhad. Witness hears how the massacre in 1941 led to the uprooting of this ancient community.

It is almost 40 years since an attack at the airport outside Tel Aviv - more than 20 people were killed.This programme contains some graphic descriptions of violence - listeners may find it distressing.Photo: Ros Sloboda, a survivor of that day, tells her story.

It is 50 years since the assassination of Rafael Trujillo - Dominican Republic dictator.Witness hears from three people who remember that day.Photo: Antonio Imbert, one of men who shot Trujillo.

It is 13 years since Pakistan first tested a nuclear weapon. Dr Samar Mubarakmand was a senior figure at the country's Atomic Energy Commission.He was given the job of organising the test.He talks to Witness.

It is half a century since the launch of the human rights group Amnesty International.Over the years it has highlighted thousands of cases where people have been imprisoned without trial.Maria was a teenager in jail in Uruguay when she was helped by one of its early letter-writing campaigns.(Photo: Maria today)

In 1980, more than 100,000 Cubans left the island in a boatlift from Mariel harbour.Witness speaks to the writer, Mirta Ojito, about how she fled from communism with her family.Photo: Mirta (left) with her father and sister.