Witness: Witness Archive 2015

In February 1998, the great war correspondent and writer, Martha Gellhorn, died. She had defied the conventions of her time to report on many of the major conflicts of the 20th century. Her stepson Sandy Matthews tells Witness her story, and how she changed the face of war reporting. Photo: Martha Gellhorn (centre) talks to Indian soldiers of the British Army during the battle for Italy in the Second World War (credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

The Burmese independence leader was born on February 13th 1915. He negotiated with the British over the end of colonial rule but was assassinated just months before his country made it to independence. Hear a rare interview with one of his contemporaries - Ba Aye. (Photo: Aung San in 1947. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On February 13th 1945 the Allies began a series of air raids against the German city of Dresden. The bombing started a firestorm in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, and the cultural and architectural centre of Dresden was completely destroyed. (Photo: Dresden in the aftermath of the bombardment. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the late 1950s thousands of people in the far south west of Japan were poisoned by industrial waste. A factory was pumping heavy metals into a river which led to the sea. Locals who ate fish and seafood from the surrounding area suffered all sorts of disabilities as a result. Fujie Sakamoto lost one daughter to what was being called 'Minamata disease', her second daughter was born severely disabled. Photo: Fujie Sakamoto today.

In the early months of 1940, Finland was in a desperate fight for survival against the might of the Soviet Union. Hear from Finnish veteran, Antti Henttonen, who was 17 when he joined up. He survived the war but lost his family home. (Photo: Finnish troops on skis on the Russo-Finnish border in 1939. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 9 February 1955 apartheid South Africa forcibly evicted residents from Sophiatown, a multi-racial suburb in Johannesburg. It was demolished and turned into a whites-only area called Triomf. Victor Mokine was a child at the time and shares his memories with Witness. (Photo: Victor Mokine at the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre in Sophiatown. Credit: THMC)

In 1993 a message arrived in London which kickstarted the Northern Irish Peace Process. But had the prominent Irish Republican, Martin McGuinness, really announced that 'the conflict is over'? Owen Bennett Jones has been speaking to one of the mediators involved in secret negotiations - Denis Bradley. Photo: Martin McGuinness. Copyright: Press Association.

Four young black men began protesting against racial segregation in February 1960 by staging a sit-in at a whites only lunch counter in a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of the four, was Franklin McCain - he spoke to Witness in 2011. (Photo: Franklin McCain in 2010. Copyright: Getty Images)

In January 1990 the global fast food giant opened its first restaurant in the capital of the USSR. Witness speaks to George Cohon, the man behind the deal; and to Sveta Polyakova, one of the first Russians to work there. (Photo: McDonald's in Moscow. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In February 1950, the first spy of the Cold War, German-born physicist Klaus Fuchs, was arrested after he confessed that he had been passing top secret information about Britain and America's nuclear programme to Moscow. During the war, Fuchs had worked in America on the first atomic bomb. His nephew Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski tells Witness about his uncle. (Photo: Physicist and spy Klaus Fuchs (left) is met by his nephew at an airport in East Berlin in 1959 after being released from a British prison where he spent nine and a half years for spying for the Soviet Union. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A look back at the life of the English analytic philosopher and social and political activist, using BBC archive and the memories of Michael Barratt Brown. (Photo: Bertrand Russell at the BBC)

In January 2000 Harold Shipman, a family doctor from the North of England, was found guilty of killing 15 of his female patients. It later emerged he'd been responsible for the deaths of up to 250 people. Witness speaks to Joe Kitchen, whose mother Alice, was murdered by Shipman. (Photo: Harold Shipman. Credit: Greater Manchester Police/Getty Images)

In January 1972 Shirley Chisholm became the first major-party black candidate to make a bid for the US Presidency. She was also the first black woman elected to Congress. Witness has been speaking to Congressman Charles Rangel who worked with Shirley Chisholm. (Photo: Shirley Chisholm at the Democratic National Convention in 1972. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1968 a US B52 plane with nuclear bombs on board crashed in Greenland. The bombs did not detonate but, nearly 50 years later, questions remain over whether all were recovered. Jens Zinglersen was the first to the crash site. (Photo: Jens Zinglersen in polar bear trousers at Thule airbase. Credit: Private collection)

In 1943, a group of Belgian Jews escaped from a train bound for the gas chambers at Auschwitz. In the only incident of its kind, they were helped by members of the Belgian resistance. Simon Gronowski was just 11 years old when he jumped from the train to safety. (Photo: Simon Gronowski with his parents. Credit: Private collection)

In January 1939 tens of thousands of people fled the advancing forces of General Franco. Witness hears from Victor Pey, then a young fighter battling against the fascists in the city of Barcelona. (Photo: An elderly Spanish woman fleeing shortly after the fall of Barcelona in January 1939. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Congo's first prime minister, the African nationalist, Patrice Lumumba, was deposed with the backing of Western governments just months after coming to power. He was then handed over to his enemies, and murdered in detention in January 1961. (Photo: Patrice Lumumba arrested after trying to flee Leopoldville, Novermber 1 1960. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In January 1947 one of America's most famous gangsters, Al Capone, died from a heart attack at home in his bed. He’d ruled the streets of Chicago for years during the era of Prohibition. Deirdre Capone talks about her memories of her notorious great uncle. Photo: The gangster Al (Alphonse) Capone circa 1930 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Former US Airman Brandon Bryant speaks to Witness about his role in the controversial drone programme. He flew missions for almost five years over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq. (Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Bryant)

Violence between English football fans began to spread rapidly in the 1970s. Witness hears from two supporters - Cass Pennant and Dougie Brimson. What made them became involved and why did they later step back from violence? (Photo: Police take precautionary measures to prevent violence at a football match at White Hart Lane between Tottenham and Liverpool in 1971. Credit: Photo by Leonard Burt/Central Press/Getty Images)