Launched on VJ Day 2025, the Watson Collection brings together over 2,600 never-before-seen letters, diaries, photographs, artefacts, and memoirs charting the wartime lives of Frank and May Watson – his in captivity in Java, Singapore, and Japan, hers on the home front in England.
Marking eighty years since the end of the war in Europe, this curated selection from our archive brings together voices, images, and objects that capture how ordinary people experienced VE Day in Britain and across the world.
Their Finest Hour, a University of Oxford project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, empowered local communities to preserve the stories and objects of the Second World War before they were lost to history.
Wing Commander J. R. Blackburn (RAF) was captured and placed in Stalag Luft I. He escaped twice, was caught both times, and was eventually released by the Russians.
Betty Hausner and her husband left Vienna for Britain shortly after the Anschluss. They were interned as 'enemy aliens' in separate camps on the Isle of Man.
Captain Ernest Fisher took this barograph from the Aviso Grille, the yacht that Hitler planned to use after a successful invasion of Britain.
MORE WAYS TO EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE
Thousands of items in the Online Archive were digitised at public events called 'Digital Collection Days'. Click below to explore the stories and objects captured at each location.
Over 50,000 keyword tags have been added to records to assist your search. Click below to uncover content related to specific battles, events, countries, and other topics.
